The Times - UK (2022-05-28)

the times | Saturday May 28 2022 1GS 3

Cricket Sport

player this guy is, and what his potential

is. Let’s see him, give him an opportuni-

ty in a position which has been difficult.

If he’s able to nail it, then your middle

order looks very, very good.”

McCullum indicated he may pick

Stuart Broad and James Anderson, and

appeared to reject the rest-and-rota-

tion policy adopted by Chris Silver-

wood and Joe Root, the former head

coach and captain respectively.

“I’ll probably get in trouble here but I

like to pick the best team every time,” he

said. “You never know where things will

go in the long term. My job will be to

plan as if you’ll live for ever but live as if

you’ll die tomorrow.

“Bowlers have told me that they don’t

shared responsibility for the gamble on

promoting Ollie Pope to fill the vacant

slot at No 3.

“I have got an idea of how I think we

should play which aligns to the

skipper’s ideas as well and once you

have that you can start to formulate the

players who you think are capable

of being able to do that as well,”

McCullum said.

“It’s not a massive difference in the

team that played previously, but there’s

a couple of subtle changes, which may

just be a sign of how we want to play.

Ollie Pope at three, for instance, yes

there’s risk with it but everyone that’s

been around English cricket, all the

guys in the side talk about how good a

v New Zealand

First Test, Lord’s June 2-6

Second Test, Trent Bridge June 10-14

Third Test, Headingley June 23-27

v India

Postponed Test, Edgbaston, July 1-5

v South Africa

First Test, Lord’s Aug 17-21

Second Test, Old Trafford Aug 25-29

Third Test, the Oval Sept 8-12

6 All live on Sky Sports Cricket

England’s summer

Te s t s

Ball problem

is blamed on

type of grass

Ellie McDonald

Cows’ grazing habits and the Covid

pandemic could be to blame for the

complaints about Dukes balls this

season, according to the owner of the

company that manufactures them.

Dukes said the balls used for the Test

series between England and New

Zealand, which starts next week, would

be hand-picked after complaints were

made about their performance and

quality during the early rounds of the

County Championship.

The England bowlers Stuart Broad

and James Anderson have both been

critical of the balls for a lack of swing,

going soft and losing shape too quickly,

making it easier for batsmen to score

runs and harder for bowlers to take

wickets. Broad said it was like bowling

with “a rolled up piece of plasticine”.

Dilip Jajodia, who is the owner of Brit-

ish Cricket Balls Ltd, told The Daily Tele-

graph: “I am acknowledging there is a

problem. We are very pleased with our

reputation but this year after many

years we have got this problem and I

don’t know what it is.”

Jajodia sources the leather from cows

in England and Scotland and says there

could have been an issue with the type

of grass they were being fed, the envi-

ronment, and problems related to Cov-

id. “The tanning process is not easy to

do,” Jajodia said. “Perhaps the guy was

sick with Covid and some other tempo-

rary worker has come into the job. All

that can affect it. It is what these cows

eat that makes the leather right.”

Potton Town’s first XI feared the worst

when the umpire for their Monday-

night Heritage Cup quarter-final

informed them Sir Alastair Cook was

playing for Bedfordshire Young Farm-

ers. They need not have worried: they

had Kyran Shackleton, a 15-year-old

two days away from his first GCSE

exam, who removed the former

England Test captain’s middle stump.

The Farmers were 70 for three in

response to Potton Town’s 154 for three

after Cook — he of 161 Tests and 12,472

runs — had hit Shackleton for two

fours, before he swung hard and

missed, and was out for 20 off 15 balls.

Shackleton finished with four for 37,

and Potton Town won by 26 runs.

The moment was caught on camera

and when Shackleton got home, he

spent at least an hour watching it on

repeat. “At the moment I would say it has

changed my life,” Shackleton told The

Daily Telegraph, “though it might turn

out to be just my 15 minutes of fame.”

“I don’t think he knew what to feel

after getting [Cook] out,” Sean Stevens,

who scored an unbeaten century for

Potton Town, said. “He was beaming

from ear to ear — a sort of ‘what have I

just done?’ look.”

After the match Cook bought drinks

for the players — though Shackleton

had English literature revision to do,

albeit he ended up watching his clip

over and over again.

Cook wicket

changed my

life, says teen

Elgan Alderman

side in limbo find its soul

get tired bowling for Test wins. As long

as we’re challenging for Test wins, I’m

sure the guys will be ready to go. They

know their way around the park. There’s

280 Tests between [Stuart] Broad and

[James] Anderson — it’s not their first

rodeo and I am sure if they are tired or

need a break, they will let us know.”

With the head coach role being split

between red and white ball, McCullum

is being given some flexibility with his

own workload and, because he is not

moving his family over here perma-

nently, he will be given time to go home

to New Zealand. The ECB said that

this would be worked out in conjunc-

tion with Key to fit in with England’s

Test schedule.

“He plays the game how

I like it to be played and

puts bums on seats.

I think he’s going to be a

wonderful leader. He’ll go

over the wall first, and

guys will go with him.”

STOKES AS

CAPTAIN

time does come? If you do

that and you understand

your mortality as a

cricketer, I think you can

enjoy and really find that

sweet spot in the final

years of your career.

“I’ll probably get in

trouble here, but I like to

pick the best team every

time. My job will be to plan

as if you’ll live forever but

live as if you’ll die

tomorrow. Bowlers have

told me previously that

they don’t get tired

bowling for Test wins. As

long as we’re challenging

for wins, I’m sure the guys

will be up and ready to go.”

BROAD,

ANDERSON

AND SELECTION

“He has an immense

amount of experience as

a captain and his ability

to now fall into a

leadership position

without a title is going to

be a real key transition for

him. If we get that right it

provides a nice layer of

leadership around

Stokesy.”

ROOT BACK

IN THE RANKS

“I’m looking forward to

chatting about what they

want out of the next few

years. How do they want to

leave the game when the