How much cricket is too much cricket, and how much cricket is too little cricket when heading into an Ashes series in Australia?
The 16 players in this Ashes squad announced this week have collectively played in 12 different competitions globally this calendar year, the most of any Australia-bound England squad since 2006.
Only two of them (Test matches and County Championship) involve a red ball.
Ten of the squad featured in the team that beat Zimbabwe in May. In June and July, against India, 13 players in the squad played a part, but only six played in every Test. Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes both had their time managed due to injury. Shoaib Bashir broke his finger in the third Test. Mark Wood made fine contributions – but unfortunately all from the commentary box.
Both schedule and injuries have contributed to this squad continuing the trend of, on average, facing and bowling fewer balls in Test matches in the year building up to a winter series down under.
That is a sizeable decrease from previous years heading into a series. Tests aside, the gaping cricket-less holes in the calendars of fast bowlers, in particular, will raise questions of whether they can bowl for long spells come the first Test in Perth.
The following graphs display the breadth of cricket (in all formats) each member of England’s Ashes squad has played this year. Some – like Harry Brook – have been active for large parts of the year. Others – like Wood – have had playing time limited due to injury.
Will Jacks – seen by many as something of a wildcard selection in Brendon McCullum’s squad – has had an incredibly busy year with both bat and ball for England, Oval Invincibles, and Surrey.
Graph key: Orange for balls faced, blue for balls bowled
Bowlers
All-rounders
Batters
Data: Cricsheet