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The soundtrack to England's summer of cricket has been the sound of silence since the Ashes. But they will soon be dusting off their cricket bags for a few limited overs games which have added interest in that they lead up to the WC50 in India which begins in October.

This is the schedule for the late English summer. And Welsh.

T20I v New Zealand.

30 August in Chester le Street
1 September in Manchester.
3 September in Birmingham
5 September in Nottingham.

ODIs v New Zealand.

8 September in Cardiff
10 September in Southampton
13 September at the Oval.
15 September at Lord's.

And ODIs v Ireland.

20 September in Leeds
23 Septemeber in Nottingham
26 September in Bristol

Then onto the opening WC50 game in Ahmadabad.

This is the England squad for the T20 series against New Zealand.

Jos Buttler (captain), Rehan Ahmed, Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue, John Turner, Luke Wood.

And the 50 over series against New Zealand which is a provisional squad for the World Cup.

Jos Buttler (captain), Moeen Ali, Gus Atkinson, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, Reece Topley, David Willey, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes.

Maybe odd that Stokes, who briefly retired from ODIs after saying the workload was unsustainable, should return after being unble to bowl during the Ashes because of an ongoing knee injury.

England's form since the last World Cup in UK in 2019 has been mixed.

P...36
W...18
L...15
NR...3.

The highpoint in terms of runs was the 498/4 v Netherlands in Amstelveen last year. A record total in ODIs.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/eng ... -scorecard

But the top score against a top nation was 346/7 v South Africa in February this year.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/eng ... -scorecard

Here are the series records.

South Africa 1-1 England
England 2-1 Ireland
England 1-2 Australia
India 2-1 England
England 2-0 Sri Lanka
England 3-0 Pakistan
Netherlands 0-3 England
England 1-2 India
England 1-1 South Africa
Australia 3-0 England
South Africa 2-1 England
Bangladesh 1-2 England

Which looks like a lot of minnow bashing but not much success against the established nations. Last time England hosted the WC as a team at its peak. This time there is an impression of decline.

And furthermore, England have played little cricket in Asia, playing no series in Pakistan or Sri Lanka and only short series in India and Bangladesh.

Averages since the last World Cup reflect a lot of rotation and rest for the Test players, but few of the new players taking their chance. Easily the most successful batter is Dawid Malan, a bit of a doughty stalwart and never really a first choice. Phil Salt has done ok, but mainly against Netherlands.

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engin ... pe=batting

https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engin ... pe=bowling

The most economical bowler to have played more than a handful of games, is Chris Woakes, and his strike rate is handy too. Mark Wood hasn't featured much but has been useful when he has.

This is the England team and squad for the World Cup final against New Zealand in 2019.

Roy
Bairstow
Root/Vince
Morgan
Stokes
Buttler
Woakes
Plunkett/T.Curran
Archer/Moeen
Rashid/Dawson
Wood

And this time.


Roy
Bairstow
Root/Malan
Buttler
Stokes
Livingstone
Moeen
Woakes/S.Curran
Rashid
Topley/Atkinson
Wood/Willey

Which looks a less balanced squad and while older, not obviously better. A few have played IPL, which may help. But having won last time with zero to spare, it's difficult to see them going close in 2023.

First game today. One of the T20s is on BBC, I think on Sunday.

England win the toss and will chase.

Jonny Bairstow
Will Jacks
Dawid Malan
Harry Brook
Jos Buttler(c)(wk)
Moeen Ali
Liam Livingstone
Sam Curran
Adil Rashid
Brydon Carse
Luke Wood

v/s


Devon Conway
Finn Allen
Tim Seifert(wk)
Glenn Phillips
Mark Chapman
Daryl Mitchell
Mitchell Santner
Adam Milne
Ish Sodhi
Tim Southee(c)
Lockie Ferguson


NZ look handy.

Luke Wood goes around the park

what a start that is on debut for Carse. 1 run and a leg bye

Supposed to be good for batting, according to BBC live.

England pulling it back after first over nightmare.

Bound to be a lovely, golden autumnal evening in the northeast.

And Carse gets the local crowd out of their seats with a wicket. Hits the stumps.

His first T20I wicket.

Trent Boult seems to have disappeared off the international scene.

NZ batting going off the rails. Do they have the classic nuggety Kiwi stalwart down the order to pull this around?