I’m tapping up Test stars for white-ball duty, jokes new coach Trescothick

Marcus Trescothick has one eye on his next role as he takes over as interim head coach of England’s white-ball sides next month following the departure of Matthew Mott and has joked that he has been giving the Test players their warm-ups with a white ball rather than a red one.
Asked if he had been “tapping up” any of the Test players to be part of his limited-overs squad that will face the Australians next month, the former England and Somerset opening batsman said: “Every day. All day, every day. They give me loads of abuse because I’m just throwing white balls around, making sure I’ve got every player available when we come to that series.”
Trescothick will be given the opportunity to decide on who else he wants alongside him in the backroom staff for that series and it is unlikely that Andrew Flintoff will be one of them.
Flintoff has been working with England on a short-term consultancy basis over the past year and most recently has been developing his coaching career with his first head coach role taking charge of the Northern Superchargers in the Hundred. However, he is now set to have a break from working with England and his future as a coaching consultant with the white-ball team will depend on who gets the head coach job on a permanent basis.
Trescothick is one of a number of names who have been linked with the job. The series against Australia next month will act as an audition for him but he hinted on Thursday evening that he could be interested in taking the job permanently, meaning he would leave his present role as assistant coach with the Test side.
“It’s not something I ever thought about before, until I got this opportunity now,” he said. “I’m not necessarily thinking any further ahead than the end of the Australia series. I’ve been very much focused on the job we’re doing here.
“You plan your winter: we’re [going] to Pakistan, then New Zealand, so I’m so ingrained in that at the moment. I’ve not really sat down and said, ‘Right, this is where I’ll try to go, this is what I’ll try to do.’ I’m looking forward to the opportunity, for sure. I’m really excited about doing the job. We’ll work it out a little bit more from there.”
One player that Trescothick is almost certainly going to want in his white-ball side is Jamie Smith, who helped England to a small first-innings lead in the first Test against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford with a sublime unbeaten half-century, and Trescothick talked up his skills across all formats.
“We knows he’s a very skilled and talented player and he just seems to take to it quite nicely, as other players have done, like Harry Brook and other players around them,” he said. “It’s good to see him continuing to do well. We talk about being positive and aggressive and putting teams under pressure, but the skill is to identify moments when it’s the right time and he did that well.”
While Smith does have a future in the white-ball sides, it may not be in next month’s series against Australia. England have a packed Test schedule in the lead-up to Christmas with tours to Pakistan and New Zealand and the management team may want him as well as Joe Root and Harry Brook, who are also in the white-ball set-up, to have a break after this series.
“We’ve seen enough of him playing for Surrey in the T20 or other competitions,” Trescothick said. “The way he’s come in and taken to international cricket is probably the most important part of that. He just seems very suited to playing international cricket. They have a busy schedule doing this and the two series very closely overlap. Whether he plays some of it or all of it, I don’t know. We’ll wait and see and work out what squad we’re going to pick.”
Elizabeth Ammon: Prabath Jayasuriya has done it again. This time he gets Chris Woakes – this one was slightly straighter than the one that dismissed Harry Brook but the same thing happened. It pitched middle and turned enough to take the top of off. Although it was very full for Woakes to go back to, he really ought to have come forward to that. He departs for 25.
Gus Atkinson goes in ahead of Matthew Potts, which strikes me as odd. Atkinson averages 16 this season and Potts averages 41.
Elizabeth Ammon: An excellent half-century by Jamie Smith, who has moved up to six in the batting order, in a partnership of 53 with Chris Woakes has taken England into the lead.
Kamindu Mendis is bowling but so far has only bowled with his right arm, but we’re keeping an eye out to see if he swaps.
Elizabeth Ammon: That was a very good partnership of 62 between Harry Brook and Jamie Smith but Prabath Jayasuriya has broken it with an unplayable ball that completely undoes Brook. It’s turned and bounced and nicked the top of off stump – it pitched on middle and leg and took the top of off. Not much you can do about that.
England still trail by 48 with Chris Woakes coming to the crease.
England are 176-4 at tea thanks to a fantastic innings from Harry Brook. The Yorkshireman brought up his half-century in 59 balls, striking four fours and rotating the strike beautifully with Joe Root and later Jamie Smith.
As Sri Lanka attempted to turn the screw, Brook, 25, steadied the ship to put England in control going in to the evening session. Smith is also in good touch, hitting the only six of the innings so far.
Elizabeth Ammon: The ball seems to be reversing a bit which is interesting given it is only 25 overs old. Regardless, it does for Joe Root not because Asitha Fernando’s delivery reversed, but because Root expected the reverse and went for a drive accordingly, but in the end the ball stayed straight and nicked off his top edge. It was a good take by Dinesh Chandimal behind the sticks. Root goes for 42 from 57, and Jamie Smith joins Harry Brook in the middle.
Elizabeth Ammon: Away from the Test match, the Vitality County Championship is back (thank goodness, it’s been an interminably long break) and if we are having a look at the future – as well as Rocky Flintoff, who, on his GCSE results day no less, is out for 32 against Surrey on first-class debut – there are three players to keep your eye on for England honours in the near future.
