Cricket Banter

^^ Bluey may well have played his last match for England in any format, I can't see him coming back from this one, he will be 35 in September. Usually you drop him at your peril & he will fight his way back into the side, this time it feels different. The England management are moving on to younger players.
The next ODI World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe & Namibia is in 2027, highly unlikely a 38 year old Bairstow would be considered. Even the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka & India in early 2026 is way off.
I believe that Bairstow with a young family will find this latest dropping easier to take. Arguably one of our best multi-format players, his stats look solid despite being in & out of the Test side & having to adapt to various roles as keeper, non keeper, opener, middle-order batsman. 100 Tests, 107 ODI's & 80 T20I is a lot of high pressure cricket switching from one to another, a quality career.

And there are two new seamers in the squad, Gus Atkinson and Dillon Pennington.
It will be Jimmy Anderson's last test.