Jacob Bethell to captain England in T20 series against Ireland
The 21-year-old is on the Test fringes but he is already a white-ball mainstay and the esteem with which he is held in is emphasised by his appointment to captain England from September 17-21 in Dublin.
When he does so, Bethell will eclipse the existing record held by Monty Bowden, who was 23 years and 144 days old when he oversaw England in a Test against South Africa at Cape Town in 1888-89.
'Jacob Bethell has impressed with his leadership qualities ever since he has been with the England squads,' said national selector Luke Wright.
'The series against Ireland will provide him with the opportunity to further develop those skills on the international stage.'
Bethell has received the opportunity as Harry Brook takes a breather following the ODI and T20 series against South Africa from September 2-14, the squads for which were also announced on Friday.
Assistant Marcus Trescothick will step up as head coach in Ireland, with Brendon McCullum not making the trip, reprising the role he had in England's white-ball tour of the Caribbean last winter.
All-format quartet Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith, Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse have also been taken out of the firing line against Ireland, giving them a rest in preparation for this winter's blockbuster Ashes.
Fast bowling duo Mark Wood and Gus Atkinson are not in any of the three squads as they start focusing on this winter's tour to Australia, which gets under way on November 21 in Perth.
Wood had knee surgery in March and missed the entirety of the Test series against India. It was hoped he would play some part against South Africa or Ireland but his competitive comeback may now not be until England's white-ball trip to New Zealand in October and November, just before the Ashes.
Uncapped fast bowler Sonny Baker has been rewarded for a string of encouraging showings in the past 12 months, included in the ODI squad to face the Proteas and in the group to face Ireland.
'Sonny is a player we have identified for a while and he was impressive during the England Lions tours last winter,' added Wright.
'He has carried that form into this season in white-ball cricket with Hampshire and Manchester Originals and deservedly gets his opportunity.'
Seamer Matthew Potts and slow left-armer Tom Hartley have been recalled for the brief visit to Ireland but, despite a number of absentees, there is no recall for all-rounders Liam Livingstone or Sam Curran.
England ODI squad v South Africa: H Brook (captain), R Ahmed, J Archer, S Baker, T Banton, J Bethell, J Buttler, B Carse, B Duckett, W Jacks, S Mahmood, J Overton, A Rashid, J Root, J Smith.
England T20 squad v South Africa: H Brook (captain), R Ahmed, J Archer, T Banton, J Bethell, J Buttler, B Carse, L Dawson, B Duckett, W Jacks, S Mahmood, J Overton, A Rashid, P Salt, J Smith, L Wood.
England T20 squad v Ireland: J Bethell (captain), R Ahmed, S Baker, T Banton, J Buttler, L Dawson, T Hartley, W Jacks, S Mahmood, J Overton, M Potts, A Rashid, P Salt, L Wood.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
13 minutes ago
- New York Times
Sunderland and the Stadium of Light get the emotional exorcism they need on Premier League return
The Stadium of Light, for so long, was where Premier League aspirations came to die. There were fleeting moments of joy, enough to help its tenants stage a series of escapes from relegation to the Championship, but it became a venue synonymous with Sunderland's perennial struggle. Just 18 wins came from the last 76 games played on Wearside before the Premier League lights were turned off in the spring of 2017. None at all were found in the final 13. Sunderland's home became listless and drab, where even the energy to complain had been sapped. Advertisement Eight years away from the Premier League dragged Sunderland to darker places still, down to their historic nadirs of League One, but in a city by the sea is a club and its fans now riding a wave. An opening day victory over West Ham United brought the latest release of euphoria 10 weeks after promotion was dramatically won through the Championship play-offs. Three second-half goals conquered the nerves of a reintroduction to the elite, and the Stadium of Light savoured every moment. 'We could feel the energy,' said head coach Regis Le Bris afterwards. This mattered more than Sunderland might have cared to admit on the eve of this new season. Winning 3-0 amounted to an emotional exorcism back in the Premier League, providing hope that the highs of last season do not have to subside in the face of vastly improved opponents. Of the three newly-promoted clubs, there is a vibrancy perhaps unique to Sunderland, an intangible strength stemming from Dan Ballard's late header to sink Coventry City and then calcified by Tommy Watson's sumptuous winner against Sheffield United at Wembley. Both brought glory at the death. Three months on, and they continue to lean unashamedly into notions of belief and spirit. The pre-match tifo at the Roker End depicted the County Durham legend of the giant Lambton worm, slayed by a gallant local hero. 'The man who wins is the man who thinks he can,' it read below. All the bravado can soon be diminished against better opponents than West Ham. But in an opening month that brings trips to Burnley and Crystal Palace, either side of hosting Brentford, the significance of this win — Sunderland's biggest on an opening day since 1974 — was clear to the bulk of a capacity crowd that applauded players from the pitch. Le Bris spoke immediately of resetting and humility. 