In the unforgettable Trent Bridge Test that finished a week ago, 1,675 runs were scored. There were five individual centuries, seven fifties and five more scores in the forties. Runs veritably flowed. But just four of them came from Zak Crawley, England’s opener.
For the first time since 2020, there is positivity around England batters whose name is not Joe Root or Ben Stokes. Alex Lees looks a player transformed from the slow start made in the Caribbean, and returns to Headingley still searching for a hundred, but confident. Ollie Pope will hope his Trent Bridge hundred can be a breakthrough at No3. Jonny Bairstow has three hundreds in 2022. Ben Foakes looks fluent at No7.
