Key events
Ali Martin
Ethan Bamber may be an adopted Brummie but it’s fair to say he has the city’s self-effacing nature down to a tee. After sealing Warwickshire’s ninth County Championship with one final explosion of bails, and watching captain Ed Barnard lift the trophy to cheers of “You Bears” from the stands, Bamber tried to credit anyone but himself and even claimed to be an “average cricketer”.
Average? Not so fast. No bowler in Division One has sent down more than Bamber’s 445.3 overs this year, nor can top the 69 wickets that he finished on after rattling Tom Scriven’s timbers to wrap up a comprehensive innings and 79-run victory over Leicestershire. The 27-year-old ploughed through all 14 games of the campaign, with his waspish brand of wobble-seam and swing consistently undermining batting line-ups in this slow-burn triumph.
Kevin Pietersen’s return to the England dressing-room has evoked all those JFK innings he played in international cricket. I never took euphoric drugs, but I liveblogged several KP specials and that’s basically the same thing. In this silly job, nothing has come close to the exhilaration of the KP surge.
Ali Martin
Kevin Pietersen insisted he is a “completely different” person these days as he sat down at Headingley – the ground where he declared “it’s tough being me in this dressing room” 14 years earlier – and spoke at length about his role as the new “specialist mentor” to England’s white-ball teams.
In the aftermath of a 16-run loss to Sri Lanka that sends this late summer one-day series into an Oval decider on Sunday, Pietersen also revealed that while not full-time – “I’ll be in and out” – his input may not be restricted to the challenge of winning the 50-over World Cup in South Africa next year. A home Ashes comes before that, the series that launched his career back in 2005, and discussions with Stephen Fleming, the incoming Test coach, and Joe Root have already taken place.
For now though it is Harry Brook’s team that has his attention beyond work as a content creator and home life, with this role the brainchild of Brendon McCullum, now the specialist white-ball coach. Pietersen was racking his brains as to whether he had publicly criticised England when McCullum’s name flashed up on his phone.
“I thought I was in trouble,” said Pietersen. “‘What have I done now? Have I said something?’ But [after]: ‘How are you doing? ‘All good?’ ‘Yes, I’m fine. What do you want?’ [McCullum replied:] ‘I want you to join us in the dressing room. We want to work over the next 12 months to be competitive in South Africa next year.’
Matt Hughes
Ben Stokes is on course for another clash with the England and Wales Cricket Board because the governing body is unlikely to grant him permission to play in overseas franchise competitions next summer.
The former England captain is understood to have had discussions with franchises in the United States’ Major League Cricket (MLC) and Pakistan Super League (PSL) about joining them next season, but the Guardian has learned that the ECB is reluctant to provide the No-Objection Certificate required to play in either competition while he remains registered with Durham.
There’s another ODI taking place today: Daniel Gallan is on duty for the second match between South Africa and Australia.
Preamble
Every cloud, eh? England’s defeat to Sri Lanka at Headingley on Thursday was a shock, and a bit of a shocker, but it comes with a reward of sorts: a series decider. Eoin Morgan craved them when he was England captain, because they were the closest bilateral cricket came to replicating the pressure of a World Cup knockout game.
Harry Brook’s team are about to play their third series decider of the year. They dealt pretty well with the first two, beating Sri Lanka and India after scoring 357-3 and then 387-3. If they score 417-3 today, something weird is going on.
