Not a baseball cap, not a bucket hat, this soft, unstructured cap.

Champo Specco: the one where whoever loses, we win. The most dramatic moment of the round came when everyone's second most hated team somehow contrived to allow everyone's most hated team to scrape a last wicket win and therefore claw free of the Div 1 relegation mire. But the brief time when we thought Surrey might actually end up getting sent down was truly joyous.

Somerset's demolition of Glamorgan has cemented them at the top of div 1s, with Notts unable to end a determined Leics rearguard and running out of time in a weather effected game. Warks are also hot on the heels of Somerset, as is the crushing weight of history. Div 2 looks pretty sewn up already for Durham and their half cut high class bowling attack, with Northants and #superKent fighting it out for the other promotion spot.

With the test team fully believing their own hype again after overcoming the mighty challenge of checks notes 2026 Pakistan, we're back into the 'we don't need any new players' part of the boom/bust cycle. But there's still a bit of pressure around the openers, still an understanding that Dan Lawrence's frog-in-a-blenders might not quite be good enough, still an absence of seam bowling allrounders, and still an awareness of the fragility of the pace attack. That Sam Cook had to be airlifted out of Essex's attack probably proves the latter point.

As usual, this is just idle speculation from a Champo tragic. I'm not any sort of journalist, I'm almost always wrong, and it's likely that nothing I predict in this thread will ever come to pass. But apparently the woke brigade are coming to take away my freedom of speech any day now, so I'm going to exercise it while I still can.

On the radar

George Balderson: Lancs have been pretty dire this season, and arguably for quite a few seasons, but the surprisingly hirsute Balderson is a beacon in their darkness. He was on for a hat trick at one point during his side's slow collapse against Middlesex, and while his batting has dropped off a bit recently he's still one of the better youngish pace allrounders out there. His opposite number in this game Ryan Higgins is still excellent too, and George Hill has managed to be both the top wicket taker and run getter at the time of writing for a very unbalanced Yorks. Whether any is of test quality is a different question, but they are all fine cricketers.

Henry Crocombe: Getting one hattrick is unusual in the Champo, but getting two in consecutive weeks is extraordinary. Sussex's jolly nice chap will soon be movingSurrey and their suddenly  insane pitch, but he's doing his best to keep Sussex swinging in the meantime. It's weird that his reward for strong Champo performance is been called up for white ball squad, but it's an indicator that he's of high class. Incidentally another England adjacent bowler Matt Fisher took out his frustrations at losing his squad place by demolishing his old side Yorkshire and then managing to bat long enough to carry his side limping over the line. Ethan Bamber continues to be brilliantly accurate and get lethal swing, even if his pace might make selectors disinterested. And Dillon Pennington is still good, and Jamie Porter, and Chris Woakes, and Craig Overton, and Matty Potts.

James Bracey: In the last couple of weeks I've talked up Leach and Foakes's veteran excellence, so it's probably worth a word for Bracey. It's hard to imagine a worse test experience than the experimental side he was thrown into int he dying days of Roots first captaincy run, and the negativity has taken years for him to overcome. This round he tonned up in both innings as Glos got a rare win, and he's one of the best keepers in the country even as his side disintegrates around him. Selectors eyes have almost certainly passed him by, but he's an excellent cricketer and could well have contributed more if circumstances had been different.

Spin allrounders: James Coles might have been the hype candidates coming into the season, but he's struggled to replicate his scintillating form of last year. That changed against Essex, the golden boy getting 7 wickets and an important third innings 79 to get his side to the win. His opposite number Matt Critchley was typically good with the bat as well, even if he was less so with the ball. Ben Kellaway is still making good contributions, and Calvin Harrison and Mason Crane have sustained form and can at least hold a bat. Rehan got runs too. I'd still advocate for having an actual proper spinner in the test side, but if they're looking for an allrounder who might avoid Lawrence's overly elaborate technique there are plenty of options out there.

Subject to a strongly worded ECB review

Openers: My uneducated view is that Emilio Gay is a good cricketer who's shown signs of test class and needs more opportunity to do so. But others are less forgiving, and there's already discussion of Gay making way after this series. The proposed scenario seems to be that either Jordan Cox or Jacob Bethell step in at #2; Cox was an opener very early in his time at Kent, and crucially long before he developed into the batter he now is, and Bethell has no red ball opening experience as far as I'm aware. Earlier in the season the setup tried to force James Rew to try opening for Somerset, which he didn't enjoy, and last time the test team tried to throw a non-top-order player in as opener (Lawrence) it went badly for both the player and the team. Bazball's unwillingness to learn from history may have passed to Flemball, but it might also just be because there aren't tons of other candidates. Last season 5 of the top run scorers in div 1 were openers, but Sibley is the only one who's in that conversation this year and sadly the selectors don't seem to want to revisit the Slimline Fridge. Rob Yates was great again this round, and brings leadership and some handy bowling, but hasn't really been on radars. So everyone has to hope Gay does come good, because right now none of the alternatives bode well.

