Ahead of the County Championship season from Good Friday, we look at some of the players looking to press their England Test claims for the series at home to New Zealand from June 4.
The batters
A namecheck from England managing director of cricket Rob Key can never be a bad thing and that is what Glamorgan’s Asa Tribe received during Key’s media rounds last week as he was grilled about the Ashes debacle and what changes would be made.
With openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley averaging 27 and 20 respectively during the 4-1 loss in Australia, and management now committed to there being “consequence” for underperformance moving forward, there may well be top-order vacancies.
Tribe scored an eye-catching century for England Lions against Australia A in December
Jersey international Tribe could benefit from that after a 2025 season in which he averaged a shade over 45 with two hundreds and three fifties across 11 innings.
With Glamorgan now promoted to Division One, there will be more eyes on Tribe, who also hit a century for the England Lions in Australia over the winter.
Surrey’s Dom Sibley and Nottinghamshire’s Haseeb Hameed piled on the runs in the top tier last year, each amassing over 1,200. They have not been seen in international cricket during the Bazball era but may now harbour hopes of a recall, particularly Hameed, whose strike-rate of 58.24 in 2025 eclipsed Sibley’s 45.90.
Durham’s Ben McKinney and Sussex’s Tom Haines, who opened together for the Lions this winter, are other contenders. So, too, McKinney’s Durham team-mate Emilio Gay, a player who hit four Championship tons last season.
Emilio Gay scored four County Championship hundreds for Durham last season
The wicketkeepers
If England move on from Jamie Smith after an Ashes tour in which he struggled with the bat and became rather timid behind the stumps after a couple of errors, Somerset’s James Rew would appear the most likely replacement.
He topped the 1,000-run mark in county cricket last year and has long been viewed as a player of the future.
Yet his younger brother and fellow wicketkeeper Thomas – the 18-year-old who skippered England to the final of the Under 19 World Cup earlier this year – may have an even higher ceiling.
Thomas Rew, 18, is seen as a player for the future
Durham’s Ollie Robinson – not the Sussex one, who we will get on to later – arguably has the best mix of glovework and batting prowess, but did struggle with the blade last term, averaging below 30.
Surrey’s Ben Foakes will always be the pick of the wicketkeeping purists – the ball melts into his gloves – and he will wear the mitts ahead of Smith for The Kia Oval side, while Yorkshire captain Jonny Bairstow will never give up on a recall that looks slim at best.
The seamers
While England’s batting was below par in The Ashes, so, too, was the bowling at times. Too many short and wide deliveries that Australia’s players could feast on. You probably wouldn’t have got that from Essex metronome Sam Cook.
Sam Cook played his one and only Test to date against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge last May
The question for England is whether they feel he is quick or effective enough for the international game having given him a run out against Zimbabwe last summer on a batter-friendly Trent Bridge pitch and then not selected him since.
Australia’s Michael Neser showed pace is not everything as he impressed against England this winter so perhaps Cook, who has 328 first wickets at an average of 20.64, will get another gig.
Like Tribe, he was namechecked by Key recently and there is a vacancy for a traditional English seamer following Chris Woakes being ushered into international retirement.
But maybe Sussex’s Ollie Robinson – we promised you we would get to him – is that guy.
The 32-year-old has not played for England in over two years, seemingly due to fitness issues and/or personality clashes, but you couldn’t help but think he would have been an asset when the tourists were offering up hit-me balls during The Ashes.
Tall, accurate and with the ability to nip the ball both ways, Robinson has taken his 76 wickets in 20 Tests at an average under 23. He can rub people up the wrong way but, crucially, those people include opposition batters and you want your bowlers to do that.
Ollie Robinson has taken 76 wickets at an average of 22.92 in 20 Tests
The spinners
Erm…
The stocks are not exactly bulging with England omitting frontline spinner Shoaib Bashir for the whole of the Ashes and playing part-timer Will Jacks in the last four Tests.
Bashir has swapped Somerset, where he was understudy to Jack Leach, for Derbyshire and will hope to kick on under the ebullient figure of head coach Mickey Arthur.
The dependable Leach was the most prolific spinner in County Championship Division One last term, striking 52 times, and would probably offer the control Bashir often lacks, although he may not deliver as many magic balls.
Northamptonshire spinner Calvin Harrison has impressed Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton
Northamptonshire leg-spinner Calvin Harrison picked up 36 wickets in Division Two, plus hit a hundred and two fifties.
Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton is a big fan.
There will also be a clamour for another leggie in Rehan Ahmed, although it could be argued that his batting by far outstrips his bowling at the moment with the 21-year-old scoring five red-ball hundreds last season and 13 of his 23 wickets coming in one game.
A spin-bowling all-rounder role is perhaps Sussex star James Coles’ best route into the Test team, too.
He scored over 1,000 runs in the Championship in 2025 but a spot as an out-and-out batter in the England middle order is likely to be blocked by Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook and Ben Stokes.
Watch England’s home international summer live on Sky Sports, starting with a three-Test series against New Zealand from June 4. Not got Sky? Stream cricket contract-free on NOW.
