England will play their first Test match in nearly five months on Thursday when they take on New Zealand at Lord’s.
Ahead of the home opener, I’ve tried to answer your burning questions about the England team.
Jeremy: Have you noticed a change in tone from England? Are the key leaders remorseful for what happened in Australia?
There has been a subtle change in tone from coach Brendon McCullum – who has said he wants the team to retain their attacking identity but be “smarter” with it. Mention of “sharpening” and “refinement” have been myriad during McCullum’s numerous media appearances over the past week, but we don’t really know whether it’s all hot air until the team get on the field against New Zealand this week.
My suspicion is England are going to carry on as normal and hope playing weaker opposition than Australia will give the illusion of a tweak to their approach. That would be unwise against a dangerous New Zealand team.
Brendon McCullum is unlikely to change his tune any time soon (Photo: Getty)If they are genuinely changing their approach, it will be interesting to see whether that inhibits players or not. The freedom of Bazball when McCullum initially came in was a breath of fresh air. Can they retain that whilst also simultaneously telling players to be smarter?
As for remorse about the winter, there has been little from anybody beyond a recognition from McCullum that the team “got things wrong” in Australia. This is partly why the coach in particular starts the summer with many fans firmly against him. An unapologetic coach who got away with one in the winter and couldn’t even be bothered to get to the UK earlier to watch some Championship cricket is the narrative that many subscribe to. They’re not wrong. Results though will dictate how this all goes.
If England have a good summer, I feel all of this will be forgotten.
Mal: Who do you think is most likely to get the No 3 spot for England long-term?
Jacob Bethell. His century in Sydney back in January underlined his class. For those who watched his debut series in New Zealand at the end of 2024 – England’s last Test series win – his talent has never been in doubt.
Bethell will start the summer at No 3 in the England line-up (Photo: Getty)Hopefully with a run in the team this summer and beyond he can make the position his own – even if we should probably expect a slow start against New Zealand given he needs to get back into red-ball mode following his stint at the IPL.
Steve Capel: Are you still annoyed about being gaslit by Ben Stokes last year regarding Bethell returning from IPL and playing at number 3 in the Test team?
No. Overall, having known Ben Stokes for over a decade since he made his Test debut on the 2013-14 Ashes tour, he has mostly been great to deal with and generous with his time. Even at the height of last winter’s Ashes implosion in Australia, I had no doubt he was still the man to lead this England team.
He is a force of nature as captain and I dearly hope he can help rejuvenate the team so they are a competitive force by the time Australia come to these shores for next summer’s Ashes.
Phillip Everett: Is the rising importance of short-form games in England – i.e. T20 and The Hundred – damaging the England Test team?
How far back do you want to go? Undoubtedly, the focus on winning the 2019 World Cup damaged England’s Test fortunes: witness the Ashes that year. It seems we are unlikely to get back to that place, with a more balanced approach now being taken.
The problem is, England remain inconsistent and have underperformed across both Tests and ODIs over the past three years or so. Perhaps the biggest bugbear is the Hundred, whose prime slot in mid-summer has damaged red-ball cricket in terms of pushing the County Championship season to the margins, meaning sometimes there is very little first-class cricket available for players to either state their case for selection or come back from injury during Test series.
The schedule has also impacted spinners – with those eyeing an England Test spot often being asked to perform either in early-season or autumnal conditions. As ever, the hope is that there is enough talent out there for England to be competitive in Test cricket in spite of all this. But as last winter in Australia showed, there are problems other than the schedule that can undermine success.
For more on the impact of the Hundred, you can read this piece by Richard Edwards about what it has done to the T20 Blast.
Dave: Why have England picked Shoaib Bashir again despite his dreadful Ashes and county form?
Dreadful Ashes? He wasn’t given a chance. And county form? Okay, he’s not been amazing but he’s got through plenty of overs since his move to Derbyshire and taken 15 wickets at 37.60. I feel that’s about par for an inexperienced spinner who is rebuilding his career after a tough winter.
Bashir (left) remains in McCullum’s plans (Photo: Getty)Those who work with him closely, including Stokes and Derbyshire coach Mickey Arthur, rate him highly and at the age of 22, nobody should be writing Bashir off yet, particularly given he is playing in the first Test against New Zealand. Named in a 12-man squad on Tuesday afternoon, McCullum stated earlier in the day England will play a spinner. That is Bashir.
Let’s see how he does this summer, when hopefully an England regime who hung him out to dry last winter show more trust and confidence in him.
Charlotte Given: I’m a Surrey fan and it baffles me that Jamie Smith is a batter at No 3 for us, but England think he is a keeper to bat down the order. Shouldn’t they pick a proper keeper? (So we can have Jamie all summer…)
A proper keeper? If you’re picking one it’s Ben Foakes so that also impacts Surrey. But even Foakes realises his time with England is up.
In terms of Smith, there is a perceived wisdom that his keeping is not great. But in reality, his glovework is good – for example, it’s better than that of James Rew, another potential rival for that wicketkeeping position.
Smith’s an outrageously talented batter and that’s why his keeping is often underrated. But in terms of his position with England, they see his form in Australia last winter as a blip and are determined to keep faith with him. Other than injury, or a total collapse in form, he’s here to stay as England’s keeper for the foreseeable future.
Lovely glove work from Jamie Smith Woakes gets the big wicket of Shubman Gill! pic.twitter.com/uU8rnSnXxm
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 11, 2025Chris McMahon: In the IPL overseas players are becoming less influential as more and more young Indian players are coming through. Do you think that in 10 years India will be totally dominant in all forms of cricket?
Well, Chris, I think we’re probably at that point right now to be honest. Financially, nobody touches them – the England & Wales Cricket Board will generate more revenue from white-ball series against India this summer than from next year’s home Ashes. That’s not to mention the global reach of the IPL franchises in T20 leagues around the world, including the Hundred.
On the field, they have won the past two T20 World Cups and are ranked top of the ODI rankings too. True, they have not dominated Test cricket and are yet to win the World Test Championship. But that only seems like a matter of time given their financial strength and playing resources.
The irony is, we all need India to remain interested in Test cricket otherwise the format will wither and die. Thankfully, there is still an appetite on the sub-continent for cricket’s oldest format and while financially India dominate the game, the fact that they haven’t had things all their own way in Tests in recent years means the competitive edge remains and proves money can’t buy you everything.
DarkGlasses (via X): Will the current regime ever go back to Sibley no matter how many he scores? Surely the rest of the team can bat round him …
In a word, no. England have moved on with the selection of Emilio Gay so I think those who have played before and failed – Sibley, Haseeb Hameed and Alex Lees – won’t be back regardless of how many county runs they score.
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