Tom Kohler-Cadmore called up by England for first time since WhatsApp group scandal

Tom Kohler-Cadmore has been called up by England for the first time after Jason Roy turned down the chance to play in the final two matches of the series against Ireland.

Kohler-Cadmore’s selection comes after he feared his chances of playing for England were over after he was involved in setting up a WhatsApp group in 2017 that logged sexual conquests and was used in evidence in a rape trial involving then Worcesterhisre team-mate Alex Hepburn, who was found guilty and jailed for five years after a retrial in 2019.

Kohler-Cadmore was a rising star in county cricket at the time but in January 2019 he was suspended indefinitely from all England selection along with Joe Clarke, his former team-mate at Worcestershire who was also involved in the group.

Both Kohler-Cadmore and Clarke were cleared of any criminal wrongdoing but were withdrawn from a Lions tour to India when the WhatsApp group was used in evidence in court and reprimanded by the England & Wales Cricket Board. Kohler-Cadmore eventually received a four match retrospective suspension and was told to attend sexual consent training. He was ignored by England until 2020 when he was picked for a Lions tour to Australia but this is the first time he or Clarke have been called up by the full senior team.

“One hundred per cent I was in the wrong. We all had our part to play in the group and it was meant as a bit of a joke. I know it’s not a joke now but it was never meant to be malicious.

“They were my actions, I was part of it and I was the one that created the group. It was never meant to have any outcome like that, it was just us three being young, single lads. We were naive,” said Kohler-Cadmore in 2020 at the start of that winter’s Lions tour to Australia.

Kohler-Cadmore left Worcestershire to join Yorkshire for the 2018 season but his time at Headingley soured and he left in 2022 after the entire coaching staff were sacked following the Azeem Rafiq scandal. Kohler-Cadmore’s father, Mick, was a dressing room attendant at Headingley and resigned in anger at the decision to sack the coaching staff so it was no surprise when his son later left with a year remaining on his contract to join Somerset.

Kohler-Cadmore has averaged 35 in the championship this season with one century and had a decent Blast tournament for Somerset averaging 34 at a strike rate of 160. He has not played 50 over cricket since 2019 and missed this summer’s tournament for his county because he was playing in the Hundred for the Trent Rockets. He will join up with England when Somerset’s championship match against Kent ends.

He comes into the England side in place of Joe Root who made himself available for the first game to try and find some form ahead of the World Cup but his hopes were dashed by rain at Headingley on Wednesday. Root will now rest until going to India next week.

Roy was approached and offered the opportunity to play in the final two Ireland one-day internationals, the series resumes at Trent Bridge on Saturday, but turned down the chance. Roy was dropped from England’s World Cup squad last week and his England career now looks over.