1. England won’t have a permanent vice-captain… at least for now

Charlotte Edwards went for a significant proportion of her own captaincy without a permanent vice-captain, and that’s the model she plans to follow as head coach, at least initially as she works out who in the squad might have the necessary skills to deputise for NSB: “It’s a time where I want to just have a little look at what the squads are going to look like. I don’t want to make that kind of decision just yet.”

She did, however, say that she plans to create a broader “leadership group” which will initially rotate between players across different series and formats. That was something Jon Lewis said he had done, but there was never much evidence of the group actually contributing to team strategy – so it will be interesting to see how visible the “group” (or groups?) is during matches in future.

2. Get your “Heather Knight Is Bowling” klaxons at the ready

Lest there be any doubt, Edwards very much sees Knight as an integral part of the England line-up over the next 2 years: “She’s been great around the group. I genuinely think we’re going to see Heather Knight scoring a lot of runs over the next couple of years.”

The new coach also wants to see a lot more of Knight’s off-spin – which was rarely used in the last 2 years of her captaincy: “We’ve had some good chats around where I see her role in the team. I want to see her bowling more, which she was quite excited about.”

3. Edwards wants the England players to post less on social media

During the World Cup last October, a number of England players attracted criticism when they posted photographs of themselves out and about in Dubai – and then got knocked out of the tournament in the group stages. Edwards is stamping down on that pretty unequivocally:

“We’ve got to look at our professional behaviours and how we go about stuff. We’ve got to change people’s perceptions. We’ve got to stop putting stuff on social media that doesn’t need to be on there. If it’s not going to positively impact on them or us as a group, then it probably isn’t worth posting.”

4. England’s squad to face West Indies will be selected on 12 May – and Emma Lamb should probably stay quite close to her phone

The new national selector will be in post by then and the idea is for that person, Edwards and NSB to sit down together to select the team to face West Indies.

Asked who had particularly impressed so far in domestic cricket, one name came immediately to the fore: “The leading run-scorer is Emma Lamb. She’s performing well – that’s exactly what I’ve asked people to go and do,” Edwards said.

Hampshire’s first home game of the new era – played out in front of a crowd of 600-odd on a sunny day at the Utilita Bowl – ended in a surprise 50-run win against trophy-favourites Surrey.

On a good batting track, with new England coach Charlotte Edwards looking on from the top of the Rod Bramsgrove Pavilion, this was the ideal chance for any number of England squaddies / hopefuls to stick up a hand.

But while Em Arlott hit a match-winning century over in Chelmsford, and Eve Jones struck 97 for Lancs down in the West Country, none of the half-centurions at Southampton managed to make quite such a definitive contribution.

Maia Bouchier’s gorgeous lofted drives and well-placed pulls will have pleased Edwards, and Bouchier herself labelled her 69-ball 61 as “really important” after a difficult Ashes series.

“All I can do is learn and grow from that, and try and improve in every possible way,” Bouchier said. “We [the England players] have got six games, and we’ll make the most of those six games. It’s really competitive at the moment and that’s what we want.”

But Bouchier was eventually lured into a well-signalled trap by ADR, who followed up her first bouncer by immediately bowling a second; Bouchier tried to hook this one, and only succeeded in edging to Kira Chathli behind the stumps.

Alice Capsey – presumably also desperate to impress Edwards – picked up a couple of cheap wickets with her off-spin, and then scratched out her own 81-ball fifty.

But Capsey was also involved in the unfortunate run-out of Paige Scholfield, who came three-quarters of the way down the track despite Capsey never leaving her ground, as Surrey collapsed to 93 for five.

To be fair, Surrey had earlier had to contend with a major disruption to their bowling plans: their opening bowler Phoebe Franklin left the field nursing an injury after just 10 balls, leaving Bryony Smith to step into the breach.

Hampshire initially made hay while the sun shone (literally), as openers Bouchier and Ella McCaughan put on a century stand in just 20 overs.

That should have laid the foundation for a 300+ total. Instead, a middle-over collapse of 3 for 11 saw the run-rate plummet, although some timely cameos from Abi Norgrove and Nancy Harman eventually pushed the total above 250.

