Just to add a couple of things - Anderson’s injury is a calf tear, not a side strain.
https://www.ecb.co.uk/england/men/news/1266993/james-anderson-injury-update
Mark Wood has a side strain and is supposedly out for 6 weeks. Jofra Archer also has a side strain but it’s supposedly not as bad as Wood’s.
https://www.cricket.com.au/news/jofra-archer-mark-wood-jimmy-anderson-england-bowlers-injury-worries-ashes/2019-07-18
England’s squad v Ireland looks very imbalanced. We’re likely to be playing 6 bowlers (including all rounders) in this game, which is too many for my money.
Somerset were looking like they were going to win the CC this year - and I think most neutrals are willing them on, since they’ve been very close over the last few years and they’re one of only three counties to never have won the County Championship as it is currently recognised (Northants one of the others and Gloucestershire who were “acclaimed” as “champion county” three times in the 1870s - wiki says this was an unofficial seasonal title sometimes proclaimed by consensus of media and historians prior to December 1889 when the official County Championship was constituted. Although there are ante-dated claims prior to 1873, when residence qualifications were introduced, it is only since that ruling that any quasi-official status can be ascribed). Lewis Gregory has been a key member of that side (along with Leach and Bess, already capped by England). This season, Gregory has taken 44 wickets at 13.88. He deserves his chance but you can’t see him continuing in the side in the short term, except as now in the case of injuries. Maybe he’ll be around in the post-Anderson era, which is hoving into view.
As a member at Surrey, I have seen Roy bat in red ball more than most, I imagine. I am concerned. He has talent, clearly, but he has opened very little in this format at county level and has usually scored his runs at 5, after the shine has been knocked off the ball. In the absence of any better ideas in the black hole that constitutes England’s top 3, he’s worth a go but don’t be surprised if he doesn’t succeed. Rory Burns hasn’t scored 50 in his last 12 CC innings either - be prepared for the opener carousel to turn once again either during this series or immediately after it.
A few things here: I can’t think of anyone selling out Day 5 of any Test anywhere in the world, since no-one can be sure that there will be a game on Day 5. England sells out more days of its Tests than anywhere else in the world, largely because of its small grounds and large immigrant populations - difficult to get tickets for the India tests last year for instance, and I’ve been to packed houses at The Oval against them, Pakistan, South Africa and Australia over the last 4 years. And finally, if the “we” here is the royal we (i.e. the whole of the cricketing world) I’m struggling to understand why sparse crowds for the women’s Tests would mean that you wouldn’t hold more of them - clearly it’s not a bar to putting Tests on for the men. It’s more likely that the main reason for few Tests for the women is that, until recently, a lot of them were balancing their cricket with making money in a paying job - so you can’t very easily have long tours, encompassing lots of Test matches. As a result, the women’s game has developed differently, with more emphasis on white ball cricket. It may be difficult to turn this around now, even if the women’s game wants more Test matches, simply because of the way the sport has evolved.
Australia are going to hammer England in the women’s Test.