The first is the 18-year-old Warwickshire batsman Hamza Shaikh who is playing his first Championship match today but made a fantastic 91 against Sri Lanka at New Road for England Lions last week and is very highly-rated.
The second is Kasey Aldridge, 23, who also impressed with a very Bazball innings at New Road, hitting 78 off 96 deliveries. He’s primarily a fast bowler and having all-rounders like him is a valuable thing.
The third is Ben McKinney, 19, at Durham – the selectors are big fans of him too and he has been Bazballing away against Nottinghamshire, scoring 121 from 129 balls, hitting 17 fours and one six.
Elizabeth Ammon: Dan Lawrence lasted 39 balls – there were three lovely boundaries in there including a fantastic pull shot but he’s nicked behind to Dinesh Chandimal, fiddling outside off stump. A change of ends works for Vishwa Fernando.
This has been an excellent first hour for Sri Lanka and we could be in for a fun Test after all. Harry Brook joins his fellow Yorkshireman Joe Root.
Elizabeth Ammon: That’s a peach of a delivery by Asitha Fernando to get Ollie Pope for six. Absolutely castled him knocking the top of off stump. There’s no need to review that one, chaps.
This is a very good start to the day by Sri Lanka – their seamers are finding movement and bowling a good length. Joe Root has joined Dan Lawrence in the middle.
Elizabeth Ammon: Dan Lawrence has survived an lbw shout. He played across the line and there was a big shout, given out on the field but Lawrence reviews and replays showed it would have cleared middle and leg.
But two balls later, we have another review for lbw, this time against Ben Duckett – this one was given not out and Sri Lanka have reviewed and it is pitching in line and it’s hitting, and he’s gone for 18 from 20 balls. England are 30-1. Here comes the captain…
Elizabeth Ammon: Updated timings for the rest of the day’s play have been released. The afternoon session will commence at 1.15pm, tea will be taken at 4pm and the evening session will end at 7pm, with an extra 30 minutes available to bowl any remaining overs, of which there are 82.
We’ve lost a whole session to the rain, but only eight overs. Cricket, eh?
Elizabeth Ammon: The groundsman is mowing the strip and the rest of the covers are off. The Sri Lanka team are on the outfield doing their warm ups and the forecast looks OK-ish for the rest of the day so we should be able to start after everyone has had an early lunch.
It is certainly brighter here than it was earlier although still completely covered with cloud. We have just been given the official word that we will start at 1.15pm. No news yet on how many overs left in the day but an educated guess would be between 65 and 70 overs in the day or thereabouts.
Unfortunately the weather has closed in again and the covers are back on so the scheduled pitch inspection has been cancelled.
It looks like the covers are slowly coming off, and the umpires will inspect the pitch at midday.
Away from the drizzle at Old Trafford, the son of a famous Lancastrian is set to make his first-class debut today. Rocky Flintoff has been selected at four for Lancashire against Surrey at the Oval as the Vitality County Championship returns.
Surrey put the visitors in to bat so there’s a good chance we’ll see Flintoff, 16, take to the middle today. Andrew’s son, a right-handed batsman and medium fast bowler, has enjoyed a strong summer with England and Lancashire age group teams and second XIs.
• How sons of Andrew Flintoff and Michael Vaughan are following path to top
In Yorkshire, Jonny Bairstow is making his first appearance for his county in any format for more than a year as they take on Sussex in Scarborough. Having been dropped from England’s Test team after winning his 100th cap in India earlier this year, he will want to rediscover his old form.
The morning rain is yet to let up in Manchester, and the covers remain firmly on. No timings have been given for a pitch inspection yet, but the weather is set to clear up later today.
The conditions aren’t stopping some hardy souls from enjoying themselves though.
Sri Lanka’s top order will be more frustrated with their poor scores on day one given the overall quality of the pitch at Old Trafford. Shoaib Bashir’s ball that kept low to dismiss Dinesh Chandrimal for 17 was something of an aberration on a day that the tourists’ experienced lineup really ought to have seized the initiative, having put themselves in to bat at the toss.
In his piece from day one, Steve James explains why the pitch will play a huge part in this Test.
Watch all ten wickets that fell yesterday, as Chris Woakes and Shoaib Bashir took three apiece — but Mark Wood’s rocket to remove Kusal Mendis was the pick of the bunch:
So, how did Ollie Pope do yesterday? Standing in for Ben Stokes as England skipper, the 26-year-old deployed similarly aggressive fields and mostly looked the part — though he did sanction one particularly questionable review. Simon Wilde was keeping a close eye on him all day:
• Aggressive fields, dodgy review – Pope’s captaincy under microscope
Things got pretty dark and grey yesterday evening and this morning is no better. After overnight rain, another shower arrived at Old Trafford just over an hour ago. It may clear in time for 11am, but there’s every chance we’re looking at a delayed start to the second day… The good news is that we’re set pretty fair after lunch and until the close.
In case you missed it, our Chief Cricket Correspondent’s report of the first day’s play is here:
• Sri Lanka’s wagging tail takes gloss off England’s near-perfect day