England v New Zealand Test Series 2026

[Arthur Crabtree]

I'm contemplating the response from BBC posters if one of the batters is dropped and Crawley recalled...

[Arthur Crabtree]

Rehan playing for the Lions. Quite close to the Test, so maybe not going to be selected.

[alfie]

Look like Bashir is going to be the spinner. Fairness to him he has a few county wickets so may be in some form ; but if he doesn't perform first up the hounds will be baying

[Arthur Crabtree]

This is the squad of the First Test.

Ben Duckett, Emilio Gay, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Ben Stokes (captain), Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue, Ollie Robinson, Sonny Baker, Shoaib Bashir.

So if it's a green wicket, Baker will play...

This order, pasted from BBC, has Stokes at 7.

[Arthur Crabtree]

BBC says Bashir will play, and it's between Acko and Baker for the final spot.

[Durhamfootman]

This order, pasted from BBC, has Stokes at 7.

swapped with Smith J. Reflects where Gentle Ben's batting is.

Jofra may not be back in time for test 2, which is not a great look, but it gives Robinson at least a sniff at more than one test, as the only natural opening bowler in the side

[Arthur Crabtree]

I'm pleased Bashir is having another go. But England are re rewriting history by claiming there was no Test that England could justify picking a specialist spinner in the Ashes. They obviously had no confidence in Bashir and and that's only confirmed by them selecting a hope-for-the-best long shot in Jacks instead. They're actually now denying there was a problem at all.

[alfie]

Yes they are being a bit coy in those comments. In truth the main reason Bashir didn't play (apart from the completely reasonable grounds that the pitches didn't suit him and the extra batting was needed) was that he bowled a load of rubbish in the warm up game and apparently not much better in the nets. No form , no confidence so why throw him to the wolves ? In the circumstances that applied , I don't have any problem with his non-selection in Australia ; though if the pitches had been different the wisdom of punting on him for the main spinner's role on tour would doubtless have come under serious question.

Hopefully dodging potential bullets down under will have ended up as a good thing for his career and he can show something in a home summer to justify the good deal of faith shown in him. Have to say that at present I remain agnostic about his chances but will keep an open mind ...

[Arthur Crabtree]

Might have been an issue with his hand, in which case, why take him?

And why take only one spinner anyway? If Bashir was unpickable, that policy looks even worse.

[sussexpob]

Look like Bashir is going to be the spinner. Fairness to him he has a few county wickets so may be in some form ; but if he doesn't perform first up the hounds will be baying

Out of all 28 bowlers selectable for England in his division to have taken 10 wickets, Bashir has 24th worst average, only 2 runs per wicket away from the worst in the Division.

The players with the 25-28 worst averages have batting averages on the season as follows: 42, 59, 29, 40. Bashir has scored 34 runs in 6 games.

Based on pure statistics, he is by some distance the worst overall contributor to his side of all the regular bowlers in Division 2. I don't think this in anyway shows he is in form.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Early season though...

[sussexpob]

Bashir's case shows a rather enlightening thought process in the England management. It is well noted that he was picked off the back of a short highlight reel from Instagram shared in a management Whatsapp group, enough to get him on a plane and win an eventual England cap. This initial impression he left continues to seemingly bewitch the England selectors despite all contrary evidence to the counter.

He is 22 years old, and in a 5 year period has bounced around 7 teams. His initial professional debut county, Somerset, were so unconvinced by his performance they didn't even consider him as a worthy back up to their other spin options, and got rid of him even when the ECB were funding his wage. And having been loaned as a central contracted player to two other counties, those counties refused a permanent deal despite the fact in both occasions he was retained as an ECB employee, and his services came entirely for free. He has ended at the poorest, least attractive and successful county in recent decades, outside the Elite level of CC, where his form is still unconvincing. He is neither a great fielder, and a proper tailender with the bat, with a best of 13 in 19 tests.

Overall, this is a player who averages over FIFTY in the CC. He averages well over 40 in test cricket in an era of declining scores and dropping bowling averages, when his magic game against a pathetic Zimbabwe side is factored out - and even when you include it, he conceded 140 runs in that game in Zimbabwe's second best match aggregate of runs scored away in 20 years, so it was hardly that great in itself. In the international game, he was unselectable as late as the last game we played, which was a dead rubber with a series over - still they did not pick him, on a surface in Sydney that has traditionally spun. They have picked 3 batting all-round options since he last played, deeming them to be superior.

It all leaves a very interesting final equation. England have no faith in him, hardly any counties wanted to touch him, his actual performance at all levels of the game has never shown any consistent quality..... But we continue to pick him on the sole basis of the management trying to justify what was nothing more than a total, uneducated punt based on a 1 minute video of a game he performed abhorrently in, for a county that not longer after dropped him and flogged him off elsewhere.

The fact the management of the team have already acknowledged this by going nowhere near him in a marquee series makes it worse. It appears he is only there in the hope he will miraculously turn it round and make Rob Key and McCullum look like superstar intellects.

Because dropping him would, you know, be an acknowledgement that maybe Instagram shorts isn't a great selection tool. But this England team don't do "admitting errors", do they.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Unless he was selected with an injury last winter, picking him now makes no sense.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Forecast is for 5 days of wet weather, so draw looks likely.

[sussexpob]

Unless he was selected with an injury last winter, picking him now makes no sense.

I think he played 3 matches in Australia didn't he? And in one he bowled on both sides to get overs in, so I don't think the evidence supports the fact he was unfit to bowl. I think the biggest game on tour for the Lions, he got smacked around for about 0/120 by Australia A in the unofficial test match, and by all accounts sprayed it all over. That was his tour done and he was getting nowhere near a test game after that.