Test Match Special - 2026 – A tumultuous summer

Episode Date: September 28, 2026

The TMS team look back at a sometimes chaotic English cricket season.Henry Moeran is joined by fellow TMS commentator Simon Mann, World Cup winner Ebony Rainford-Brent and Matt Henry from the BBC website to discuss the themes of the summer. From the dramatic demise of Bazball to the rise of the men’s T20 side. From a home Women’s World Cup to the revamped Hundred.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. How did Katzai become one of the biggest girl groups in the world? I'm Asma Khalid. And I'm Tristan Redmond, and together we host the Global Story podcast from the BBC. In this episode, we give you everything there is to know about Katzai. They've gone from their first EP to a sold-out US tour in just two years, but has their stratospheric success revealed a darker side of the K-pop model? Search for the Global Starzvary.

story. I'm BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. We have reached the end of a sometimes tumultuous summer of cricket in the chaotic demise of Basball defeat to New Zealand. Joe Root then returning as test captain with Stephen Fleming to come as new test coach. England went to the top of the world in T20s. That included a fine performance against India. Some progress for this.

ODI side we've seen as well. England's women were impressive in the home T20 World Cup, ultimately falling short, though, against a familiar foe in the final. And they also lost out in the historic Lord's test against India. We saw a revamped 100 with some new teams, new owners, Trent Rockets, women and Manchester Super Giants men taking the titles. Warwickshire clinched the county championship crown as Somerset couldn't get that elusive first title. North Ants took the T20 block. Last, Middlesex the One Day Cup with the blaze triumphant in women's domestic cricket, an unprecedented treble for them.

To look at the themes of the summer, we're joined by Simon, Matt, Ebony-Rainford-Brent, and Matt Henry, writer for the BBC Sports website. Hello to you all. Let's go through things sequentially. Matt, we'll start with the England test side. Stokes and McCollum out, Root and Fleming in. Basball is gone back. over the horizon.

A lot has happened. Yeah, I was just thinking back to the last time I was here, or the last time we were here for the first day, or the couple of days before that test match was the aftermath of the first test match of the summer when Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson went to the nightclub

in West London and then everything that followed from there. We were here for the press conference when Joe Root spoke at that point as sort of standing captain what we thought would be for a one-off game and then he didn't captain particularly well, did he in that game? I think was the consensus.

afterwards and we thought, oh, you'll never be doing that again. And then where are we now that we've got Jor Root back as England captain full time? We've got two or three separate to us, six matches through the winter, test matches through the winter and Jorraud in charge of the Ashes and Beyond. Yeah, it's been incredible really how much has happened. Yeah, it's mad, really, Ebb's, isn't it? Yeah, and I think, you know, you kind of look at, things feel so settled now, but I wouldn't say there's been a cricket season that has felt more tumultuous, both as a fan, the amount of noise, the amount of interest because it felt chaotic at times with all the change. And, you know, we're arguing talking about a generation of cricket being shaken up.

I think a lot of that started with the ashes and coming into the start of the season. It actually felt like, all right, Faith had been put in the captain, the coach. And it started off on that first test on the right trajectory. And then obviously, as you talk about that night, it kind of all started to go backwards. I feel now it feels stable. but if you look at as a summer as a whole, I think we'll reflect back on the summer many to come, especially the ashes next summer and say, you know, could this have been a reset, a whole new generation and a new style that is going to be implemented,

that balance between what England was searching for, but also maybe too far away from the consistent test side that they need to be. So, yeah, a lot of reflections, a lot of change and a new era potentially under the way, especially under the test side. Simon, has it been a good summer? of test cricket. No, it hasn't, has it? It's been a really poor summer of test cricket. I think it's been the worst summer of test cricket. Well, since I mean, you could go about almost the late 70s, actually. I mean, there have been summers where England have been hammered, but there's a certain fascination in that. They hammered Pakistan. It was a really, really poor series. It was livened up by one hour on the third evening where Pakistan showed some fight. The three test matches against New Zealand, people, people, pitch was poor at Lords really poor and the game lasted into the fourth day but in playing time it was over and under two days there was the Oval Test match with England had all these changes and then Trent Bridge where it was bizarre end of the day I mean it's a weird game that Trent Bridge match because New Zealand won a very good toss from it I mean the effects of history if England had won the toss and batt at first who knows where that game would have gone because it really was a massive bat first pitch that deteriorated as the game I went on. I remember it was about 35, 38 degrees on the first day

