Big changes for the England Test team?
4/20/202653 min
Mark Chapman, Alex Hartley, Steven Finn and, Matt Prior discuss how England’s Test team is shaping up for the summer, the spots up for grabs and, who is best placed to take them. Less than two months to go until England begin their Test summer against New Zealand at Lord’s, by that time it will be nearly five months since Ben Stokes’ side trudged off the SCG having lost the 5th Ashes Test, losing the series 4-1.
Who should remain in the side? What are the main positions up for grabs? And is there someone who has done enough to make the step up?
They also discuss the new rules around replacing players in the County Championship which has proved controversial so far.
TIME CODES 00:00 Intro 06:15 How does selection work? 12:38 Opening batting partnership 16:35 Time for a new opening partnership? 24:37 James Rew and a positional dilemma 27:08 The cricket structure in England 30:31 Jacob Bethell and the Indian Premier League 34:34 Scores in the league 36:17 Favourites in the IPL 36:42 England’s pace bowlers 43:09 Spin bowlers 47:30 County Championship substitutes rule
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
This is the TMS Podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.
Mark Chapman· Host0:05
Hello and welcome to the Test Match Special Podcast. Less than two months to go then until England begin their test summer against New Zealand at Lord's, and by the time we get there, it'll be nearly five months since, uh, they trudged off at the SCG having lost the fifth Ashes test and therefore the series 4-1. We'll look at how we expect the team to line up, who's vulnerable to being dropped, who's ready to step in. Former England wicketkeeper Matt Prior, World Cup winner Alex Hartley, and former England fast bowler Steven Finn with us for the next fifty-five minutes. I suppose to start with, and I'll start with you Alex, alongside me in the studio, uh, it's how many are locked in and how many- [laughs] ... places are up for grabs. Bearing in mind we're still two months away from the test. So out of a, out of an 11, how many are locked in?
Alex Hartley· Guest0:55
I think the majority would be locked in. I think you've gotta look at the opening partnership, and then you look at the seamers, um, and which ones you're gonna rotate. I think we'll see the bulk of them being the same. We might see some, some other seamers come in. There's always a question on the spinner, who's the spinner gonna be? It's almost been like, let's try anybody and everybody that fancies giving it a go over the last couple of years. Um, so I think the majority are gonna be locked in. But that opening partnership, there's... E- everybody's talking about it at the minute and, and rightly so, but then I think three, four, five, six are, were pretty much nailed on.
Mark Chapman· Host1:29
Seven?