Surrey boast the most England experience of any Tier 1 top order, so a target of 260 should have been well within their grasp. But some reckless slogging from Smith and Danni Wyatt-Hodge against Hampshire’s new-ball pair Lauren Bell and Freya Davies cost them two early wickets.

Sophia Dunkley then made a mess of trying to defend a fuller, straighter ball from Bell and was bowled, leaving Surrey three down at the end of the powerplay.

Two weeks ago, Surrey convincingly defeated Hampshire on this same ground in their pre-season warm-up after Alice Monaghan smashed a quickfire 71. But in the real thing, Monaghan’s deft, run-a-ball 40 – despite being struck with a fluency which put the top order to shame – couldn’t quite make up for the disastrous start.

Hampshire clearly felt the pressure as Monaghan’s 64-run partnership with Capsey progressed, dropping several catches and botching a couple of run-out chances. But the reintroduction of Linsey Smith in the 32nd over eventually did the trick, her sharp c&b seeing off Monaghan before fellow left-armer Bex Tyson wrapped things up with the final two Surrey wickets.

There’s still a long way to go, but for now, a Surrey team which everyone predicted would dominate this new competition are (alongside Essex) bringing up the rear of the Tier 1 points table.

This week:

• Smriti Mandhana and Sophie Ecclestone win in Wisden
• ⁠A new portrait of Charlotte Edwards in the Long Room
• ⁠A breathless start to Tier 1 as Somerset pull off a heist & Warwickshire v Hampshire ends in a tie

This week:

• Breaking news on the new Eng captain!
• NRR drama at the World Cup Qualifier
• Winners & losers from the Eng A tour
• The season has started & we’re backing Surrey & The Blaze
• ICC belatedly offer support to Afghanistan’s women

This week:

• Ellyse Perry signs for Hampshire
• Capsey & Scholfield score 100s for England ‘A’
• Ireland & Scotland fight for World Cup spots

1. Charlotte Edwards will be stepping down from her other coaching roles and focusing solely on England

Hampshire, Sydney and Mumbai’s loss is our gain!

2. Edwards already knows who the next England captain will be – and the rest of us will find out soon

Obviously, she didn’t tell us who she has in mind (partly because it sounds like she hasn’t spoken to the players yet – she’s properly starting off at Loughborough next week). There was maybe a bit of a hint later in the presser when she was assessing England’s current player pool and mentioned 4 senior players by name – Heather Knight (already ruled out!), Amy Jones (doesn’t want the job), Nat Sciver-Brunt, and Tammy Beaumont. We might be reading too much into that though…

Anyway, we’ll find out soon enough – she intends to appoint someone within the next couple of weeks. (It seems that Raf was completely wrong on this week’s episode of The CRICKETher Weekly – on all counts!)

3. Edwards isn’t a continuity candidate

Firstly, she’s about as anti-Jon-Ball as it’s possible to be. “They’ve had this mantra of entertaining and inspiring… [my role] is changing their focus. For me it’s about their game smarts and their game awareness,” she said. “It’s about winning. I just want to create some intelligent players who win games of cricket for England.”

Secondly, Lottie’s input into the Ashes review seems to have been pretty critical in convincing Clare Connor that there WAS an issue with the England team culture – Connor denied that this was a problem in her initial press conference the day after the Ashes whitewash, but now seems to have accepted that she was wrong, saying: “The review told us that we did need a significant reset in terms of… the environment.”

And lastly, while obviously being diplomatic enough not to name any names, Edwards also said that she would be ensuring professional standards around fitness were fully upheld throughout the England squad. “I will make the players more accountable for fitness,” she said.

4. County cricket is really going to matter

All England players will be available for the first seven rounds of the new 50-over One-Day Cup – Edwards has already decreed it, and she made it pretty clear that she will be enforcing this. “I want us to pick on performances,” she said. “You only learn that by playing. We’ve got a lot of young players who haven’t played enough cricket.”

She also effectively said that from now on, selection for England would depend on putting in good performances in county cricket. “I want England players to dominate county cricket,” she said.