in New Zealand with 300 and odd for no wicket. The test matches haven't been particularly competitive and we we need that don't we? We need competitive test cricket. We need teams to come to England and to really show their quality and there are you know a few teams around that don't do that as much. It's been unfortunate. I think the ball's dominated the bat probably too much and an ideal test match really is where the first inning scores are a about 350, 300 350, but we haven't had that. We have really low scores.

Are we going to miss basketball? It brought a lot of eyes on the cricket. It brought a lot of decision, like just, it made everyone pay a lot of interest in cricket. Whether that is healthy and sustainable going forward and whether it was to produce a successful cricket team, I would debate from that point of view whether we would miss it. We will probably miss the entertainment.

There were probably times in that series against Pakistan where things were just drifting along a little bit and we were like, oh, bring back basketball and all that sort of thing, weren't we? I think that probably was said. It depends from what lens you are looking at it from. If you're looking at purely an entertainment point of view, then who knows what Stephen Fleming or Jury will do. We shouldn't judge them before they've done it,

but I think they will bring a calmer, more measured approach that has been all the suggestions so far. Some people will massively value that, and there will be times when I will be one of those as well. But some of it has been so chaotic and entertaining that I won't have ever. that I won't miss it just a little bit. Well, this is it, Ebbs, isn't it? Because it's part of me that feels a bit like,

though it was chaotic, unpredictable, and at times, it wasn't actually clearly the best way that England could be playing. It had people talking. And there is something about seeing test cricket front and centre, even if people are looking on in a slightly sort of macabre way. I remember being up at, it might have been headingly tough as is on air with. I think it was Agers? And Joe Root, was it first ball of the day?

Or he's like, come in and tried to ramp it. And tough as is going crazy, we're all in the box going crazy because you think of what is going on like this for a moment there was a lot of excitement and You know like you say it freed up the England players. It gave us a lot to talk about what I would say though that test that test that Trembridge where it all kind of unraveled felt like we're all done with Basbo in the sense that it was like look. Yes, we appreciate the excitement the momentum all the sort of story and but also what the problem with basball. It wasn't converting towards the end the second half of that tenure and so I think we also forget test cricket is not just all the excitement, is it? Like actually there's a lot of value in attritional sessions as well. We saw that a bit from New Zealand actually when you got the Daryl Mitchell standing. Attritional cricket is also entertaining.

So we sometimes just miss that. And I think Basball had got to the end. So now I won't miss it. There was points early on. I loved the rejuvenation. But now where we are, it's going in the right direction. Yeah. And just to come back in there and to agree with Ebony is saying there,

I don't want to like come up as if I'm saying bring back Basbal. at all because we'll get to next summer and the ashes will come around and you don't need basball to make an ashes series entertaining do you we will not be sat there in the middle of that first test desperate for the ashes to come up desperate for basball to come back because the cricket should and i assume will i would predict will happily predict will entertain us more than enough yeah but but go back to old trafford on that last australia tour when england were thrashing them here there and everywhere and pat cummins did not know what to do he was completely out of ideas he was utterly powerless and that was kind of people say

oh you know the australians said oh england never played basball against us but they did in that series and that was that was the kind of the ultimate i think what it comes down to really though is that day in day out it's impossible to sustain it against the best sides it was it was great fun let's face it was great fun they gave us some fantastic memories but the teams that i follow i like winning more than anything else yeah i like to win And can you win playing that way? You can against some teams and on some days. But if you want to be consistent,

if you want to keep on winning, you have to be ruthless. Other things that keep England in the headlines, sometimes not the things they want, Ebony, and more off the field issues. We sort of mentioned it a little bit with that nightclub incident at the start of the summer. Yeah, and I think the issue is sometimes just smart, really.

