England’s immense faith in Jacob Bethell will be on full display when he becomes the youngest captain in the national team’s 148-year history next month.
All-rounder Bethell will lead England in three T20s in Ireland, with the usual white-ball captain Harry Brook among a tranche of all-format players rested at the end of a busy international summer.
Advertisement
The first game at Malahide is on September 17, when Bethell will be 21 years and 329 days old, beating Monty Bowden’s 136-year-old record as England’s youngest ever captain.
Bowden, an amateur who played for Surrey, led England in his second and final Test match, against South Africa at Cape Town in March 1889, when he was 23 years and 144 days old. He died just three years later.
*Assuming Bethell captains first game of Ireland series
The news continues Bethell’s remarkable rise. He made his white-ball international debut in September last year and is now ensconced as a regular in that set-up. He added a shock Test debut later in 2024 in New Zealand, scoring three half-centuries in as many matches from No 3 while deputising for the injured Jordan Cox and Jamie Smith, who was on paternity leave.
Advertisement
This year has proved more complicated, however. After missing the early part of the English season – including a Test against Zimbabwe – while part of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s first Indian Premier League win, he has played little cricket since returning.
Bethell was thrust into the Test side for the final match of an epic series against India and struggled for rhythm while recording two scratchy single-figure scores, and started the Hundred with just 14 runs in three matches, although returned to form on Friday with 48 from 23 balls. He is still yet to score a professional century, but is seen by some in the England camp as a future all-format captain.
Luke Wright, the England selector, said: “Jacob Bethell has impressed with his leadership qualities ever since he has been with the England squads and the series against Ireland will provide him with the opportunity to further develop those skills on the international stage.”
Brendon McCullum, the head coach, will also take a break during the Ireland series, with his assistant Marcus Trescothick stepping up.
Advertisement
Before England face Ireland, they have three ODIs and three T20s against South Africa at home, for which they have selected a full-strength squad.
There is a maiden international call-up for the exciting Hampshire quick Sonny Baker, who has been impressing in the Hundred with Manchester Originals. Baker, a skiddy right-arm quick, has had the happy knack of dismissing top players in this year’s tournament, including Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy.
“Sonny is a player we have identified for a while and he was impressive during the England Lions tours last winter,” Wright said. “He has carried that form into this season in white-ball cricket with Hampshire and Manchester Originals and deservedly gets his opportunity.”
Otherwise the squad is similar to the one that beat West Indies in all six matches earlier this summer. Jofra Archer is back from injury, while Phil Salt returns to the T20 squad after paternity leave. There is no place for Gus Atkinson or Matthew Potts, but the latter returns against Ireland.
Advertisement
Brook, Smith, Archer, Ben Duckett and Brydon Carse are the T20 regulars who will rest instead of travelling to Ireland. All five will have a major role to play on this winter’s Ashes tour. Before that, there is a white-ball tour of New Zealand, which England are also expected to take a strong squad to.
England’s show of faith appears to know no bounds
Since watching him struggle in the final Test against India, it has been easy to view 2025 as something of a lost summer for Jacob Bethell.
He began it as England’s all-format golden boy who seemed on an inexorable path to a top-three berth in the Ashes, after an excellent first six months in international cricket.
Advertisement
But progress is not always linear, and Bethell has struggled for game time this year. First, he went to the Indian Premier League, where he played just two matches for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Having missed a Test against Zimbabwe, he played six white-ball matches for England, and did well.
But in the last two months, in high summer, he has played just eight matches: one championship match and three T20s for Warwickshire, a Test, and three games in the Hundred. He and England decided that rather than return to play more for his county, he should stay close to the Test summer. But having carried a lot of drinks, he has been struggling for rhythm when he has got to the middle.
What is clear, though, is that England’s view of Bethell’s potential and precociousness has not changed a jot through this awkward period. Appointing him captain at the end of such a summer is the ultimate show of faith.
Bethell captained England Under-19s and his maturity is highly regarded in the set-up. He is an excellent trainer who is highly organised. There are plenty who think him a future Test captain, although a long way down the line.
Advertisement
Even without the likes of Harry Brook and Ben Duckett, Bethell will captain a strong side in Ireland. It includes the veteran Adil Rashid, and two men who have captained England in Jos Buttler and Phil Salt. This management were by no means short of potential leaders, but have never been afraid to throw a player in early.
It is good that Bethell will spend the final two months of the season, in the Hundred and for England, playing cricket. At 21, that is just what he needs.
But, with the Ashes looming, he will have just one more opportunity to play a championship game for Warwickshire, the last of the season in late September. It feels that would be helpful, but it is also possible he is rested, with six months on the road (in New Zealand, Australia, then for white-ball action in Sri Lanka and India for a World Cup) so soon after. He will likely arrive in Australia, where he will be one injury away from an Ashes Test, without a first-class hundred.
That is unlikely to worry England, whose faith in Bethell is undimmed, and appears to know no bounds.
Article courtesy of
Source link