'Granit (Xhaka, the club's new captain) spoke for 30 seconds about this togetherness, this way of suffering together, because it will be key for the season,' he said. Advertisement That it was Xhaka, once of Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen, who delivered the post-match messaging illustrated that it is a new Sunderland returning to the Premier League. Just three of the opening day's starting XI featured in last season's Championship play-offs, with seven of the other eight making debuts on the back of summer transfers. An eighth debutant, defender Omar Alderete, came on from the bench. Another imminent new signing, Paris Saint-Germain defender Nordi Mukiele, was a notable face in the stands. A ruthlessness has run through a recruitment drive that has already seen £130million spent. This means the likes of Dan Neil, Anthony Patterson, and Patrick Roberts have turned from mainstays to unused subs on Saturday, but there remains a place for the old guard to underpin the ambition. All three goalscorers on the Premier League return were heroes of the play-offs. Ballard scored Sunderland's decisive second against West Ham, a guided header, at the same end where he had denied El Hadji Malick Diouf with a goalline clearance in the first half and also sunk Coventry back in May. Before that, it had been a precise opener from Eliezer Mayenda, converting Alderete's cross with a looping header back across the leaden-footed Mads Hermansen. Plenty at Sunderland regard Mayenda, still only 20, as their greatest asset after signing a new contract that will run until 2030 this summer. Substitute Wilson Isidor does not appear set for such a prominent role in the Premier League, but his breakaway goal, low past Hermansen, in stoppage time assured the Stadium of Light of a carefree finale of oles and embraces. 'They showed that they can step up today, but at the same time they are really important, because they keep the identity of the club,' said Le Bris of his three goalscorers. 'The way we worked last season, we built this strength about togetherness and the way we can work as a team. We showed it, and these players are important for that.' Richard Masters, the Premier League's chief executive, appeared to miss Sunderland's third goal when cameras showed him vacating his seat in the directors' box in the closing stages, but he was in the minority heading for an early exit. Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, Sunderland's 27-year-old owner, beamed as he watched the celebrations between brother Maurice and minority shareholder Juan Sartori. This was Sunderland's big day and, unlike the unremittingly bleak goodbye to this level in 2016-17, there is early cause to believe a very different club can enjoy very different fortunes back in the Premier League. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
New York Times
13 minutes ago
- New York Times
West Ham's failure on the basics already has Graham Potter talking about bouncing back
Just as this was a scoreline that got worse and worse for West Ham United as the second half unfolded, it was a result that got worse and worse as it was digested by fans and neutrals alike on Saturday night. And West Ham face Chelsea next. That comes on Friday night at the London Stadium, and this was sufficiently damaging to West Ham as a team and as a club for manager Graham Potter — 90 minutes into the season — to be asked about 'bouncing back', if an immediate response is required against their London rivals. Even the club's media asked him. It's how bad this felt by 5pm. Advertisement 'We have to bounce back with a performance, for sure,' Potter replied. 'It's one game — I understand the scoreline doesn't make it look pretty for us at all. We have to accept the criticism and our responsibility. We can't wait for Premier League wins, we can't wait for the opposition to give us points, we have to make it happen.' Potter is a measured speaker, whose calm tone can disguise the acid of his opinion. And it sounds simple, the notion of making things happen. But as Potter repeatedly referred to West Ham's failure to do 'the basics', his true feelings came through his press conference delivery. The basics involve defenders heading the ball away, so when 5ft 11in Eliezer Mayenda rose to head in the opening goal under insufficient challenge from 6ft 3in Nayef Aguerd and 6ft 4in Max Kilman, Potter was unimpressed. 'With the greatest of respect, it's not Niall Quinn playing,' he said. That should and will burn. 'We are disappointed with that; we have to deal with those situations,' Potter carried on. 