Over the past two years or so, Test Match cricket has moved into a different direction and probably for the better in terms of entertainment writes Merv Colenutt.

With the introduction of Bazball from England skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum and to a lesser extent more spin options, it has given the two Somerset bowlers, Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir the chance to shine at the expense of Surrey’s Will Jacks for instance who along with Rohan Ahmed had their moments in Pakistan, but obviously didn’t have that ability to win games.

For a bowler such as Bashir who is just 20 years old, the future has to look bright, despite the fact that there is every likelihood he will be farmed out on loan to another county this season or next, but he is without doubt a key player for the future under Stokes and for such a young man, his control of line and length is exceptional.

Bashir already looks as though he has an old head on young shoulders as he is looking to make his mark also in the 50 over competition.

At the same time with Jack Leach returning from fitness and health issues, Somerset’s left arm spinner has bowled beautifully in both red and white ball cricket as Somerset still remain very much in contention for honours in 3 competitions this summer.

On the other side of the coin and just one year younger, wicket keeper James Rew burst onto the scene last year in remarkable fashion, scoring over 1000 runs in the county championship and taking numerous brilliant catches, but despite his heroics, you felt he was being overlooked in test match cricket by Surrey’s second string keeper Jamie Smith.

Smith I am sure we all felt was going to be the back up keeper at Surrey to Ben Foakes who was England’s no 1 and also regarded as the best gloveman in world cricket, but I certainly felt that he fell short of being a player of international class batting in the no 7 hot spot for his country, as he was not quite consistent enough to hold down that prime position.

Smith I felt came out of nowhere to hold down that England spot successfully against the West Indies, especially having followed the progress of Rew last season and although his progress has halted to a certain extent this year in the county championship, that was always going to be the case following a remarkable season in 2023.

Last season for Rew was never going to be followed up, those seasons just don’t happen at such an early age, but I feel his progress this season has moved on again to another level and along with all rounder Kasey Aldridge, they are both in the sights of the England team for the future having both been selected by the England selectors for the England Lions game against Sri Lanka later this week.

So how good is Kasey Aldridge, very good, just that word consistency needs to be added to his game.