Let the selection chatter begin again.
England’s hapless white-ball winter largely paused talk about the Test side, one that will welcome India and visit Australia for marquee assignments over the next 10 months.
Conversation centred on why a once devastating limited-overs team have fallen so far, if the pace attack was too samey, who will succeed Jos Buttler as captain (we still don’t know the answer to that one) and if players spend too much time on the golf course.
But April is upon us, the sun is out – for the next two weeks at least – and the County Championship is back on Friday, so thoughts are now returning to the make-up of the Test XI.
Who will be in and who will be out when England face Zimbabwe in a one-off game at Trent Bridge from May 22 and then take on India at Headingley from June 20 as a five-Test series gets under way?
England’s Jacob Bethell impressed on his first Test tour of New Zealand over the winter
After difficult winters, Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley probably need decent springs for Surrey and Kent respectively to ensure they start the summer in England’s side, despite captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum not always picking on county form.
The emergence of Jacob Bethell – three half-centuries on his debut tour in New Zealand – and the return of Jamie Smith from paternity leave mean England have too many players for too few spots in their top seven. One of Crawley and Pope may pay the price.
Crawley struggles on tour of New Zealand
Since beginning last summer with a knock of 76 in the Lord’s Test against West Indies, opener Crawley has only passed fifty once in 14 innings, averaging 15.14 in that time.
Crawley’s New Zealand tour was a complete nightmare, dismissed in all six innings by pace bowler Matt Henry, averaging just 1.66 against him and only 8.66 in total as he recorded a top-score of 21 and four single-figure dismissals.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Sky Sports’ Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton discuss whether Zak Crawley will make England’s Ashes squad after poor performances against New Zealand
Stokes and McCullum have shown great faith in the Kent player since taking charge in the spring of 2022 – he has played in every Test when fit – and they feel he will flourish in Australia next winter against an opposition he averages over 40 against in eight games.
But Baz and Ben have been ruthless at times, too, calling time on James Anderson’s stellar international career and jettisoning Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes and the seam-bowling Ollie Robinson, so if Crawley’s woes persist, patience may run out.
Bethell starred in New Zealand from an unfamiliar position at No 3 and looked to have the technique and temperament to make a good fist of opening. He was virtually an opener versus the Black Caps anyway, never coming in later than the fifth over.
Pope is England’s vice-captain but his place in the XI is far from assured
England could retain the current top three this summer with Crawley continuing to open alongside Ben Duckett and Bethell sticking at No 3 – and if that is the case then it could well be that Pope misses out, despite being the team’s vice-captain.
Pope moved down the order from No 3 to No 6 in New Zealand due to keeping wicket in Smith’s absence and he struck two fifties from that spot before ending the trip with knocks of 10, 27 and 14 and an average of just under 39.
But with Harry Brook, Joe Root, Stokes and Smith set to take the middle-order berths and Bethell appearing less frantic at first drop than Pope, the Surrey man’s place is far from guaranteed, especially after another feast or famine year.
Pope hit 994 runs in 30 Test innings in 2024, with almost half of those coming in three knocks (196 vs India, 121 vs West Indies, 154 vs Sri Lanka) and 11 single-digit scores around them, including three ducks.
Crawley and Pope will hope to play against India at home this summer and then The Ashes in the winter
Who else could do with a big start to season?
Somerset’s England off-spinner Shoaib Bashir has joined Glamorgan on loan for the first three matches of the campaign and will earn valuable game time as he remains behind Jack Leach in the pecking order at Taunton.
Pacemen Chris Woakes (Warwickshire) and Matthew Potts (Durham) will be hoping to hoover up wickets and press for Test inclusion in the absence of the injured Mark Wood.
Essex seamer Sam Cook is a don in county cricket, taking his 311 first-class wickets at an average below 20, and is in England’s plans despite not making an appearance yet.
Sam Cook will be eying an England debut in 2025
The right-armer is not the quickest – and we know pace is a quality England really admire – but often has domestic players on toast and has impressed with the Kookaburra ball, something England will be using in The Ashes. Cook bagged 13 wickets in three games on England Lions’ tour of Australia over the winter.
Plus, new Yorkshire captain Jonny Bairstow is still targeting an England recall despite not playing for his country in any format since last summer’s T20 World Cup.
Which youngsters should we keep an eye on?
England have shown with Bethell, Bashir, and Rehan Ahmed that inexperience will not preclude players from an international call-up so Somerset’s spin-bowling all-rounder Archie Vaughan – son of 2005 Ashes-winning captain Michael – could push for honours.
Archie Vaughan has impressed for Somerset and England Under-19s
Vaughan Jr, 19, captained England U19s to a Test series win in South Africa this winter and has a first-class fifty and five-wicket haul under his belt from a debut season in which he averaged 33.71 with the bat and 20.13 with the ball across four games.
Sticking with sons of former England skippers and 16-year-old Rocky Flintoff – offspring of Andrew – will hope for further opportunities with Lancashire after becoming England Lions’ youngest-ever centurion in January. Older brother Corey, 19, has joined Kent.
Former England U19 captain Ben McKinney, 20, scored a maiden first-class hundred for Durham last season in just his second match and then notched a ton for the Lions in Australia, so is another man who could be on England’s radar pre-Ashes.
Durham opener Ben McKinney is a player of some promise
Durham team-mate James Minto, 17, also looks a player with some promise, with the left-arm seamer – and England could do with one of those – picking up 10 wickets in four-first class games.
Derbyshire quick Harry Moore, 17 – who was signed by Birmingham Phoenix for The Hundred – is a man to follow as is Hampshire’s ex- Somerset quick Sonny Baker, 22, who has earned an England development contract despite not yet playing first-class cricket.
Nottinghamshire spinner Farhan Ahmed, brother of Rehan, became the youngest player to take a first-class 10-wicket haul in England when he starred against champions Surrey last year at the age of 16.
And what about international stars and legends of the game?
There will be a few of those in action with England’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker Anderson penning a new one-year deal with Lancashire that will take him beyond his 43rd birthday and New Zealand great Kane Williamson to play for Middlesex.
James Anderson will play for Lancashire in 2025 after signing a new one-year deal that will take him beyond his 43rd birthday
Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood is at Leicestershire, West Indies seam-bowling stalwart Kemar Roach is back at Surrey early season, Crawley’s nemesis Henry will play for Somerset, and New Zealand batter Tom Latham is on Warwickshire’s books.
So, there are young guns and established names to follow with interest – but it is Pope and Crawley who are most under the microscope. Let the selection chatter begin again.
County Championship – opening fixtures
All matches begin at 11am on Friday April 4
Division One
- Essex vs Surrey (Chelmsford)
- Hampshire vs Yorkshire (Utilita Bowl)
- Nottinghamshire vs Durham (Trent Bridge)
- Somerset vs Worcestershire (Taunton)
- Warwickshire vs Sussex (Edgbaston)
Division Two
- Derbyshire vs Gloucestershire (Derby)
- Glamorgan vs Gloucestershire (Cardiff)
- Middlesex vs Lancashire (Lord’s)
- Northamptonshire vs Kent (Northampton)
