This time next week England and India will begin the 1st of a gruelling 5 Test series to be held over just 42days. If you like Test match cricket then you could be in for a real treat with an England team looking to establish some kind of consistency in the red ball game up against a star studded India team, many of whom have a point to prove in English conditions. 

Joe Root and the England selectors will be naming their 1st Test squad on 26th July. Source

The Vitality T20 Blast has been played across the previous few weeks at domestic level for England, however, the powers that be included a single round of 4 day County Championship matches that started last Sunday in order to allow the players some chance to realign their techniques in preparation for the Tests. 

Lancashire v Yorkshire 

There is an old adage in English cricket that simply goes "Strong Yorkshire, Strong England". Certainly the Red Rose has produced many fine players for the national team over the years and they will be sure to be contributing Joe Root  and Jonny Bairstow to the Test 11 on 1st August. 

For Lancashire's part they look likely to have 3 players in the starting 11 in Keaton Jennings who will probably open the batting, James Anderson, England's all time record wicket taker and Jos Buttler who as per my previous post, I hope to see replace Bairstow behind the stumps. 

The 2 teams played an epic T20 game last Friday night, a match that was reduced to 14 overs due to rain and ended with Lancashire winning by 1 run in front of a packed and jubilant Old Trafford. 

The 4 day game that followed was equally exciting and turbulent although it perhaps didn't provide the best preparation for the likes of Root and Bairstow who have been playing solely limited overs cricket for the past 6 weeks. Both players became part of a memoral hat-trick for Lancs bowler Jordan Clark - Joe Root trapped LBW for 22, while Bairstow was out first ball to complete the spell of 3 wickets in 3 balls. 

Bairstow would return in the 2nd innings to score a belligerent 82 from just 67 balls. It was the highest score in a fast moving game and ultimately proved to be the difference between the teams. Root for his part though did take career best figures of 4-5 in Lancs 2nd innings to set up the win for Yorkshire. 

On the Lancashire side, Keaton Jennings got himself in twice but failed to kick on. Jos Buttler made a 50 as he lead the Lancs charge in trying to chase down the 322 needed in the final innings before becoming one of Joe Root's victims. While James Anderson bowled solidly if not spectacularly in claiming a wicket in both innings. 

If nothing else, the game did provide 5 of England's likely starting 11 the chance to participate in a hotly contested derby, although it's likely that the Test matches will require a little more patience and precision. 

Jordan Clark dismisses Englands key middle order duo of Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow on his way to a hat-trick. Source


Nottingham v Surrey 

Another game that on paper looked like it would be an even match up, was the clash between the top 2 sides in the championship Notts and Surrey. Top team Surrey, currently have several players in Mark Stoneman, Ben Foakes and Sam Curran who are on the fringes of the Test squad as well as Rory Burns, Ollie Pope and Amar Virdi  who will all be hoping to get a first call up. Meanwhile for Notts, Stuart Broad is a sure starter for England and Jake Ball would have hoped that a strong showing here would give him  a chance to named as England's 1st change bowler. 

The game itself finished with Surrey crushing Notts by an innings and 183 runs. Burns made 153, Stoneman 86 and Curran 70. Sam Curran was also effective with the ball taking 3 wickets in the match. Curran is a talented player and at the age of 20 will only get better. He may make the squad for the Tests but it's unlikely that he will play unless Ben Stokes is injured (as was the case when Curran debuted against Pakistan in June) or otherwise unavailable due to his impending court case. Either way, it would be prudent of England to get a combative and confident young cricketer such as Curran around the Test team, even when he's not in the 11, in order to aid his development. 

Sam Curran debuted at the age of 17. He was the 2nd youngest player to play for Surrey and the youngest ever player to take a 1st class 5 wicket haul in this country. He has gone on to be a regular for Surrey over the past few seasons. Source

The experienced Stuart Broad took 2 wickets but his fellow Notts bowlers took some flack, including Jake Ball who managed 1-128 and went at more than 5 an over. With Broad and Anderson taking just 4 wickets between them and both ending up on the losing team it is hardly ideal preparation for the 2 men charged with doing the bulk of the wicket taking this summer. However, both are seasoned campaigners and one would hope that they can raise their games a notch on the big stage. 


