England warm up for The Ashes with easy victory over Ireland
Ashes Diary — Day 1.
Ashes Diary — Day 1.
Sunday 4th June 2023
Today was scheduled to be the fourth day of a possible five in England’s one off preparation Test Match against Ireland and all ahead of their eagerly awaited Ashes tussle with our Australian cousins in under two weeks. But as expected, the England cricketing revolutionaries under the tutelage of coach Brendon McCullum and captaincy of Ben Stokes brushed aside Ireland in three rather comprehensive days of Test Match cricket (save Ireland’s spirited fightback on Saturday) and have now rung up 11 wins from a possible 13 since the revolutionary leaders righted a sinking ship after England’s disastrous Ashes tour to Australia in 2021/2022 and the equally demoralising defeat that followed soon after in the West Indies.
Since taking charge, the McCullum and Stokes revolution has seen just two defeats to New Zealand and one in their earliest days of the revolution and one incredible Test Match “Down Under” whereby the hosts won by the soon to be trademarked “barest of margins” and one, single, solitary run after five gruelling Test Match days in Wellington. “Vive la Revolution” is the cry, mostly from me, but you have to start somewhere and anyway, the revolution wasn’t going to be derailed by an Ireland team so soon to Test Match status and cruelly with only three matches scheduled after this defeat and the summer of a far away 2025. England will of course be playing five Test Matches in a matter of weeks this Summer alone, and the gulf in quality between a team on the rise and riding a revolutionary wave and that of a newly emerging Test Match playing nation was starkly evident at Lords this week in the sun, as May gave way to a sunny June, and the start of an Ashes summer of cricket I can’t wait for.
I watched the first day avidly and was mightily impressed with the bowling of debutant Josh Tongue and although he finished Ireland’s 1st innings wicketless, he grabbed a Test Match “Michelle Pfeiffer” or “5 fer” in the 2nd innings, and 5 wickets for just 66 runs and arguably more impressively, four of Ireland’s top five batsmen in the process. It’s going to be a busy Summer ahead for the fast bowling units of both England and Australia and with James Anderson and Ollie Robinson easing their way back from small niggling injuries, Tongue’s debut performance may well see him entering the fray of Ashes battle in the coming weeks too. Both Anderson and Robinson are expected to be fit and ready for selection come June 16th at Edgbaston in Birmingham, but as Stuart Broad has himself freely admitted, Hall of Fame veteran or Ashes debutant, every fast bowler in the England bowling unit must be prepared for a long Ashes Summer as well as being rested and rotated along the way. The Nottingham born living legend of the game grabbed himself a “5 fer” in Ireland’s 1st innings (5–51) with the returning Matthew Potts snagging 2–36 in 12 very economical and probing overs. Potts is a more than useful addition to the hosts bowling attack and must surely be inked into the squad for the coming weeks.
You would therefore be forgiven for thinking England’s plans ahead of this eagerly awaited Ashes series with the “auld enemy” was plain sailing as regards their bowling options and their quest to regularly take 20 Australian wickets for victory but there’s a snag, two in fact, and one is sadly terminal.
Ashes to Ashes: Through the night with the England cricket team 2021-2023
Ashes to Ashes: Through the night with the England cricket team 2021-2023 : Blackford, Mr Stephen Patrick…www.amazon.co.uk
For news has broken this very evening that Jack Leach, England’s very own self nicknamed “Nutter” and of whom my Social Affairs Editor Dr Horseman has monikered “The Mad Professor”, is out of the Ashes series with a stress fracture in his back and I can’t help but feel great sorrow for a cricketer I’ve long admired and watch with huge admiration. Jack has gone through many publicly acknowledged and announced personal medical issues as well as cricketing injuries and this is a devastating blow to both the human being and the team he was the undoubted spin bowling spearhead. It would seem that there’s now a mad dash to replace the “Mad Professor” with England having three major candidates to replace Leach and, in the words of Aussie batsman Steve Smith, “some big shoes to fill” in Jack’s sad absence.
At the time of writing there are three candidates for this vital role and with McCullum and Stokes in charge, they may well spring a surprise past the obvious choice in the incredibly experienced, hyper team player that is Moeen Ali. At 35 years old, Ali will be coming out of international Test Match retirement if he receives and indeed heeds the rallying call or, should the cricketing revolutionaries opt for youthful attacking zeal, they may well call upon Will Jacks (24 years old and impressive on recent overseas tours) or 18 year old Rehan Ahmed who shone under the Pakistan sun last year and who will have a big part to play in future Ashes cricket if not this one. If I were a betting man, and I am most certainly not, I’d plump for Ali for his experience and ability to crash quick runs in addition to his spin bowling, but time will tell on that score, as it will for England’s revolutionary leader, Ben Stokes.
The England captain has been quoted as being “on course” to bowl in the first Ashes Test Match in under two weeks time and there is “nothing to worry about his fitness” but there clearly is, and that worry is a knee injury that saw him limp around Lords at times as well as pulling up in an awkward manner when taking a relatively simple catch on Saturday afternoon as England eventually mopped up the Irish batting tail for a comprehensive 10 wicket victory. He may have just turned 32 years of age as he publicly acknowledged but the captain has carried this annoying and nagging injury for some time now and with the uncertainty surrounding Jack Leach’s replacement, these are arguably England’s two major concerns ahead of their impending Ashes showdown with Australia. One problem is easily rectified with a replacement spin bowler, experienced or an Ashes debutant. The other is a major headache as without Stokes’ fast intimidating bowling and, when and if Australia have batting control in any Test Match and a tired England bowling unit depending on veterans Broad and Anderson to come back late in the day for a third or fourth spell of bowling, England could look as tired as they did against Ireland on Saturday morning or out on their feet as they tired against New Zealand in February. The rotating of England’s bowlers is key.
