{"id":2479,"date":"2026-06-02T14:36:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T14:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2479"},"modified":"2026-06-02T14:36:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T14:36:16","slug":"bethell-fit-to-play-for-england-in-test-series-against-nz-as-mccullum-calls-for-refined-bazball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2479","title":{"rendered":"Bethell fit to play for England in test series against NZ as McCullum calls for ‘refined’ Bazball"},"content":{"rendered":"

England No. 3 batter Jacob Bethell is fit to play the first cricket test against New Zealand starting on Thursday despite having to cut short his time in the Indian Premier League because of a finger injury on his left hand.<\/p>\n

Read more Andreeva powers into French Open semifinals and sets up Russia-Ukraine showdown<\/a><\/p>\n

Bethell was forced to leave eventual IPL champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru<\/a> before the playoffs so he could be assessed and monitored by England\u2019s medical team ahead of the New Zealand series.<\/p>\n

England coach Brendon McCullum said on Tuesday that Bethell\u2019s finger was \u201cfine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was operating at gully in our training yesterday and he\u2019s absolutely fine, so there\u2019s no problems there,\u201d McCullum said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe should be able to bowl as well, which is quite handy for us to have another bowling option in the top order.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bethell was one of the few successes from the 4-1 loss to Australia in Ashes Down Under, making a century<\/a> in Sydney in the final test. He has played six tests in total \u2014 averaging 43 \u2014 but only once on home soil when he batted at No. 6 and made 6 and 5 against India last year.<\/p>\n

Now he is England\u2019s No. 3, replacing Ollie Pope, but has a lack of experience in red-ball cricket. He has played only once in England\u2019s four-day County Championship since August 2024, according to the BBC.<\/p>\n

McCullum said there\u2019d be \u201cno excuses\u201d for Bethell this summer, starting at Lord\u2019s this week.<\/p>\n

Read more World Cup 2026: Who\u2019s in, where to watch, betting odds, schedules and more<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHis game looks in good order,\u201d McCullum said. \u201cI\u2019m sure working in India, I know it\u2019s probably not ideal from a structure point of view and maybe not getting as much red-ball games under his belt, but he has a calm head and he\u2019s a very methodical preparer in terms of the mental side of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCullum and England captain Ben Stokes stayed in their roles<\/a> after the Ashes despite calls for change because of problems on and off the field<\/a> .<\/p>\n

McCullum was asked on Tuesday what England fans can expect of his chastened team in the test series against the Kiwis and Pakistan when \u201cBazball\u201d will be under scrutiny.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still want to be recognizable from the past,\u201d he said, \u201cbut we just want to hopefully be a cricket team which has evolved somewhat in some of the key areas where we\u2019ve identified that we\u2019ve fallen short previously. We want to be a team which is better under pressure, a team which can navigate tactically, that can understand where you sit in the game and what\u2019s required.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still want the identity of the past,\u201d he added, \u201cbut we want a more refined version of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more US grants visa to Haitian soccer player to join team for World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP cricket: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/cricket<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

England No. 3 batter Jacob Bethell is fit to play the first cricket test against New Zealand starting Thursday at Lord\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nBethell fit to play for England in test series against NZ as McCullum calls for 'refined' Bazball - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2479\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bethell fit to play for England in test series against NZ as McCullum calls for 'refined' Bazball - 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