Sri Lanka wearing hand warmers and wooly hats but it was England who were caught cold

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Bumble’s world: Sri Lanka’s players were wearing hand warmers and wooly hats but it was England who were caught cold

 

The bad

I’ve got to start with England’s topsy-turvy form, despite Wednesday’s thumping win, because that performance at Durham was an absolute shocker, immediately after all that brightness at The Oval.

Conditions were perfect for England at Chester-le-Street to the extent that the Sri Lankans were using hand warmers and wearing woolly hats in the field, but the home team were abject. That lack of consistency will be a worry for Peter Moores.

The good

It has not all been bad by a long stretch this season and as I do love a likely lad.

I’d like to offer four names I believe are on England’s radar. Liam Plunkett has played for England long before now but he is bowling consistently quickly for Yorkshire and I reckon he’s a shoo-in for the Tests.

Then there are two lads in James Vince at Hampshire and Tom Smith at Lancashire who are well worth keeping an eye on, while it’s great to see David Willey getting back to fitness at Northants. The Bumble prediction?

All of them will play international cricket this year.