Upbeat England’s summer hits will be music to Test cricket addicts’ ears

W hen Stuart Broad said recently that he was addicted to playing for this England team under the uber-positive leadership of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, it wasn’t hard to see where the old warhorse was coming from.

It’s now 92 days since that epic one-run defeat against New Zealand in windy Wellington, concluding a year of dramatic transmogrification for England during which their previous run of one win from 17 Tests was replaced by 10 from their past 12.

The withdrawal symptoms for those of us looking on have grown considerably during the hiatus and the sense, from watching training and seeing the smiles on faces, is that the players have felt the same.

These cravings will finally be sated this week, Ireland over for a four-day Test that gets under way at Lord’s on Thursday. Andy Balbirnie’s tourists might be heavy underdogs, their opportunities to play the longest format limited and their nascent first-class system mothballed since the pandemic, but they won’t forget rolling England for 85 all out on the first morning here four years ago.

It also marks the start of what promises to be a pretty special summer of Test cricket. After three months of abstinence a veritable two-month banquet awaits us, before the table is swiftly cleared for the Hundred to take centre stage in August.

A World Test Championship final between Australia and India at the Oval, five men’s Ashes Tests, plus a rare five-day women’s Test thrown in the mix? To hell with slow and steady: loosen the top button, slip into some comfortable elastic-waisted slacks and get ready to gorge on the good stuff.

Stokes was dressed accordingly a day out from the toss, even if England’s snazzy new tracksuits are fashionably tight around the calves. He