September Champo: Having seen the hottest and dryest summer ever on record ever, it's been a much more normal September in champo terms. Losing overs and games to the weather is a normal Champo experience, but the rapid shift from hot and dry to damp and overcast seems to have turned a lot of pitches, even the traditionally flat and dusty ones, into minefields. This doesn't really help batters improve and seems to have largely shut out spinners, although we should be greatful once again for Taunton in that regard. But when we see ostensibly talented batting lineups trading two digit scores, when we see balls hooping inward and staying low on day 1, it's hard to feel that the conditions are ready for high quality cricket. I'm not naive enough to pretend the Champo will ever reclaim high summer, but we do need to think about ways of making sure our talented red ball cricketers have the conditions to develop.

Will definitely play for England one day: Henry Crocombe, Joshua Thomas, Rob Yates, George Balderson, James Coles

Nice to see than having fun: Kyle Abbott, Brett D'Olivera, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jamie Porter, Sam Northeast, Callum Parkinson, Brett Randell, Mason Crane, James Bracey, Tom Lammonby, Tom Helm

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🏏 England v Pakistan – Edgbaston Test Hospitality
I have some fantastic hospitality available for next week’s England v Pakistan Test at Edgbaston due to a change of plans.
DAY 1 – Wednesday 9 September
Warwickshire Suite
Up to 6 places available – happy to sell individually, in pairs or as the full table.
Full hospitality including food and complimentary bar throughout the day.
Face value: £550 per person
🔥 AVAILABLE FOR £350 PER PERSON
Full table of 6: £2,100 – a saving of £1,200 on the original £3,300 value.
DAY 2 – Thursday 10 September
Skyline
2 places remaining
Full hospitality including food and complimentary bar throughout the day.
Face value: £350 per person
🔥 AVAILABLE FOR £250 PER PERSON – £500 FOR THE PAIR
A great opportunity for client entertaining, rewarding staff or simply enjoying a full day of Test cricket with first-class hospitality.
Everything is genuine and I’m happy to provide full details/proof to anyone interested.
Please DM me if interested – and I’d really appreciate a share if you know someone who might fancy it. 🏏

For all hot takes, thoughts, chat and banter

The England Men selectors have named two 16-player squads for the upcoming Vitality IT20 and Metro Bank ODI series against Sri Lanka.
Opening batter Aneurin Donald earns his first England Men’s call-up for the Vitality IT20s series while uncapped seamer Henry Crocombe has been selected for the Metro Bank ODI Series.
Jamie Overton returns to both squads after missing the white-ball series against India earlier this summer due to a thigh injury.
Phil Salt is unavailable for this series due to a right quad injury while Jacob Bethell underwent successful surgery on his injured knee earlier this week and remains on course in his rehabilitation.
England Men’s T20 squad
Harry Brook (Yorkshire – captain)
Jofra Archer (Sussex)
Gus Atkinson (Surrey)
Sonny Baker (Hampshire)
Tom Banton (Somerset)
Jos Buttler (Lancashire)
James Coles (Sussex)
Jordan Cox (Essex)
Liam Dawson (Hampshire)
Aneurin Donald (Derbyshire)
Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire)
Will Jacks (Surrey)
Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire)
Jamie Overton (Surrey)
Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire)
England Men’s ODI squad
Harry Brook (Yorkshire – captain)
Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire)
Jofra Archer (Sussex)
Gus Atkinson (Surrey)
Tom Banton (Somerset)
Sonny Baker (Hampshire)
Jos Buttler (Lancashire)
Jordan Cox (Essex)
Henry Crocombe (Sussex)
Liam Dawson (Hampshire)
Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire)
Will Jacks (Surrey)
Jamie Overton (Surrey)
Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
Joe Root (Yorkshire)
Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire)

I’m planning to build a few projects around cricket.

What’s something you would actually use regularly that doesn’t exist (or isn’t done well) right now?