'Basics. It's not like we were cut open, pushed back for periods of time, it wasn't like that, it was just balls in the box we didn't do well enough on.' This analysis was not among the faults being attributed to Potter by furious West Ham fans. Potter was correct to identify that first goal as all too easy for Sunderland to score. He did not point out that new goalkeeper Mads Hermansen might have done better then. Potter could have, and he could certainly have been critical of Hermansen on Sunderland's third, scored by Wilson Isidor. But Potter probably felt the collective sight of his team splintering was more worthy of recognition. It was. It seems a long time ago now, but there was a lengthy period in the first half when West Ham were so dominant that the Stadium of Light was audibly quiet. The explosion of noise at kick-off had subsided to muttering. Jarrod Bowen was the best player on the pitch, and it seemed all West Ham had to do was force the issue. Make it happen. Advertisement Sunderland had nine starters making their Premier League debut, and it looked it. Robin Roefs, the Wearsiders' new £12m goalkeeper, was one of them, and the Dutchman had to be sharp at his near post to block a low Bowen shot in the third minute. It was another 20 minutes before Roefs was anxious again, and he was grateful to Dan Ballard for clearing Malick Diouf's goalbound shot. The build-up to the chance included neat touches from Bowen and Niclas Fullkrug, and West Ham's control was greater than the 63 per cent possession statistic suggested. Every metric had West Ham ahead, bar the scoreboard. But from that moment until late on, West Ham drifted. In Fullkrug's rant in April after Southampton had equalised in the 90th minute at the London Stadium, Fullkrug pointed to a 'mindset problem' and said that after going ahead, 'We just sink'. West Ham did the latter here without the benefit of a lead. Passive possession allowed Sunderland to catch their breath. And so a display of which Bowen said he was 'fuming' became emblematic of how many followers feel about the direction of West Ham United as a club. For them, this will feel like a continuation of last season, which featured a run from mid-January to early May in which two Premier League games were won, seven were lost, and five were drawn. Potter had just been appointed after Julen Lopetegui's disruptive dismissal. West Ham did win at Manchester United and Ipswich Town in the last three games to bring some light to the season's end. The east London side reached 43 points to ensure a 14th consecutive season in the top division. But 13 of those points came against the just-promoted three clubs, soon-to-be-relegated, a flat-track platform for ongoing Premier League membership. The club have since made Jean-Clair Todibo's £33m transfer permanent and added £19m Diouf and £20m Hermansen. Add the £40m paid the previous summer to Wolves for Kilman, and questions will be asked of recruitment. None of that quartet can be satisfied with their individual contribution on a ground where the likes of Hull City and QPR won last season. Advertisement Potter is not an agitator and spoke pre-match of wanting to have 'a team on the pitch our supporters recognise'. Unfortunately, too many do. But when asked if this jolt was enough for him to re-evaluate the quality and depth of his squad, Potter said: 'If we don't do the basics right, you can bring in player and player and player and player and it's not going to solve the problems.' Fair enough. It means he will have to improve them on the training ground. It's pressure all could do without. After just 90 minutes, Sunderland's Stadium of Light has cast a shadow over West Ham's season. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
New York Times
42 minutes ago
- New York Times
Match of the Day review: Same product, slightly different appearance, but it just felt right
The last time that Match of the Day had a new permanent presenter, Oasis were one of the biggest bands in the country, baggy jeans were fashionable, Arsenal had just finished runners-up in the Premier League and Sunderland were back in the top flight. So, as Mark Chapman will say later, the more things change, the more things stay the same. For 1999 and Gary Lineker, read 2025 and Chapman, Gabby Logan and Kelly Cates, a trio of new presenters who, appropriately for the modern game, will adopt a squad rotation system on hosting duties for Match of the Day's Saturday and Sunday shows (the MOTD 2 name has been dropped). Advertisement Lineker's departure after 26 years as presenter gave the BBC an ideal opportunity, if they wished, to revamp the country's longest-running football show. So what did we get from this exciting first edition of the new-look show? Did Chapman skydive into the studio? Was the running order decided live on air by Alan Shearer picking balls out of a bag while wearing Lineker's famous white pants from 2016? Well, no, it was basically exactly the same as before. They've rebadged it, you fool. Same name, same music, same studio, same format, just with a couple of new (ish) faces in host Chapman and newly-signed pundit Wayne Rooney, alongside Shearer. The intro even came straight from the Lineker playbook. 'Evening, the Premier League is back and Match of the Day is back,' Chapman began. 'Now you may have seen and heard that there is a big change to the show this season, and that is…Wayne Rooney has joined us as a regular pundit. 