I feel like as a professional sporting team, you know, the goal is to keep the headlines. on the field not off it and I think it's just the run isn't it from the Harry Brook incident in New Zealand you know the news sir that it just started to build this narrative and then of course it's moved into Bride and cast that needs to be cleaned up and I think it will get cleaned up with this sort of era of you know root and Stephen Fleming but it it's been really frustrating as a fan to be constantly I think there's a felt like a point you know that it's just feel felt a bit

like the narrative is going a war so far away from the sport and for the players it's like be a bit sharper, a bit smarter with your choices off-field. So, you know, there's a bit of damage limitation to be done here. Like anyone who has a slip-up now is just going to add to this narrative. So they've got to spend a period of time just getting back to winning, keeping it simple, keeping professional and just being. That press conference from Joe Rue, I don't know if any, the one when, you know, after the bride and cast, for me. Hacked off wasn't it? Yeah, that was his words, wasn't it? And you just think, Joe Rue is the typical player that just wants to

get on, we're trying to score one, runs win game and be professional. And he's now stepping in to kind of try and take on a new era. And he's having to deal with those conversations. And you felt for him when he said those words, didn't you? So that has been a real feature for the last 12 months. Yeah. And it's not been great. That felt like a line in the sand moment, didn't it?

That jury, that press conference when he came out speaking. So just forthrighted and you use the words. As I said, hacked off. And that's how he was feeling about it. It felt like it's a line in the sand moment, but it only is until someone kicks in the sand and rubs that away, isn't it? Like, until something happens,

I guess the next point on all this we're going to come to is whether Brideon Kars is picked during this winter because that understands he's available for selection, England have said, but they've said he needs time away to sort himself out. So we're expecting, well, squads for England's tri-series that they're going on against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Pakistan in October. That will be the next squad that was picked.

Will he be picked? Will he be picked for the test series of South Africa? That's the next point This issue these issues are going to come back up whether he is picked for those or God forbid someone else does something that they shouldn't be to get into the headlines again and then I wonder what Joe Rout will say at that point because they don't know what the step after hacked off is. I don't think I'd want to test him. I'm going to move things forward in a positive fashion. I'm going to mention the whiteball team because I think England's men's whiteboard side Simon have actually shown some marked improvement. There was elements and hints of that

from the T20 World Cup earlier this year, getting beaten in the semi-final. But I do think that this Harry Brook identity in leadership of this side is starting to bear fruit. They've been really impressive in T20 cricket, haven't they?

Coming into the India series after the New Zealand test series, remember, it's right off the back of it as well. And you thought, what sort of hangover is it's going to be for the whiteball side? Everything was up in arms, isn't it? With the England test team, Ben Stokes had just retired from test cricket. They'd lost the series against New Zealand.

You thought it was a series they kind of had to win after what happened in Australia. You feared for them in T20 cricket, but they played magnificently. And they look a really dominant side in T20 cricket. You almost feel it would be great if there was a T20 World Cup just around the corner rather than a one-day international World Cup in a year's time. But of course, they did lose the one game that really, mattered in T20 cricket this year, the semi-final against India. And look, they're an incredibly strong side, especially in their home conditions. And it wasn't quite as close a game as the final

score suggested it was. I think India rule was winning that, but they gave it a bit of a go. So, yeah, bring on the next T20 World Cup. It won't be that long away, I often think. But it feels like, you know, it feels like that's where England are at their strongest at the moment. I'm a bit more skeptical about their chances of the World Cup in South Africa. I think there's still a few more pieces to put into place for that. But yeah, the white ball looks fairly strong. Yeah, I think it was also a bold move with everything going on to actually split the coaches. You think about, you know, the noise that would have been there.

It would have been easy to kind of just completely pull it up. What I would say, within all the chaos, even after the ashes, Sri Lanka, sort of positive against India positive you know again here in this series positive so the whiteball side particularly like you're saying the T20 is moving in the right direction I feel that combination of Brooke and McCullum seems to be working well adding in KP for that mentoring will be interesting to see but it feels like they've got an understanding of what they're trying to achieve very clearly and I think the approach is working I think the leadership of Harry Brooke has really

been noticeable actually and he's held his own and he's deletioning Livered also with the bat and with his captaincy where he's been quite dynamic. So this is one positive area. Even the ODIs has been all right. They would have won against Sri Lanka away. They would have won against India. They would have won here. Solid summer on the way moving up the ranking.

