Australia and England edge towards next generations amid return of familiar foes | Geoff Lemon

Mitch Marsh will lead T20 and ODI squads filled with fresh faces out to make an impact in clashes with the old enemy where the stakes always rise

The impression is not borne out by fact, but it feels like a long time since Australia last played in England. So intense was the 2023 Ashes period, with both men’s and women’s series condensed into June and July, that the 13 months since have sensorily expanded in the mind. An unusual feeling given that international cricket now revolves around Australia, England and India playing one another on an endless carousel, though granted, those teams managed to meet in two different flavours of men’s World Cup in the interim.

Still, those Australia-England encounters both came in the pool stage and ended up suitably damp. A full series of three T20s and five one-day matches has more heft. Bilateral contests these days get criticised as pointless money-makers, meaningless without context. The World Cup Super League qualifiers created context for one-day cricket but was abandoned after a few short years. T20s have only ever been for exhibition.

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