England teams have played three games against West Indies in the last month but only one player – Harry Brook – has featured in all of them. Brook was the only England player to appear in both the T20 World Cup fixture in St Lucia in June and first two Tests in July, and a disjointed forthcoming schedule will ensure the divergence between their squads continues.
Australia and India – who have won all three of the global men’s finals in the past 13 months between them – have relied upon an adaptable core of multi-format players who have underpinned their success. Their captain Pat Cummins has been integral to that, with Australia’s regular breaks between Test series allowing him periods of rest in between key series.
But England play so much Test cricket that they have little choice but to separate selection between red and white-ball cricket, whether they want to or not. Since the start of the Covid pandemic, they have played 51 matches in just over four years; India have played the second-most Tests, with just 37.
Brook was touted as a potential successor as England’s white-ball captain to Jos Buttler, who is understood to be contemplating his options after the manner of their T20 World Cup exit. But England’s next T20I series, against Australia in September, starts the very day after their third Test against Sri Lanka is due to finish: it is simply not feasible for anyone to feature in both.
The logistical challenges continue through the rest of the year. If England wish to give any of their Test players preparation for February’s Champions Trophy, September’s ODI series against Australia is theoretically a good opportunity – but they are due to start a three-Test series in Pakistan eight days after the final ODI in Bristol.
Their subsequent ODI series begins on October 31, three days after the scheduled fifth day of the third Test in Pakistan, more than 12,000km away in Antigua. In November, there are only eight days between the fifth T20I against West Indies in St Lucia and the first Test against New Zealand in Christchurch, on November 28. Good luck trying to play in both.
England do have a six-month gap between Tests in early 2025, but only a short tour to India (five T20Is, three ODIs) before the Champions Trophy starts. Even their most adaptable multi-format players would struggle with only three 50-over games. “I’m very inexperienced in this format,” Brook said during last year’s World Cup, having not played a single List A game between May 2019 and his ODI debut in South Africa in January 2023. “It does make a big difference, not having played it.”
And England’s 2025 home summer is just as chaotic as ever. Four different teams are due to tour: Zimbabwe, West Indies (twice), India and South Africa. They are also due to play three ODIs in Ireland during the home Test series against India, which – like the 2022 series against Netherlands between two Tests against New Zealand – will necessitate split squads.
Further down the line, there is a problem that will be familiar to a generation of England captains: the 2025-26 winter includes a World Cup – albeit a T20 one – immediately after an away Ashes series, just as in 2013-14, 2010-11, 2006-07 and 2002-03. Jonny Bairstow, who struggled for form at both the 50- and 20-over World Cups as well as the Test tour of India in between, showed the folly of expecting players to be at their best while constantly on tour.
England have expressed a desire to bring their squads closer together, following Australia and India’s lead. Rob Key, the team director, spoke after the 50-over World Cup about wanting to develop a generation of “multi-format bowlers who bowl at 85-plus miles per hour”. He cited the examples of Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, as well as Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.
When England picked a second-string ODI squad against Ireland last September, with the main contenders resting up ahead of the World Cup, Zak Crawley stood in as captain. Ahead of Thursday’s Test at Trent Bridge, Crawley outlined his “big aspirations” as a white-ball player. “I’ve got to earn my spot… but absolutely, certainly in my eyes, I want to be part of that team,” he said. It is hard to see how it will happen.
This is not an unfortunate accident, nor anything new: the ECB, along with all other full-member boards, signed off on the ICC’s 2023-27 Future Tours Programme which was finalised two years ago. Even though they have played 35% more Tests since the pandemic than second-placed India, it was their board’s decision to commit to those fixtures.
Rather than using their schedule as an excuse, England must turn it into an opportunity. They already have different captains and coaches across formats, and have the resources to field separate squads as a matter of course: only their very best players should be considered for selection across all three formats, and a pool of 26 centrally contracted players should enable them to follow this course.
England have a competitive advantage over most of their rivals in that the majority of franchise T20 leagues take place during their off-season, allowing players the opportunity both to develop and to earn without restriction. It has enabled them to grow a deep pool of white-ball players, even while their Test regulars increasingly specialise in that format.
Australia’s limited-overs tour in September gives England the chance to test their bench strength and bring through a new generation of young players. They must be brave in selection: with players involved in the third Test unlikely to be available at the start of the series, marginal calls should lean towards white-ball specialists who can get a proper run over the next 18 months.
Take Ben Duckett, who is nailed on as England’s Test opener and has been on the fringes of their white-ball squads. In theory, Duckett should come into the picture for the Champions Trophy, but his availability is limited for their next eight ODIs. The smart play would be to invest in a younger player in a similar role, such as Warwickshire’s Dan Mousley.
England have been down this road before, most obviously during the split-squads era of the pandemic: since April 2020, they have used 65 different players in 176 international fixtures. Their forthcoming schedule leaves them with no choice but to double down.
Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98