Worcestershire v Somerset 

This game was very much billed as a battle of the spinners as Worcestershire's Moeen Ali looked to build on his good work for England with the white ball and win back his Test place from Somerset's Dom Bess who in turn had been drafted in earlier in the summer to replace his injured county teammate Jack Leach in the national team. 

Somerset's spin twins Dom Bess & Jack Leach will both be hoping to feature in England's Test team this summer. Source

As it was, Somerset decided just to field just the one spinner in Jack Leach on a pitch that didn't look set to turn much. There had been rumours that the ECB may "incentivise" Worcs to create a turning pitch in order to give all 3 players a good run out but that doesn't seem to have happened. Moeen Ali though did show that his good form has been carried over from the white ball game as he finished the match with 8 wickets. Leach on the other hand was only given 4 overs in Worcs first innings as the seamers dominated proceedings. Going into the final days play today, Leach will be hoping that he will get a much greater workload and help his side take the 8  wickets they require for victory. 

All 3 of England's likely spin options have had limited opportunities and/or success this summer in the first class game

With Adil Rashid who earlier in the year made himself unavailable for selection in red ball cricket at any level now being open to a Test match return, the slow bowling positions would appear to be one area where the selectors have much to discuss. 

For his part Trevor Bayliss has hinted at a place for Jack Leach ahead of Dom Bess in the side if he can deliver a match winning performance today. Earlier this week he said 

I think Bess has got a lot of his career in front of him. But Leach was the one who was identified a couple of years ago and done well over the last few seasons. I think if he shows any form at all having a left-arm spinner in there would be of benefit.


Elsewhere in English First Class Cricket

Ben Stokes got some further cricket as he looks to return to his best after what has been a stop start year of injuries and off-field problems. He bowled to great effect in Durham's game against Gloucestershire taking 8 wickets in the match. Later today he will also be looking to add some touch and timing to his batting, something which has been sorely lacking in his performances in 2018 thus far, when Durham look to score 305 more runs on the final day. A return to form for the talismanic all-rounder would be a real bonus for England and would allow them even greater options in the make up of their team. Of late, England have preferred to bat Stokes at 6 and use him as a 4th seamer + 1 spin option. A fit and firing Stokes gives England the option to use him as a back up to Broad & Anderson + 2 specialist spinners or to possibly add in an extra bowler as they did at times last summer against South Africa.

England played spinners Moeen Ali & Liam Dawson at Lords last year alongside Anderson, Broad, Wood and Stokes. On flat pitches against a strong Indian batting line-up could this be an option this summer? Source

Chris Woakes continued his recovery from injury by playing for Warwickshire against Middlesex. Woakes has an excellent recent record in home Tests and will be someone I am sure that the England selectors will want in the side at some point. However, he seemed short of his best in this game and a decision must now be made as to whether to include him this early in the series. Woakes was up against Dawid Malan and Nick Gubbins both of whom will be hoping for inclusion in the squad. As I have written on previous occasions, I am not convinced that Malan has the class or quality to bat at number 4 for England and I would be in favour of seeing Joe Root moved to that key position and go head to head with Virat Kohli. That being the case England would likely name a new number 3 and Nick Gubbins did ok in making 26 & 47 to stake his claim for the job. Malan in contrast could only add 6 & 28. 

Dawid Malan has struggled for form since making a century at the WACCA this winter. Source

India v Essex

As part of their preparations, India will be playing a warm-up game against last year's County champions, Essex. In order to not get too warm, the Indians have requested the game be cut from 4 to 3 days as the heat wave that has effected England for the past 6 weeks looks set to continue. Ultimately such conditions will likely favour India but it's understandable that they wouldn't want their players exposed to too much heat just days before a 5 match series starts. 

Essex have named a strong looking batting line-up for the game that starts today, which includes Tom Westley, a player who debuted for the Test team last year but seems to have slipped from the selectors minds and Dan Lawrence another young batsman who has been touted as a possible Test player in the future. However, Essex have not named a first choice bowling attack which means we will not get the chance to see last year's leading first class wicket taker and another man that the selectors must have at least cast an eye over, Jamie Porter. 

The game itself will not have first-class status which will mean that India are likely to give most if not all of their 18 man squad some game time in the match. 

The likes of Rahane and Murali Vijay have played as part of India A's matches in England this summer in preparation for the upcoming Test series Source