Sir Alistair Cook

Are they too closely linked up until 2027 when Brendan McCollum's contract runs out and when Ben Stokes' central contract runs out and when, ideally, they want to win the Ashes back at the Oval and all ride off together?

They deny that, by the way.

Well, I think we'll understand a little bit more because if they pick exactly the same 11 or similar, then we'll be there.

I think the next three months is going to be really exciting for us

County cricketers, because I think a lot, not a lot of those players, but there's a fair few slots in particularly opening batsmen, the wicketkeeper, probably the bowling attack as well, where you could get any number of combinations.

So actually performances for once now will have consequence, I believe, in county cricket.

The only other thing I'll quickly say is I think Stokes and McCullum feel like they need to get back on the same page.

I think in that series in Australia when they didn't fall apart as a team in terms of internals, but actually it looked like a couple of different messages.

One from the captain who, after the first couple of games, said they know how to play against us.

We need to adapt.

And he started saying,

blocking a lot more and trying to build in innings.

And then Brendan McCullum coming out and saying, we need to still play on the front foot.

So that is a relationship which needs to make sure that the coach and the captain who were for the first 18 months seemingly very close to make sure they are absolutely on the same page driving for the next 18 months.

Just quickly on the county cricket openers, I don't think that any person

Anyone in the 18 counties that are 36 openers can open the batting.

But I do think there'll be three or four names that the selectors will think, right, these are the four.

Who is our best option to say to go alongside Ben Duckett, who I think has done enough over the last...

18, 24 months to be a pick, even though he didn't have the greatest ashes in Australia.

I think that there's part of, or a lot of county cricketers that might have felt a bit disheartened that it didn't matter what they did in the county game, that the number that they put next to their name wouldn't necessarily put them to the front of the list for selection because they didn't necessarily play in a certain way.