Darren Sammy does not drink tea, but at the start of the opening Test the West Indies captain qualifies as a perfect first guest nevertheless on Alison's Tea Break - a monthly video chat between the highly regarded cricket commentator, Alison Mitchell, and some of cricket's leading lights.

By the end of another packed England international summer, the ESPN cricinfo teapot should have witnessed interviews with some of the biggest names in world cricket.

Watch Sammy speak here about those who doubted his ability to make a success of the West Indies captaincy, about his method of leadership and his inspiration (including an unusual set of middle names).

He also chats about the level of involvement he believes the former West Indian greats should have in the game, the welcome Chris Gayle will get if he does indeed return to international cricket and the time Dwayne Bravo tried to steal some turf from Lord's.

Alison's Tea Break is just one aspect of ESPNcricinfo's growing commitment to an English cricketing summer.

Mark Nicholas is another influential addition to the ESPNcricinfo stable and in his latest column he tells A tale of two Yorkshiremen , reflecting on the contrasting fortunes of Jonny Bairstow, who is poised to make his Test debut at Lord's today, and Ajmal Shahzad, who found such disfavour with Yorkshire that he was forced to make an early-season loan transfer to Lancashire.

George Dobell, our senior correspondent, is already renowned as one of the most informed cricket writers on the England scene and he will be leading our extensive Test coverage. He begins by reflecting on West Indies' dismal recent record in England.

As well as our unsurpassed ball-by-ball coverage, a host of other writers will be providing their distinctive take on the summer from the trenchant analysis of Geoffrey Boycott to the iconoclastic wit of Jarrod Kimber.

Neither will there be any let up in our strongest-ever commitment to county cricket - including our increasingly popular live county championship blog.

There is no better place to follow the English cricketing summer, whether on the web or on our improved UK mobile service.

Welcome to our cricketing summer. We hope you will enjoy it as much as we will.