England's Crawley & Smith to play in county openers

Zak Crawley and Jamie Smith have played a combined 84 Tests for England England Test players Zak Crawley and Jamie Smith are set to be involved in Friday's opening round of the 2026 County Championship. Opening batter Crawley has been named in Kent's squad for their Division Two game at Durham, while Smith is in the Surrey party visiting Warwickshire at Edgbaston in the Division One match. Both played all five Tests in the Ashes during the winter which Australia won 4-1.

Crawley made two fifties and averaged just 27. 30 at the top of the order, while Smith in his role as wicketkeeper averaged only 23. 44 with the bat and struggled with the gloves.

Ollie Pope, who was dropped from his role as number three halfway through the series, is also part of that Surrey squad alongside Smith, as they all look to make a strong individual start to the domestic season. Seam bowler Matt Potts, who played in the final Test of the series in Sydney, is in the Durham squad for that Kent game and likely to bowl at England team-mate Crawley. Of the other players involved in Sydney, Yorkshire pair Joe Root and Harry Brook and Nottinghamshire duo Ben Duckett and Josh Tongue all sit out the opening weekend of cricket.

England captain Ben Stokes is recovering from a broken cheekbone and is expected to feature for Durham next month, while Will Jacks, Brydon Carse and Jacob Bethell are at the IPL.