But so is the fitness of their captain.
To ultra positive news: The batting unit picks itself and, whisper it, has been chock full of runs since their 3–0 demolition of Pakistan last year. 1–7 in the team really picks itself with Zak Crawley (56 against Ireland but needs a big innings right off the proverbial bat against the Aussies) and Ben Duckett (big centurion against Ireland) are nailed on for the opening spots. Ollie Pope is now officially vice-captain and after long being primed for the number 3 slot has it all to himself after impressive winter tours to Pakistan and New Zealand, let alone his run-a-ball double century against Ireland this week. 205 runs from just 208 balls received! Astonishing stuff. Ex captain Joe Root is firmly entrenched at number 4 with yet another Test Match 50 this week and a gigantic score to settle for the 4–0 humiliation under his captaincy in 2021/2022 and his Yorkshire prodigy Harry Brook follows him at 5 with a panache and attacking batting style all of his own that if it comes off against Australia, could define the Ashes Series to come. Captain Stokes sits comfortably in 6 ahead of a returning Jonny Bairstow at 7 and as predicted by your favourite cricket correspondent in his book “Ashes to Ashes” (available on Amazon), the big hitting Yorkshireman has dislodged the unfortunate Ben Foakes from his role in the team as both batsman and wicket-keeper.
So 1–7 is nailed on and I foresee England’s strongest XI adding James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson to make 10, with in all likelihood Moeen Ali batting at 8 and rounding off their preferred starting XI for the majority of the Ashes Series ahead.
Time will tell.
It always does.
So what of Australia?
Being the avid fan of Test Match cricket that I am I watched big chunks of their 2–1 defeat by India in February and March and noted they’d unearthed yet another promising spin bowler in the shape of Todd Murphy and he joins a largely unchanged squad from their 4–0 demolition of England in 2021/2022 with the addition of two players I’m currently blissfully unaware of, right handed batsman Jimmy Pierson and substitute wicket-keeper Josh Inglis. Aside from these three overall additions to a team and squad defending The Ashes, the remaining tour party are led by captain Pat Cummins (although I intend to spend all Summer positing the notion that Steve Smith is the REAL Aussie captain!), but Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland will all be accompanying “The Goat” Nathan Lyon in their quest for 20 English batting victims whilst their batting mates David Warner, Marcus Harris, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head and Usman Khawaja will be looking to smash and crash their way to big imposing runs for their bowlers to defend.
All in all, we have one hell of an Ashes Series in store and I couldn’t be more childishly excited if I tried.
But that is not all for the visiting Aussies as on Wednesday at The Oval in London they will be playing a far more serious “warm up” game than their England counterparts recently as they resume cricketing battle with India and from Wednesday morning onward, a sporting battle to become officially recognised as the ICC World Cricket Champions. Suffice to say I will be keeping an incredibly keen eye on the Australian starting XI as well as the form and fitness of their Ashes defending team and with less than two weeks to go until the start of Ashes merriment in the very beating heart of central England, I cannot wait.
But for now I’ll close with tales of watching the first day’s play between England and Ireland and being unable to wait for Wednesday and the beginning of the duel in the sun between Australia and India, and my recent walks in the earliest of an English summer in a World Heritage site in beautiful Ironbridge beside the River Severn and my visits to the waterways and canals of central England and nearby Wales. The days are long, the sun has his hat on, and I’ve treated my beautiful son to yet more World Heritage status sites such as the engineering feats of yesteryear and the canal aqueducts of Thomas Telford fame at both Chirk and Pontcysyllte in Wales, and how that latter structure towering 125 high into the clouds and known locally as a “Stream in the Sky” scared my son clean out of his socks in abject terror!
As I close this first of many diary entries on the upcoming Ashes Summer the weather remains warm yet overcast and muggy here in England, perfect for the swing bowling of Messrs James Anderson and Stuart Broad, and the sun worshipper and Test Match cricket addict in me hopes for blazing sunshine either side of every one of the matches themselves and rather more cloudy, overcast days on match day. Selfishly I want to be out in as much sunshine as I can as it doesn’t shine nearly enough here in good ole’ “blighty” but I also want to be inside and gripped to the Test Match action unfolding in front of my disbelieving eyes.
Anyway, there’s a World Test Champions tag to play for and first Australia and India face off in a possible humdinger of a game.
The Ashes Summer has started! Almost.
See you in a few days.
Thanks for reading. If you’re a fan of Test Match cricket, can I direct you to my three previously published articles on this grandest of all games?
Who says Test Match cricket is boring? Kiwis win a thriller!
Day 5: New Zealand v England. Basin Reserve, Wellington.medium.com
Test Match up for grabs in thrilling final day shoot-out
Day 4: New Zealand v England. Basin Reserve, Wellington.medium.com
Southee leads a brilliant Kiwi comeback. Wellington Test beautifully poised
Day 3: New Zealand v England. Basin Reserve, Wellington.medium.com