'Some things don't change, though…Alan is still here. And he is absolutely delighted that Sunderland are first up, back in the top flight and at home to West Ham, with Guy Mowbray.' A no-frills welcome which purportedly references the big Match of the Day news that everyone knows about, followed by a punchline that reveals something more minor has changed, and we're going to point that out instead. Everyone laugh, quick dig at Shearer, straight into the action. Textbook. Match of the Day is a show that embodies characteristics most other mainstream UK football shows don't; it's traditional, consistent, familiar and easy viewing. No sensationalism, no forced narratives and no melodramatic tribalism in sight. They could try to reinvent the wheel/ball with some deep tactical dives or contentious debates, but all that would do is alienate the core audience, and the show would probably become irrelevant. Advertisement That irrelevancy may come with the passing of time and the changing of habits from one generation to the next, but for now, Match of the Day remains the pillar of English football's TV schedule. Not that it hasn't evolved. Picking a show at random from Lineker's first season as host in early 2000, 47 minutes of a 70-minute show were dedicated to a relegation clash which finished Bradford City 3-2 Watford (25 minutes for that) and Aston Villa 0-0 Chelsea (22 minutes), with a bit of studio analysis from Alan Hansen and Trevor Brooking for both games. There were then brief highlights of the other six matches with no mention of those games in the studio, despite them including title-challengers Liverpool dropping points at home to Middlesbrough and struggling Newcastle losing at Wimbledon. The highlights have grown shorter, and the analysis longer, to adapt to an audience now armed with far more data and knowledge than they had in 1999. For most of the last decade, though, it has stayed pretty consistent, with patter you could set your watch by and quite easily write a script for… Lineker: 'Well, a great win for Chelsea and we have to start by talking about one man…forget Joao Pedro, this was more; 'Wow Pedro'….' Micah Richards: 'Hahaha yesssss, go on Gary.' Alan Shearer: 'You've been waiting to say that all day, by the way.' Lineker: (giggles) 'It was worth the wait. Anyway, talk to me about his goal Alan, you'd have been proud of that one.' Shearer: 'Absolutely, it was a great ball over the top, he's taken it in his stride and belted it in from long range, a fabulous strike. Although you wouldn't have scored it because it wasn't in the six-yard box (looks straight ahead with slight smirk and pursed lips awaiting Lineker's response).' Lineker: 'Haha, well yes, although I won quite a few trophies from that six-yard box, Al, unlike you (chuckles all round). Anyway! Moving swiftly on.' Advertisement The change of host, of cours,e changes the dynamic, but Chapman, who if he was nervous didn't show it in the slightest, has worked with Shearer many times before, and their rhythm felt natural. In fact, natural is the word to sum up Chapman, a host who like Artie Bucco could be described as warm and convivial, who rarely fails to ask piercing questions devoid of cliches and has a relaxed but authoratitive style. He is also fully aware of the futility of some of football's exhaustive traits, like here, when showing the league table after one match. It feels like he's on the side of the viewer, basically. He tees up Shearer and Rooney for analysis of Sunderland's wide players prising West Ham's defence apart, Tijani Reijnders running the show at Molineux (with some great examples of his movement), Spurs' incessant crosses, Fulham's players not appealing a penalty hard enough, Newcastle's pacey forwards and Liverpool's entertainers. The show hints at what might be a slightly newsier feel going forward, with Chapman saying a few words to camera on Eberechi Eze's prospective move to Spurs with a pointer to the BBC website for more information, and he twice preempts that the panel will discuss the future of Alexander Isak. During that segment, Rooney states three times that Isak has to go about things in the right way, while Shearer is far more to the point with: 'Someone is taking the liberty of saying I'm refusing to play, you just can't do that when you've got a three-year contract.' It's a decent enough debut from Rooney. There are too many 'erms' and quite a lot of repetition, but the knowledge and insight is clearly there, and he'll improve his delivery the more he does it. Shearer and Lineker's 'before and after' clips are unrecognisable in terms of how they project and convey themselves. Chapman keeps it light, he jokes that Jonathan Pearce could give a history lesson to more players after he tells Mohammed Kudus that Spurs fans love wingers and wide players, and later brings up a social media post of Shearer's: 'And Alan you tweeted last night why would you want to move to Anfield now to be (Hugo) Ekitike's understudy, I can't imagine why you did that.' More laughter. Advertisement And, well, that's pretty much it really. A fantastic opening day win for Sunderland, a perfect start to the season for Manchester City and a look back at Liverpool's Friday night thriller, all packaged up into 80 minutes. 'So from today's games, Sunderland were on first, but already Liverpool and Manchester City are up and running and both scored four, so I suppose you could say the more things change, the more things stay the same,' Chapman finishes. 'Gabby's here tomorrow, goodnight.' Yep, Logan on Sunday, Cates next week. We know exactly what we'll get. Same product, slightly different appearance, like when they changed Opal Fruits to Starburst. No big deal, it turns out. In a football world where trends come and go in months and the sport is desperate to evolve and keep pace with the next generation's demands, for a football institution like Match of the Day to stick to what it does best, well, it just feels right. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