Yeah, that'd be three series in a row, wouldn't it? 350 over series and that is where we are going to, the more high catching performance, as Simon has said, was in the T20 cricket, but the more important is the 50 over, given there as a World Cup next year. And that would be three series in a row. for a team that was struggling so badly, go back to the Champions Trophy, we were there, weren't we, Simon, last year when they went without, came home without winning a game, lost to Afghanistan, lost to Australia, lost to South Africa, hammered by South Africa,

not just lost to. And now they are starting to turn it around. You are right that things, they're the pieces to solve, but you look today, like, there's no Jacob Bethel in this team, Tom Banton has delivered, there's no Josh Butler in this team, Jordan Cox has delivered, Sunni Baker's coming, to Josh Tong didn't have the best game the other day. there are decisions to be made still and I'm a bit concerned that Rehan Ahmed in the series where this was meant to be his series to show what he can do if England don't have Adele Rashid next year and he's not even made it to the decided before being dropped that is a concern for me but yeah there are encouraging signs yeah time will tell on this of course when we get to the

world cup next year I thought Thursday was quite a concerning defeat for England because that's a game they should win life seen England do that a lot in world cups When they're in that sort of clutch situation, it's getting a bit tight towards the end. They often have lost those sort of games. And that is the sort of night they're going to have in a world car. I was actually just thinking, I was commentating and thinking about Thursday night. I'd love to see this a year in advance. England playing Sri Lanka in Blumfontein or something like this.

Could they win this game from this situation they were in? And they weren't able to do it because I think they made so many sort of fundamental errors because they dropped the catch early on and Mendez was dropped. And you've seen Sri Lanka do it to England, three successive World Cups. It feels that when they get to those, you know, what you might call a clutch game, okay, to win the series the other night, then they aren't able to take the next step. And I think that's going to be a challenge for them when it comes to the 50 over World Cup.

You know, the likes of South Africa are very strong. India, inevitably, I think, are going to be quite strong, despite the fact that England dispatched them this summer in English conditions. There's always Australia and there's always New Zealand as well. And then there are those tricky matches like Sri Lanka as well, who pose England some problems and they weren't able to solve them and you feel they absolutely should have been able to do so.

You can say, oh, it's just a game at the end of the summer. But actually, three-match series, there aren't that many, isn't that much room for maneuver like they used to be in those five-match series. Josh Butler was at the turning point. If he was at the crease, does it feel like his experience? But you still should be able to win. You've got to ride those blows, I think.

I think that's the feeling. A little bit like South Africa, struggling to get over the line in ice. ACC tour. It's just a little lack of ruthlessness and smart. It's, well, the other evening it was kind of tactical, wasn't it? The ability to, I mean, Brendan McCullum talked about it afterwards, actually, in the dressing room, because they put that clip out on social media saying, you know, we practice a lot of big shots against hard white balls. Perhaps we need to practice more against the softer balls we're going to see now in 50 over cricket.

This is the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. What about the women's summer? Because that had the big sort of marquee event of the T20 World Cup hosted in England. And England get to the final, lose to Australia and that, rather predictable in that sense. It's hard as I saw Lydia Greenway being interviewed, England selector Lydia Greenway being interviewed by the other time. And she was trying to find the adject to describe it. And I think I'm right in saying she settled on a good summer, didn't want to go any high that I knew Lydia well, don't you have any. So like it's interesting, like there was so much going on at that point during that World Cup.

And I think looking back, I don't think it really did have, if we're speaking for the broader game, the sort of cut through that everyone was hoping. I think that is fair to say. All the talk and the buildup was about this being the equivalent of the lionesses moment, the Red Rose's moment, that the football and the rugby teams, the women's teams, England women's teams had had before. I don't think we can say that it did have that impact on the country, as good as it was being at the venues.

as we were during those games where the team is generally. I think they're in a better position than where they were 12 months ago, but they are still a fair way off Australia, as we have said so many times. Yeah, I think two things to separate. One is the event, the occasion. And I think within our bubble, it was brilliant, because if you look at ticket scales and you compare it to any other world. I mean, I've pretty much been to every World Cup, Homer or Wayfield.