5. The England head coach role was not advertised and the Rooney Rule was not adopted

Connor was pretty clear: she and Jonathan Finch did the review and concluded that Edwards was the candidate they wanted, based on 3 set criteria:

• Proven track record as a head coach
• The ability to create a winning culture
• A forensic understanding of the women’s game

If you ask us, the final point is essentially an admission that they got it wrong with Lewis, although when pressed on that (by Raf), Connor refused to concede this.

Anyhow, Connor did also say that the Rooney Rule had been adopted for the two previous appointments – Jon Lewis in 2022 and Lisa Keightley in 2019 – and that she remains committed to using it in future.

6. Some outsiders were involved in the Ashes review, but we may never know who they were

We found out tantalisingly little about the actual process of the review: Connor said that “some notable figures in the world game” had contributed, including several Australians, but apparently all contributions were made on condition of anonymity. So, unless those involved want to out themselves, that seems as close as we’re going to get to knowing who exactly they were.

7. The ECB will be recruiting a new national selector

Other than getting the England players to play more domestic cricket, this seems to be one of the key outcomes of the review. It’s worth remembering that in 2015, the ECB abolished their entire panel of England selectors, concentrating selection entirely in the hands of the head coach and leaving a lot of very unhappy people in their wake. A decade later, we have a mea culpa from Connor & co that this was the wrong thing to do. “We will be going out to recruit in the next couple of days for a national selector,” Connor said. “It’s bringing in some additional outside perspectives – that will be a key role in our leadership team.”

Please note that the opinions of guest contributors to CRICKETher do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editor.

By Andy Frombolton

The clamour for Jon Lewis to be sacked as England coach continues – without anyone explaining what he’s done so wrong or, more pertinently, what anyone else could realistically have done differently or better.

Heavily shackled by having to primarily select from a centrally-contracted group whose limits are well evidenced, and additionally limited by the paucity of credible ‘ready-to-go’ alternatives, Lewis has done as well as could be expected with the hand he was dealt.

Meanwhile, Charlotte Edwards is widely heralded as The Answer to the Problem. Whilst there’s no denying that she’s enjoyed significant achievements as a coach, recent results suggest that success doesn’t invariably follow wherever she goes: Vipers finished third in last year’s RHF Trophy and the CEC; Sydney Sixers finished fifth and sixth in the last 2 WBBLs; and MI were third in last years WPL (and hold the same position currently). In her early coaching days she also undoubtedly benefitted from the ‘Lottie Effect’ – attracting good players who wanted to be in her orbit with the resultantly-strong teams routinely crushing their opponents.

And what would her conditions be for taking the role? The right to ditch established players (however embarrassing for the ECB – and financially wasteful – this might be if they hold long contracts)? To prioritise trialling players during the upcoming summer series over results? For the ECB to publicly acknowledge that re-building will take a few years and may entail some low ‘lows’ en route? If those freedoms are what’s needed, why not just give Lewis the same?

It’s my strong view that Lewis is a good coach and that he should remain, perhaps with Edwards appointed as an advisor or deputy.

My earlier use of the term ‘rebuilding’ was deliberate because, for all the investment in the England team and for all the record-breaking crowds, the simple fact is that the current England squad’s collective zenith isn’t high enough to beat Australia or India in 50 over cricket.

Defenders of individual incumbents might seek to cite ICC rankings or statistics to justify their continued selection – but this ignores the fact that the majority of their performances are against international teams which are weaker than the better Tier 1 counties. The true test of an international cricketer is how they perform against the strongest opponents and, as illustrated in my last article, the performances of most of the current England squad crumble when playing Australia.

In which case, what possible purpose is served by continuing to pick this same group of players? Sometimes you need to accept that no amount of coaching or training or additional match experience is going to transform a player into a world beater. Business people refer to the ‘sunk cost fallacy’ to describe a cognitive bias that causes people to keep investing in something even when it’s no longer beneficial. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the original decision was wrong – just that it didn’t work out as hoped.

With the freedoms referred to earlier, whoever’s head coach this summer should therefore announce a series of England vs England A games to be played across the summer pitching incumbents (desperate to prove they still warrant their place) against challengers (eager to show that they don’t).

