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“It looks to me that Zimbabwe have got it right, with five bowlers, and England are limited to four,” says John Starbuck. “They are a seamer short and, unlike some earlier selections, they have only one all-rounder (Root, a limited spinner) given that Stokes won’t be expected to exert his frail body just yet. Shoaib Bashir might have done a good job, even if we have a limited choice of possible seamers.”
John, John, John, over the next eight months we’re going to have a gazillion conversations about the balance of the England side. Let’s just enjoy ourselves for a few days – or until Zimbabwe reach 200 for 3 in reply to England’s 121 all out and Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue have gone off injured and Ben Stokes is into his 12th over of offspin because he’s pulled both hamstrings.
“Se7en?” sniffs Matt Dony. “Not a happy ending? John Doe gets exactly what he wanted, and who doesn’t love a lovely little present? After these next eight months or so, Baz and Stokes can wander off into a sepia sunset for a well-earned rest, like Mills and Somerset.”
Oh, so now we’re making jokes about the brutal murder of innocent fictitious characters?
You sicken me.
A lovely bit of pre-match reading
The teams
Zimbabwe’s team includes Ben Curran, brother of Tom and Sam, the brilliant white-ball allrounder Sikandar Raza and the classy middle-order batter Sean Williams.
(For those who aren’t familiar with him, Ben’s father Kevin was a feisty, hard-hitting allrounder who played 11 ODIs for Zimbabwe and spent the best part of 15 years in county cricket. Had the residency qualification been shorter than 10 years, he would surely have played for England.)
England Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes (c), Smith (wk), Atkinson, Tongue, Cook, Bashir.
Zimbabwe Curran, Bennett, Ervine (c), Williams, Raza, Madhevere, Tsiga (wk), Ngarava, Muzarabani, Chivanga, Nyauchi.
Zimbabwe win the toss and bowl
That means an early look at a) Zak Crawley and b) Zimbabwe’s exciting fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani. It’s overcast at Trent Bridge - although Stuart Broad, the local expert, thinks it’s a bit too cold for the ball to swing.
Ben Stokes says he would have bowled as well.
England named their team a couple of days ago, with the aforementioned Sam Cook making his Test debut at the age of 27. His record in domestic cricket, all in Division One, is outrageously good: 300-odd wickets at an average of 18. He could be England’s Scott Boland.
England Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes (c), Smith (wk), Atkinson, Tongue, Cook, Bashir.
After years of being ignored because England were also-rans being overshadowed by the World Test Championship, the rankings are back!
This four-day Test is the first meeting between the sides since 2003, when England won both Tests by an innings. Interesting team they had, a mix of generations with a couple of bolters.
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Marcus Trescothick
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Michael Vaughan
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Mark Butcher
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Nasser Hussain (c)
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Robert Key
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Alec Stewart (wk)
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Anthony McGrath
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Ashley Giles
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Matthew Hoggard (Richard Johnson in second Test)
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Steve Harmison
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James Anderson
Ali Martin's preview
If the history of English cricket tells us anything – and a reminder came only last winter with the women’s team and a bloodbath in Australia that forced a change of captain and coach – it is that these things tend to operate in accordance with the Ashes cycle. Whatever iteration of Bazball this is, its place in history – and a few jobs in the set-up – will likely be defined by the Test results over the next nine months.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to the third and final act of Bazball, the high concept film that has consumed English cricket for the past few years. The first two acts followed a narrative arc that Robert McKee would approve of, if only he knew what the hell cricket was. In 2022 and 2023 we had the set-up, with England playing some astonishing cricket and sweeping (almost) all before them. Last year they encountered conflict and obstacles, with series defeats in India and Pakistan and a growing backlash against the B-word.
Now it’s time for the resolution. In the next eight months England will play 11 Test matches, starting with Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge over the next four days, and the historical judgement on Bazball will be cast. We all know what a happy ending looks like: Sydney, early January, Ben Stokes holding a little urn and haemorrhaging tears of joy like the modern man he is. But not every great film – and Bazball is most certainly that – has a happy ending: Mulholland Drive, Se7en, Casablanca, Chinatown. If England draw with India and are pummelled by Australia, the euphoria of act one will be forgotten. Forget it Baz, it’s Australia away.
There’s something else to consider. England have crept up to No2 in the Test rankings, a subject that we are contractually obliged to mention only when they have a chance of reaching top spot. There’s a disconcertingly feasible scenario whereby they can win the Ashes in Australia and become world No1 at the time. Don’t get too excited, though; the World Test Championship is still off limits. Even if England win all 11 Tests, they’ll lose so many points for a slow over-rate that they’ll probably still be stuck in mid-table.
England are expected to beat Zimbabwe at a canter, so the main focus will be on the individual narratives. Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope are realistically playing for one place against India; Sam Cook has finally been dropped from England’s greatest uncapped XI; Shoaib Bashir has been retained despite a bruising six months; and Josh Tongue, who has bowled ferociously for Notts since returning from injury, plays his first Test since the Lord’s Ashes Test of 2023.
Lord’s 2023. Jonny Bairstow’s stumping, Ben Stokes pumping sixes to all parts. The stakes felt bloody high then, even though we were still in act one. Now it’s the start of act three, and it’s time for this laboured metaphor to stop the denoument.
Play begins at 11am, with the toss at 10.30am.