You've been a lot of them with me, Henry. I would say the more grounds and more people were in the stadium and it was an event. I still feel it was within the bubble and it didn't have that cut through that we were hoping for. There's always a lot of sport going on and you've got that challenge, but it didn't quite cut through into the mainstream, I think, is. But all cricket metrics, you know, tickets, sales, attendances and all those sort of things were climbing. I think from a cricket perspective, I could see the growth under Charlotte Edwards, improved fitness, ability in the game here at the semi-final to when they were under pressure and lost. a couple of wickets, fight back against South Africa and win. That is a game that we've seen in the men's as well where you can give away.

So I saw the growth in the England women and I was quite excited about young players coming through, Freya Kemp, etc. Where the frustration was was also realizing in that test match and in that final where the gaps still are and it made you realize actually it's bigger than we'd hoped, I suppose. I think we had all hoped that on a tricky Lord's wicket in the final England would have been able to to have the skills to dig a bit deeper and take that game deeper and the golf just looked pretty wide. So what it showed is there's they're definitely number two or in that mix in the top three, but that difference between them and number one is still quite large at the moment.

The good news, though, I would say is the hiring of Leopoulton, a new managing director. She's responsible for a lot of building the pathways in Australia. And I think her knowledge, you know, you don't often want to bring too many Australians into your system. but actually, you know, she's someone who will bring that. I don't think there are many people in the world who would have that insight. So hopefully she can help close that gap. But I would say that gap was big. And I think the most frustrating one was actually the Lord's Test match, actually,

because you got Cranty Gowd who was like, what was she, 19, 20, out bowling all of our bowlers and getting herself on the honours board. And you're thinking, how's this sort of youngster out bowling some of our high quality? So I think in certain moments, we're going to have to find a way to be more ruthless, but I think the trajectory is definitely going in the right direction. Simon, what about the legacy of a women's T20 World Cup? A lot of talk about the lionesses moment, as Matt says. But to me, I don't feel like this is a tournament

that has extended beyond the date that it finished, really. And I don't know if that's unfair. Well, a lot of people, I suppose, if your sports fans, we're looking forward to the Football World Cup as well, which is a huge little leviathan sitting over the summer, isn't it? I think the final needed to be more competitive. I watched the final. I just thought, Australia are going to win this, aren't they?

And I absolutely agree with you, Ebbs. You've probably got to have three or four teams. Four teams that are really good. And so when they go on to the ground, I know India are reasonably strong. You know, everyone needs to be that sense of what's going to happen today. And Australia just seemed, I know they haven't been winning that as much recently as they normally do. but they seem so far ahead of everybody else, generally speaking. And once you can challenge them consistently, then you might have that sort of interest peaked more.

Another big element of the summer these days is 100, of course, and it looked different this year, Matt, with overseas ownership as part of the mix for the first time. I think broadly speaking, it can be viewed as a success. It was a lot of competition for eyeballs on sporting events in this country. and I think that it went really without a hitch. Yeah, I think so. So the cricket, I think, did step up this year and was of high quality.

We got decent game in the men's final-ish, wasn't it? I think was a decent-ish game. People may not remember. Liam Dawson hitting a six to win it at the end. Like I said, the cricket was got the issue with the 100, and we are always stuck in the cycle of just assessing it. And Matt Roller, our colleague from Crick Info, a very good piece,

on a similar mind. We're always assessing what it means constantly. We're not just taking it for what it is and watching it and assessing it. There's always, until it finds its place in the summer, if it can ever find its place where it can sit comfortably in the summer, we are always constantly talking bigger picture.

What does this mean? Has it been a success? If you're asking, every single summer has something been a success, I think you get to the point where the answer can't necessarily be yes, because it would be obvious and that wouldn't be a question

you're asking anymore. Yeah, I think the narrative this year was also the new ownership which kind of made it resurface again, maybe if it had another couple of years. I feel like it's interesting because you speak to the players and they really felt the new owners coming in and they felt that glamour and the impact and the difference in the changing room and the teams, etc. But then for the audience, I think it took a little... Different in the wage packet as well. Yeah, I mean that I mean, who's James for London Spirit? James Coles. What did he get? He got like two 200 grand and he until towards the end of the tournament I don't think he'd hardly scored a run and took a wicket so he would have been loving life and saying it's great to be fair

but I think the other side it took a little while for some of the teams in identity you know and I think that's the hard thing isn't in English sport everybody loves a team that they know and they love and they can do so the hope is that this format now stage you've got the owners it's gonna run out for a few years now keep the format maybe stop over analyzing the the wide is this here and then we can just get into just purely about the sport and the winning. One thing, one of my observations and it's kind of an observation from the start of the tournament as well. And I saw, I'd witnessed it in the final, just watching the final, just looking at the crowd.

