England are now halfway through their test summer, having seen off the west indies fairly easily. They now face the Sri Lankans for another 3 test series, crammed into a two week period before they set off on yet another test tour to Pakistan.
The summer started with the dropping of some of the old guard, Jonny Bairstow among them, and Jimmy Anderson being persuaded to retire. Ben Foakes and Ollie Robinson were also discarded, harshly in both cases in my opinion- Foakes had proved himself as a highly accomplished test player prior to being dropped, wrongly, for Bairstow ahead of last years ashes. He has now been penalised for Englands all round poor performance in India, despite the entire top 6 misfiring.
Jamie Smith was selected to keep in his place, and played two innings of substance against the Windies, and looking a batsman of technique and class. Albeit on a brief sample size, he looks to be well able to bat higher up the order, and one option would be for him to move up to 4 or 5 in time and play as a specialist batter.
The other notable selection was Shoaib Bashir, who bowled well in albeit favourable conditions in India and again looked threatening against the Windies. Jack Leach is a far more experienced and a better bowler at this stage of his career, but the selectors are once again fixing their eye on the Ashes in 2025-26, and are taking the attitude Bashir is likely to be a better option on that most onerous of tours.
The Sri Lanka series will see England missing both their captain and their opener, with Ben Stokes sidelined due to a hamstring strain and Zak Crawley out with a broken finger. Matt Potts comes in to make a 5 man attack, leaving a very long tail, with Chris Woakes at 7. Dan Lawrence, not a specialist opener but a man very much in the Bazball mold, comes in to replace Crawley. He is unlikely to rein in his natural game, and an opening partnership of himself and Ben Duckett will live and die by the sword.
This summer has been a transitional one, with Jonny Bairstow unlikely to play much for England again. The one day side remains a work in progress, with young players needing to be given opportunities to bed in to replace the departing stars. An opening partnership in white ball cricket of Phil Salt and Will Jacks threatens to be explosive, but middle order options to explore the likes of Stokes and Bairstow need to be looked at in the months ahead. Players like James Rew have shown considerable ability in the recent one day trophy, and the likes of Dan Mously and Jacob Bethell have also been mentioned in despatches. The question remains with the profusion of T20 leagues around the globe as to how much of a future the longer formats will have moving forwards. It would be a great shame if either 50 over or test cricket was allowed to wither and die, and it is high time the ICC stepped up to protect both.