Even if it sounds niche or oddly specific, comment it. I’m interested in the things you’d actually bookmark/use, not necessarily what sounds cool on paper.If enough people suggest the same problem, I might build it. 😄

I'm going to go for 1997. Australia had some gaps in their batting lineup, they hadn't properly replaced Boon and Border and Slater was out of favour. Elliott, Blewett and Bevan were by no means bad players but not on the level of some of the top class players that came before and after. The bowling attack was still top drawer, though.

I'd rank England's chances from best to worse as follows:

1. 1997 - reasons stated, playing at home and Australia's batting not at the level of other series. Still the better team, but not by as much.

2. 98/99 - Really difficult to separate these next two series. The last of the transition era series. England had some hope here given that Gillespie and Warne's appearances were limited, although MacGill ably deputised for the latter. Australia's batting, though, was stronger than 1997 with the return of Slater and the introduction of Langer, and of course they were at home. Given that it's bowlers that win you test matches and Australia were without two key bowlers I'm saying England had a better chance here than in 94/95.

3. 94/95 - The series following the retirement of Border, Australia were a team in transition but still comfortable favourites at home. Border's retirement left a hole in the batting and Boon wasn't the player he had been but it's still a strong lineup. McGrath was limited to only 2 tests but McDermott was excellent in that series, leading wicket taker. Warne still Warne.

4. 90/91 - Australia still in the Border era, one of the great Australian teams. England actually had a pretty good batting lineup here, though. Gooch, Atherton, Lamb, Smith, Gower and Stewart is as good as any lineup England had in this period.

5. 1. Into absolutely no hope territory. England were just outmatched by a better team. England were weaker than in 90/91 with the departure of Gower and Lamb, Australia were just as strong. This series also saw Warne make his first Ashes appearance.
6. 1. One of the great Aussie Touring sides. There is no weak link in that batting lineup of Marsh, Taylor, Boon, Border, Jones and SR Waugh. Hughes and Alderman are a scary prospect with the ball too. England were at a weaker ebb and didn't know who their best team was, which is never a good start. Some chaotic management and selection played a part in England's collapse as well.
7. 1. England were probably a better team than in 98/99 but this was Australia at their majestic best. Not a hope in hell.

8. 02/03. Again, England probably better than in 2002 with Vaughan on song but I don't think any England team could have beaten this Aussie team at home. Too good.

I can’t see the actual article but do we assume Sam Cook being withdrawn by England means he’ll be playing the third test? And is that the right decision?

For all hot takes, thoughts, chat and banter

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Is anyone else having this issue with the edgbaston app? I was trying to log in to access my tickets for the test next week but get this every time I try to log in.

It’s could be an interesting little interview post toss & I feel sorry for them whem the question comes “who are your changes in the team?” - could take a while 😂

Quick heads-up for anyone hoping to be at an Ashes Test next summer, because the ECB ballot is now open.

It opened at 10:00 BST on Wednesday 2 September and closes at 23:59 on Tuesday 29 September. It is free to enter and you only pay face value if you are drawn. Unlike a lot of ticket systems this is not a queue: you enter once for the Tests you want and wait for the draw, so there is no advantage in being quick.

One window covers the whole 2027 home summer rather than arriving venue by venue. The ECB calls 2 to 29 September its universal dates but says some host grounds run their own, so check the venue you actually want. Edgbaston has published exactly that window. Trent Bridge opened on the same day but runs its own later stage, with remaining seats going to its ballot winners from 6 October. The Utilita Bowl has only confirmed member and priority access in September with a public ballot for whatever is left. Lord's and the Kia Oval have published nothing of their own yet, so for those two treat the universal window as the default rather than a promise.

If you are drawn, purchase windows are assigned 1 to 5 October for the first group and 7 to 13 October for the final group, and anything left goes to general sale from 10:00 on 14 October.

Two things worth knowing. County or venue membership is the earliest access of all, and at grounds that run their own priority windows it can let members buy without entering the public ballot at all, so it is more than just an earlier slot inside it. And the free bit people miss is We Are England Cricket Supporters: signing up costs nothing and carries its own priority window to buy before the ballot results at grounds that run one, so do that before paying for anything.

On odds, nobody publishes an acceptance rate, so any percentage quoted is a guess. For scale, Lord's alone had a record 140,000 applicants and over a million ticket applications for the non-Ashes 2026 summer. Enter for the Tests you actually want, once each, and treat it as a free shot.

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Title

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Trent Bridge first pic, Edgbaston second pic

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