Three talking points from England’s 15-man Test squad

England are set to blood a debutant and recall a couple of familiar faces for June’s Tests against New Zealand.

Plenty of English supporters and media pundits were calling for heads to roll after England’s calamitous Ashes tour. I can understand their point, but I always felt regime change could do more harm than good at this stage.

The men at the top have clung onto their jobs, but seven of the playing squad from the winter are absent in England’s 15-man squad for the first Test of the summer, announced yesterday.

The fast-bowling stocks are somewhat depleted. Jofra Archer is unavailable, set to be rested after his stint with Rajasthan Royals. Brydon Carse injured his hand playing for Sunrisers Hyderabad. Mark Wood may or may not try to battle his way back from yet another injury, while Chris Woakes has retired from Test cricket.

Batting-wise, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope have been dropped, while there’s also no room for Will Jacks after his winter as a makeshift front-line spinner. I’d expect him to be considered for the tour of Bangladesh next February.

It’s also worth noting that England have a new national selector in Australian Marcus North, who replaces Luke Wright.

Here are the main talking points from the squad and my view on how the XI might look come 4 June.

The Zak Crawley era is over

Crawley’s omission is hardly a surprise given he averaged 27 down under this winter, and is averaging sub-20 in ten innings for Kent so far this season. Yet so reluctant have England been to dispense with his services, there was still part of me which felt he might sneak into the squad. He’s been given 64 Tests and averages a mediocre 31, and I don’t think I’m alone in wondering if he was in possession of some compromising photos of Rob Key.

You’ll be hard pushed to find an England fan who’s disappointed with the decision, though Key and a few others might miss their golf buddy.

Key confirmed yesterday that Emilio Gay, who’s averaging 92 for Durham including three centuries in eight innings, will open with Ben Duckett. Given Marcus North was formerly Director of Cricket at Durham, I assume he knows Gay’s game well and had a big hand in that decision.

The other candidate was Somerset’s James Rew, who has 12 first class hundreds at the age of 22. He started the season strongly, but has four single figure scores in his last four innings. He usually bats in the middle order, but (perhaps in light of his Test prospects) opened in Somerset’s last game, a defeat to Glamorgan. He’s been included in the squad as the spare batter, and wicketkeeping cover for Jamie Smith.

Ollie Robinson returns

We might never know the exact reasons for Ollie Robinson’s two-year exile, but it appears that a combination of factors soured the relationship between him and England’s management.

Fitness concerns definitely played a part, with a lack of conditioning blamed for persistent back spasms. By the end of his last run in the side, he was barely able to bowl 75mph, which prompted the now infamous “nude nuts” comment from Matthew Hayden (i.e. balls with nothing on them).

A series of podcasts with his partner which revealed plenty of backroom details from the England set-up was probably the final straw.

But after two years in the wilderness, Robinson now returns to the squad. Brendon McCullum made contact with the Sussex captain at the start of the county season to let him know he was still in the picture

His county form has been decent this year, with 17 wickets at 26 so far. And despite his fall from grace, Robinson’s Test numbers remain exceptional, with 76 wickets at 22.9 in his 20 games. An unbeaten century from number ten against Surrey will hardly have hindered his cause.

And it may be that another of Hayden’s comments about Robinson – that he had a “mouth from the south” was seen as a positive by England. England’s attack could be said to lack a bit of combative spirit – Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue are wonderful prospects, but they’re not exactly Dale Steyn or Mitchell Johnson in the intimidation stakes. Perhaps Robinson’s mouth has worked in his favour on this occasion.

I expect him to make the XI ahead of the two other pacers included in the squad, the uncapped Sonny Baker and Matthew Fisher, who played one test in the West Indies in 2022.

Spin remains a puzzle

After a winter warming the bench, and a move from Somerset to Derbyshire, Shoaib Bashir’s inclusion wasn’t on my radar.

Plucked from obscurity because his high release point made him suited to bowling in Australia, I’d assumed that his non-selection in all five Ashes Tests spelled the end of his England career, at least for now. But 14 wickets for Derbyshire is a reasonable early-season return for a spinner, and his five-fer against Northants may have persuaded the selectors to keep him around the group.

I’d be surprised if he played ahead of Rehan Ahmed, however. Having become the youngest man to play Test cricket for England when selected as an 18yo for the 2022 tour of Pakistan, Rehan has matured into a fine cricketer, and fully deserves his chance.

In addition to his leg-spin, he’s a proper red-ball batter too, and made five centuries while averaging 50 in helping Leicestershire win division two of the championship last year.

I had wondered whether England would be reluctant to go into a Test with their only spinner being a leggie. But England under McCullum rarely shy away from the aggressive option, and I like the look of the batting order with him at eight and Gus Atkinson at nine. You could even make a case for him batting higher, with Ben Stokes dropping down the order.

Likely XI for the first test

1. Ben Duckett

2. Emilio Gay

3. Jacob Bethell

4. Joe Root

5. Harry Brook

6. Ben Stokes (c)

7. Jamie Smith (wk)

8. Rehan Ahmed

9. Gus Atkinson

10. Ollie Robinson

11. Josh Tongue