These games shouldn’t be hidden away, played behind closed gates as if they’re some sort of shameful talent slugfest, but promoted to encourage crowds and media scrutiny; with the best performers selected for the summer international series. (If some centrally-contracted players subsequently lose their places, the message can be all about the opening-up of the selection process to hitherto-overlooked talent rather than the ousted. That’s what PR people are for!)

The best performers should then play in a series of England A games versus the touring teams. (No touring team should turn down the chance for more match practice.)

The sooner the rebuilding starts, the sooner we’ll have an international team capable of matching Australia and India.

Here’s the 3 steps needed:

1. The ECB clarifies the head coach situation and announces a series of England vs England A matches; explaining that the purpose is to identify the group of players capable of (A) winning the 2026 World Cup (to be held in England), or (B) the Ashes in 2027.

Players should be given a proper ‘run’ to prove themselves at the highest level. Remember, Knight didn’t score a 50 until her 10th ODI innings and her second in her 33rd whilst Wyatt took 48 innings to score her maiden ODI 50. We cannot go back to the days of e.g. Gordon, Lamb and the two Smiths being discarded after a few games.

2. To commence the reset, start with the only truly world-class player we have – Nat Sciver-Brunt – who needs to be asked to take the ODI captaincy until after the October World Cup. A separate T20 captain should be appointed.

2. There needs to be a volte face in selection criteria. Chris Guest, head coach of the Under-19s, recently observed in a Cricketer article that “if you’ve got someone who is outstanding within their skill and can’t field as well as someone who is less good within their skill but can field brilliantly, the skill still takes precedent at the moment.”

Numerous games turn on moments of fielding brilliance but England have only one exceptional fielder – Wyatt-Hodge – whilst most of the other centrally-contracted players are not international-standard fielders; several to the point where it could be posited that their mistakes and lapses in the field outweigh any ‘delta’ skill in their principal discipline over their nearest rival.

A stunning catch or a sharp run-out is more likely to impact a result than having a fractionally-worse ER or a slightly-lower batting average/ Strike Rate. Hence this prevailing attitude needs to be reversed.

Going forward players need to know that they won’t be selected unless they are (or have the potential to rapidly become) world-class fielders.

In the last article, I proposed a new-look T20 squad and promised my ODI squad would follow. Given the short timeframe I’ve proposed a transitional squad to participate in the October World Cup plus possible contenders for each slot. For ease of reference, I’ve also included my (slightly modified) T20 squad for next summer’s World Cup.

Note: Ecclestone’s omission was explained in my previous article.

Amy Jones’ recent ODI batting form has been good. However, a keeper’s role goes beyond catching and stumping; a great keeper additionally covers a huge area behind the stumps, intercepts all incoming throws to make them look good, manages fielding angles for their captain and acts as the vocal drumbeat of the team. Jones doesn’t do any of these things well and hence October’s World Cup should be her swansong.

I’m assuming that Bryce, like Gordon before her, can be persuaded to swap allegiances if adequately incentivised. If not, Heath has just a few months to seize her chance. (If she doesn’t, Smale is breathing down her neck.)

In the last 18 months, Knight has turned herself into a versatile and creative T20 batter. (In the last 2 years her T20 average is 33.6 SR 129, before that her figures were average 28.3 SR 116.) This evolution warrants her inclusion as a specialist batter notwithstanding her decreasing agility in the field.

Capsey might need to replace Scrivens to provide a sixth bowling option. (N.B. Wyatt could extend her career if she returned to bowling. Admittedly, she hasn’t bowled in internationals since 2020 but her stats are decent and even a couple of overs per game would give a captain more options.) Regardless of when she enters the senior team, Perrin’s bowling needs to be encouraged. Australia’s men’s and women’s teams demonstrate the advantages of having lots of batters who can bowl a few overs.

This week:

• Connor’s Ashes Inquest
• Are the Ashes issues systemic?
• Does the sale of The Hundred mean the end of double-headers?
• Will women’s cricket benefit from The Hundred windfall?