{"id":237568,"date":"2025-07-04T14:03:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T14:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/237568\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T14:03:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T14:03:12","slug":"test-match-breakfast-why-englands-stars-were-kept-away-from-county-crickets-kookaburra-experiment-and-skys-plans-for-stuart-broad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/237568\/","title":{"rendered":"TEST MATCH BREAKFAST: Why England&#8217;s stars were kept away from county cricket&#8217;s Kookaburra experiment &#8211; and Sky&#8217;s plans for Stuart Broad"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"mol-bullets-with-font\">\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>England trail India by 510 runs with seven wickets remaining in the second Test<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>Gill put India in the driving seat on Wednesday as England&#8217;s openers fell\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"class\"><strong>Richard Gibson takes you inside some of the major talking points for this Test\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"author-section byline-plain\">By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/profile-199\/richard-gibson.html\" class=\"author\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">RICHARD GIBSON<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"byline-section\"> Published:  03:00 EDT, 4 July 2025   |  Updated:  07:55 EDT, 4 July 2025   <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Test Match Breakfast takes a look at some of the biggest issues around cricket during England&#8217;s huge second Test against <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/india-cricket\/index.html\" id=\"mol-099158f0-584a-11f0-b7e7-0516a274820e\" rel=\"noopener\">India<\/a> at Edgbaston.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">In this edition, RICHARD GIBSON looks at why England&#8217;s squad were kept away from county cricket before the start, what Sky have been doing with <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/stuart-broad\/index.html\" id=\"mol-099b1cf0-584a-11f0-b7e7-0516a274820e\" rel=\"noopener\">Stuart Broad<\/a>, and the India star who broke travel protocol.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">The last\u00a0time there were at least 90 overs in a day\u2019s play at a Test in England was the second day of the 2023 Ashes here at Edgbaston when Moeen Ali and <a style=\"font-weight: bold;\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/joe-root\/index.html\" id=\"mol-09977370-584a-11f0-b7e7-0516a274820e\" rel=\"noopener\">Joe Root<\/a> bowled 36 overs of spin between them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">This is the 13th match since and even though off-spinner Shoaib Bashir operated for lengthy spells and Root was employed again along with another bowler with a minimal run-up in Harry Brook, there were only 86 sent down on day two.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Instead of being dispatched to play county cricket this week, England\u2019s squad members were told they must remain in Birmingham until the first ball was bowled on the opening morning.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Part of the reasoning was that head coach Brendon McCullum believes in fostering team spirit beyond just the playing XI, yet the decision meant players missed out on game time in the County Championship with the Kookaburra ball to be used in next winter\u2019s Ashes down under.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Jofra Archer and Jacob Bethell could have travelled down to Hove for Sussex\u2019s Division One clash, but have been practising during intervals of the Test match as an alternative.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Both were seen on the outfield bowling left-arm spin yesterday with coaches Marcus Trescothick, Jeetan Patel and Moeen Ali on hand.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Although it is natural enough for Bethell to be drilling his slow left-armers, fast bowler Archer switches bowling arms and the pace at which he releases the ball as a party piece.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-c49629111d4c19ae\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/99984403-14819735-image-a-1_1751572303938.jpg\" height=\"433\" width=\"634\" alt=\"England's players missed out on County Cricket as they were kept in England training\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">England&#8217;s players missed out on County Cricket as they were kept in England training<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-14d2b7c80c3a819\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/99984409-14819735-image-a-2_1751572376220.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Brendon McCullum believes in\u00a0fostering team spirit beyond just the playing XI, so his men missed out on the\u00a0Kookaburra ball experiment\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Brendon McCullum believes in\u00a0fostering team spirit beyond just the playing XI, so his men missed out on the\u00a0Kookaburra ball experiment<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Perennial optimist Jeetan Patel was wheeled out by England after they conceded 587 and lost three new-ball wickets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Patel immediately offered a prediction that Ben Stokes\u2019 team could still win.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Cue scoffs from the floor, to which the Kiwi reminded the doubters he made such claims before &#8211; and they have come true.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-2d2e2ba7f17df5f0\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/99984595-14819735-image-a-3_1751572711441.jpg\" height=\"466\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Spin bowling coach\u00a0Jeetan Patel was mocked for his optimism, but he has a good record of predictions coming true\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Spin bowling coach\u00a0Jeetan Patel was mocked for his optimism, but he has a good record of predictions coming true<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Stuart Broad was not part of the Sky Sports commentary team for the second day after being dispatched to Silverstone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Keen to use their personnel to promote coverage of other sports events, Sky dispatched the former England fast bowler to interview drivers ahead of this weekend\u2019s British Grand Prix.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Sky already tap into the 39-year-old\u2019s versatility by using him as a studio analyst on Premier League football nights.<\/p>\n<p>   <img decoding=\"async\" id=\"i-5d61107cdd6a5027\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/99984613-14819735-image-m-5_1751572792737.jpg\" height=\"467\" width=\"634\" alt=\"Stuart Broad was whisked away to Silverstone by Sky, hence he missed the second day\" class=\"blkBorder img-share\" style=\"max-width:100%\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"imageCaption\">Stuart Broad was whisked away to Silverstone by Sky, hence he missed the second day<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">Ravindra Jadeja broke India\u2019s travel protocols on the second morning but is unlikely to face punishment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">After the Australia tour earlier this year, the Indian board made it clear the entire team must arrive at and depart from match venues on a team bus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">However, veteran Jadeja headed to Edgbaston alone for extra practice ahead of resuming his innings on 41, wary that India had collapsed twice in Leeds last week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">It did the trick as he hit 89, sharing in a double century stand with captain Shubman Gill.<\/p>\n<p>                    Share or comment on this article:<br \/>\n                        TEST MATCH BREAKFAST: Why England&#8217;s stars were kept away from county cricket&#8217;s Kookaburra experiment &#8211; and Sky&#8217;s plans for Stuart Broad<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England trail India by 510 runs with seven wickets remaining in the second Test Gill put India in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4101],"tags":[1406,92,93,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-237568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-sport","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114795341948438573","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}