I was interested to see how the crowd reacted as the game went on. And it wasn't actually that tight to finish. It became a bizarrely tight finish actually because of some probably not great cricket actually. But I was just looking at the crowd and there was people were kind of into it, but not really. You watch an IPL final and people are so into it, aren't they? They're absolutely passionate about their side winning. So I just had that sense that people turned up for the match. It's like, okay, a bit of entertainment, but I don't really care.

And I think sport is all about, not all about, a lot of it is about really caring who wins. And I don't sense that that 100 has that yet. It might take time to develop that. It probably will, but will it still be a success by the time people do feel invested in their team? Yeah, the one thing I would say to that is you compare to the SA20 where you now have a lot of the very similar owners. I remember when Sunrises there won the tournament and their Sunrises are an interesting example actually because they're Northern Superchargers I found were one of the teams that did as Sunrises used to be, the people who may not be fully across the 100 before they changed their name. They were one of the teams where I felt like the colours and the sort of the event at He had caught on a little bit.

You have identity, didn't you? I think so. Did you think that about the final though? Did it... I agree with you, massively. But what I would say is the SA20 final when Sunrises won that, there are a couple of years on from the Indian investment. It did look like people cared and that's the point that the 100 needs to get to if it can

get to and can it get to it, that is a very difficult question and one we will have to wait and see. One thing I'd throw in is domestically speaking, you go to T20 Finals Day, similarly to finals day of the 100, people buy their tickets months in advance, so you're not necessarily going to have a totally partisan crowd. What about Warwickshire then? County champions, Simon. Well, it came from nowhere. It felt not, no, not just recently it came from nowhere, but start the season. You wouldn't necessarily have had Warwickshire as among your favourites. I mean, the big story of the summer has been Surrey's decline, hasn't it, really? I can see in 700 in their

last match of the summer. You know, really tough summer for them, but fantastic for Warwickshire. Good all-round team. Well done, Ethan Bamber, you know, running in 69 wickets. not hugely fast, very self-facing baseball. 69 wickets. Magnificent for them. Great all-round team effort. And they won such a tight game against Sussex. At the end of August, one wicket, they lost that game.

It might have been Sussex's title. One team that did dominate was the Blaze, the women's competition. That treble was spectacular. Yeah, I'm really exciting for them. They've had a number of exciting players coming through as well. They've got Beaumont as well with her experiences holding it together. No, it's been really good to see. The women's domestic tournament for me,

and I think one of the key things has been the. amount of England players coming back as well. In the past, you know, it was almost kept separate that it was almost, you know, not really invested. But I think that the success of the women's domestic structure for me this year has been the England players being more available and having to step up and it's creating more of a competitive dynamic. Thank you all. That's the thoughts of Simon Mann, Ebony, Rain for Brent and Matt Henry there from the BBC Sport website. And that we've rattled through most of it there. I think we just about covered what we saw in the in this tumultuous summer, there's always more we could talk about,

but hopefully we gave a little bit of a flavour of some of the views of the TMS team on what we've seen over the course of the last few months. This is the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. So much sport today and all the goals as they go in up and down the league. This is 5 Live Sports. It's all right to the lights and fit and a floor. To bowl him. It's not to stopper.

Everyone standing around the 18th green. Oh my God. The show has done the center. Of the world's greatest sporting events. Listen on BBC Sounds. How did Katzai become one of the biggest girl groups in the world? I'm Asma Khalid. And I'm Tristan Redmond, and together we host the Global Story podcast from the BBC.

In this episode, we give you everything there is to know about Katzai. They've gone from their first EP to a sold-out US tour in just two years. But has their stratospheric success revealed a darker side of the K-pop model? Search for the global story. I'm BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.