The end of Jimmy Anderson’s remarkable Test career will also be the beginning of a new chapter – perhaps Bazball 2.0 – after England named a 14-man squad for the upcoming series against the West Indies. The game is about to change a lot.
Men’s team director Rob Key has issued a call to “out with the old, in with the new” as he now tackles aging goalkeeping in the form of Jonny Bairstow or Ben Foakes debate. The answer lies in the pair’s exit following the 3-1 loss to India earlier this year, with Surrey’s 23-year-old Jamie Smith being called up for his first Test and wearing the gloves.
Durham’s Ollie Robinson is probably the most in-form wicketkeeper here to miss, averaging 82 runs per game this season, while Sussex’s Ollie Robinson appears to be just on the periphery. Instead, Chris Woakes returns for the first time since last summer’s Ashes, while Dillon Pennington and Gus Atkinson, both unrepresented for their country, are among the seamers. Oh, and England also has a new first-choice spinner: Shoaib Bashir, rather than fellow Somerset seniors Jack Leach or Tom Hartley.
Smith’s call-up is notable partly because of the implications it has for Bairstow’s future – Key will explain everything on Monday – and partly because he played alongside Fox at Surrey and is therefore currently a County Championship professional batter. Smith has kept wickets for two seasons in white-ball cricket and has had plenty of such performances during his rise to prominence, meaning Key clearly has no qualms here and he has been mainly impressed by the right-hander’s positivity Attracted by batting and averaging 50 runs.
It also means Smith will become the 12th player to hand a wicket to Anderson in a Test match before he retires after the opener against the West Indies at Lord’s on July 10. first? Smith’s director of cricket, Alec Stewart, was at the same ground 21 years ago. In a press release announcing the squad, Key thanked Anderson – who has now taken 41 and 700 Test wickets – for “giving everything to the game”.
Key is likely to find out whether Anderson will stay with the team after the 188th and final Test this summer to guide the next generation, especially since Brendan McCullum does not have a bowling coach in his team to guide this new breed. As well as the experienced 35-year-old Woakes, there are three fledgling seamers in the summer first-team squad: Pennington, Atkinson and Matthew Potts are all there, and Essex’s Sam Cook and Nottinghamshire’s Josh Tonge currently injured.
Potts is the only player to have been named to the national team so far, with Pennington being rewarded for a strong start at Notts following his move from Worcestershire last winter. Key says attributes trump domestic numbers – the 23-year-old’s 29 wickets ticks the box anyway – and clearly likes the 25-year-old’s 80-plus mph performance on his 6ft 4in frame speed. Surrey’s Atkinson, the slightly quicker one, has been attracting attention for a while, while Mark Wood, is thought to be taking a break after the Men’s T20 World Cup.
Just like Smith’s win over Fox, Bashir’s recognition ahead of Leach speaks volumes about England’s view of county cricket’s relevance. The outside player has been forced to seek a short-term loan move to Worcestershire. Dan Lawrence scored 38 runs in a single game. Lawrence has been named as backup batsman when the teams meet next weekend and the pair can now banter.
The former England team might have been put off by all this, but after taking 17 wickets in his first three Tests against India – a tour that showcased his solid temperament and drift from high off the bat – They clearly see Bashir as the spinner, the investment. It also helps that Ben Stokes returns to bowling this year, taking the load off the rotation, while Bashir learns his craft at the top level.
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Bashir, who eliminated both left-armers, also talked about the second phase under McCullum, with the target apparently being Australia in late 2025. A “Bazball” approach, the New Zealander admitted, with thoughts now turning to building the squad for the Ashes tour and five Tests at home in India the previous summer.
So, the summer Tests will be played against the West Indies and Sri Lanka before the winter tours of Pakistan and New Zealand. Life wouldn’t be the same without Anderson, but it would still be fascinating.
England Men’s Test Team (First two Tests in West Indies): Ben Stokes, James Anderson (first Test only), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Dillon Pennington, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes
