Sometimes I feel this England team can’t take two steps forward without doing something that makes me think they’ve gone backwards. So much progress has been made, so many reasons for optimism provided before a year that is likely to define them. But then they end it with a display that forces me to wonder whether they have it in them to become the best in the world, to win the World Test Championship, to be more than just entertainers.
Ben Stokes says he hates the word “ruthless”, but I am puzzled by him attaching a negative connotation to a word that is synonymous with all the greatest teams in the history of sport. No team relishes facing talented and ruthless opponents – well England have the talent, but not the attitude. This is a team that has shown they can dominate, and that they can also self-destruct.
Overall it has been a hugely positive winter. It started with an amazing victory in the first Test in Pakistan, and though they lost the next two games in unusual, hostile conditions they came roaring back in New Zealand, playing some terrific cricket. Harry Brook briefly became the world’s No 1 Test batsman with Joe Root still the mainstay of the side, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse bossed things with the ball, Stokes looked back to his best as an all-rounder, batting solidly and getting his bowling up to speed, Jacob Bethell was thrown into the team unexpectedly and looked the part at No 3. This is real progress.
That a confident team full of in-form individuals could then play so poorly in their last game of the year came as a shock. Stokes talked a really good game when England were 2-0 up, speaking about the need to keep playing good cricket, to build good habits. The truth is you don’t mess about with form: once you have it you want to keep it as long as you can. So go and win 3-0, lay down a marker.
But that is not what happened. At the end of day one New Zealand were 315 for nine, and they added another 32 runs the next morning. They have what you might call a more traditional Test side, with a mix of players who can bat time and a few shotmakers. They went quite slowly but added valuable runs, as at times you need to in Test cricket.
Then England were bowled out for 143 in 35.4 overs. It was a batting performance that, given the surface, was as poor as you will come across. Will O’Rourke produced a world-class spell of pace bowling, but what really damaged England was their attitude of chasing everything, whatever the circumstances. By blowing up so quickly they were then faced with having to go out and bowl again with four seamers who were pretty cooked. They end up bowling 53 overs of spin when in the first innings they bowled none, allowing New Zealand to accumulate quite nicely at low risk and really grind England into the dirt, and boy did they do that. When Stokes did try to bowl he ended up with a hamstring injury – perhaps his competitive nature got the better of him, but he will have to manage himself more carefully in next year’s two five-Test series. New Zealand won by 423 runs.
Maybe this performance was understandable: it was the 17th and last Test of a long year, the World Test Championship final was way out of reach and the series was won. But two and a half years after Stokes and Brendon McCullum were appointed as captain and coach, I’m not sure where England stand.
They have created the nucleus of a really good team, and there’s no doubt that they are wonderful to watch. The public love their attitude, trying to be aggressive, on the front foot, entertaining. But I’m not sure that a one-size-fits-all focus on entertainment will result in England being crowned world Test champions. McCullum has spoken about refinement and I’m sure that process is ongoing, but as they go into a year that features important series against India and Australia there is a fragility there that better teams will exploit.
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Like everyone else I have marvelled at Stokes’s people skills, his empathy for his teammates and the degree to which he obviously inspires them. It must be wonderful to go into that environment as a young player and be welcomed the way they are. It is a safe space for all the players, to the extent that I wonder what some of them would have to do to get dropped. That sense of security can give a player the freedom to play their best cricket, but it can also lead to complacency.
This team are breaking new ground with their approach, they do things their own way, and they have won the hearts of many English cricket fans. But do they want to win more than that? Because there is a mentality that great sportspeople have always demonstrated, and not only does this England team not have it, they actively avoid talking about it. They have proved that they can be fun. When they prove they can also be ruthless, that’s when I’ll really be excited.
