Best moments of the English cricket summer

The thrilling England vs India Test series served up regular drama throughout, as well as individual brilliance from the likes of Harry Brook and Mohammed Siraj. New county champions Nottinghamshire, led by Peter Moores, delivered domestically and we said goodbye to some of the game’s greats.

Moment of the summer

Joe Root’s hundred celebration on a pulsating fourth day of the Oval Test. Root reached into his pocket to don one of the Graham Thorpe headbands sold in the ground for £5 for the Mind mental health charity. “It was just a thank you for everything he gave English cricket,” said Root, Mr Class as always.

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Warrior of the summer

Mohammed Siraj. Stepped out of Jasprit Bumrah’s shadow. Spunky and unyielding, Siraj was the only seamer to last five Tests, bowling more than 1,000 balls and rarely letting his standards slip. He’s probably still running in from the Pavilion End at the Oval, swearing at imaginary batsmen.

Missed opportunity of the summer

Jacob Bethell was allowed to stay at the Indian Premier League, Ollie Pope re-took his place at No 3 against Zimbabwe and scored a hundred that kept him in the side but ended up back where he started after another middling series against India. Bethell should have played at Trent Bridge or England should have been braver and picked him anyway for the start of the India series. Now it looks like he will play the Ashes when he could have built up experience this summer. Annoying.

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Blink and you miss it chance of the summer

Sam Cook. Picked for the Trent Bridge Test against Zimbabwe and hailed as the man with the skills to bowl well in Australia where, so the theory went, the new Kookaburra ball and seaming pitches now require skill rather than bang-it-in pace. England coach Brendon McCullum was sceptical. He wanted pace. Cook’s speeds dipped below 80mph, Zimbabwe opener Brian Bennett gave him the charge and he was never picked again. Will the Kookaburra theory come true though?

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Comeback of the summer

Jofra Archer. A wicket with his third ball back at Lord’s was one of the sporting hair-raising moments of the year. His pace and fitness stood up to the Test and he rattled South Africa with a pacey display in an ODI in September, finishing the season fitter at the end than at the start. Aussies beware.

Flat comeback of the summer

Liam Dawson. Like Cook, picked against McCullum’s better instincts through the weight of performances in county cricket and we know what this England set-up thinks of the domestic game. Dawson did not disgrace himself on an unresponsive pitch at Old Trafford against India but dropped a catch and one for 140 when it was set up for him to win the game was enough for England. Left out at the Oval and not considered for the Ashes.

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Futile act of the summer

Chris Woakes chasing down a four to the boundary. Woakes tumbled over the rope, dislocated his shoulder and briefly became a national hero for batting with his arm in a sling. The result? End of Test career. It is a brutal game.

Touching gesture of the summer

Worcestershire dedicated their One-Day Cup win to Josh Baker, their 20-year-old player who died suddenly last year. The final was finished off by Henry Cullen, Baker’s friend who went to the house to pick Josh up the morning he died. The club have not forgotten Baker, wearing his foundation logo on their shirts and the players presenting father Paul with the cup after their win over Hampshire.

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Least dignified moment of the summer

England’s chirping at India at the end of a fractious Old Trafford Test. You can understand their frustration with India batting on for personal milestones but they would have done the same thing had Jacob Bethell been close to a maiden hundred like Washington Sundar was.

Churlish act of the summer

Lancashire’s whinging about Liam Livingstone’s Blast finals-day dismissal. The club put out an official statement saying they had “formally expressed disappointment” to the England and Wales Cricket Board over the lbw decision upheld by third umpire Sue Redfern while at the same time condemning the misogynistic remarks made about her on social media after the incident. Somehow they could not see the contradiction.

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Verbal jousts of the summer

Plenty to choose from. Start with Shubman Gill telling England’s openers to “grow some balls” when they were time-wasting at Lord’s. Then we went to Old Trafford where England gave Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja some jip for extending a draw to score their centuries. “You want to get a Test hundred against Harry Brook?” Ben Stokes said to Jadeja. Zak Crawley added: “Just shake your hand. It’s embarrassing.” Brook: “F—ing hell Washy, get on with it mate.”

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Overreaction of the summer

Step forward our friends in Australia who lost their minds over England’s antics at Old Trafford. “The only thing embarrassing about Old Trafford was your tantrum,” said the Melbourne Age. “Babbling Brook and the Bazball boys will be eminently hateable this summer,” said the Sydney Daily Telegraph. “The ‘Spirit of Cricket’ is sleeping restlessly once again, tormented by an insufferable lot,” wrote Courtney Walsh (no, not that one) for Code Sports. Sir Geoffrey B, in our own pages, called England “gobby” which is fine because it’s our job to knock England, not the Australians.

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Bust-up of the summer

India coach Gautam Gambhir versus Surrey’s head groundsman and man mountain Lee Fortis. Gambhir could start an argument in a nun’s convent and Fortis is well known on the circuit for being the archetypal grumpy groundsman. When the two clashed two days before the fifth Test sparks flew. Gambhir was a disgrace really for talking down to Fortis. Imagine the fall-out if McCullum did that in India.

Century of the summer

Harry Brook’s 111 from 98 balls against India at the Oval was a showstopper of Oscar-winning proportions. It didn’t win England the Test – a travesty really – but it was an unforgettable attack. A month later I was in a taxi in a tiny village in south Wales. The driver had been at the Oval that day and he spent the entire journey talking about Brook’s innings – “just a shame he isn’t Welsh” he said.

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Bowling spell of the summer

Siraj at the Oval chipped away, chipped away and chipped away before finally felling England with a spell of three wickets running in from the Pavilion End on the final morning of the series.

Celebration of the summer

Rishabh Pant’s somersault at Headingley. On 99 he smacked Bashir over long on for six, raised both arms and showed off to his mates in the dressing room with some gymnastics in the middle. It is unclear if Herbert Sutcliffe ever did the same thing.

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Coach of the summer

Peter Moores. Broke Surrey’s championship dominance to win the title with his third county but instant red card for anyone who suggests he should be the next England coach if it all goes horribly wrong in Australia.

Statement of the summer

Gill’s 754 runs in his first series as India captain and filling the role at No 4 occupied for decades by Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar. He oozed and appears to combine ice-cool on-field leadership with a ruthless edge.

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Scheduling cock-up of the summer

Well, all of it really. But most egregious was the Hundred starting the day after the India series which had been stuffed into 46 days and ended up shorn of stars such as Stokes, Bumrah and Archer because everyone was knackered.

Faff of the summer

The domestic review. After Strauss failed in 2022, the counties themselves had a go at trying to shrink the schedule. It ended in stalemate, the championship remaining at 14 games, a tiny reduction in the Blast and enough hot air to power a balloon journey to all 18 county grounds.

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Most Bazball moment of the summer

England’s run chase in the first Test at Headingley. Paced to perfection, not an ounce of recklessness as they eased past their 371 target in just 87 overs led by Ben Duckett’s hundred and ended by Jamie Smith’s cool finishing.

Least Bazball moment of the summer

The boss Rob Key banned talk of golf. We all know the players love a round of golf and the irony of it all was just after he slapped them with the ban on golf chat, Key was interviewed by Sky Sports on…the golf course.