It was mission accomplished for England, after their 3-1 T20 series win against West Indies capped off a “perfect” white-ball tour of the Caribbean, according to the interim head coach, Marcus Trescothick.
On a trip where several young players were given opportunities, with four given debuts, Trescothick believes England successfully struck the balance between winning and learning after three weeks that have left the side in a better place than the one that arrived.
Trescothick, whose time as the temporary coach came to an end after the final match of the series with Brendon McCullum assuming the white-ball role from January, said that results on the pitch have been “brilliant” after England secured their first away T20 series win in more than two years.
“If you look at the end result,” said Trescothick, “we’ve won one of the two series and we’ve won various games in both series that we’ve played and we’ve seen more players. So you sit back and you look at it on paper and go – perfect.
“Of course, the balance is that you always want to win. But I think if we’d have had one objective on this trip, more than anything else that was to see the players we’ve seen and see whether they’re going to be good enough next week, next month, next year, or for three years’ time.”
Trescothick singled out Jacob Bethell and Saqib Mahmood for “superb” performances, with the former England opening batter backing the 21-year-old Bethell to emulate Harry Brook’s success across all formats.
Bethell impressed across the entire tour of the Caribbean, making three half-centuries in seven innings and confirming England’s suspicions that they have a player of real talent on their hands. So much so that despite a meagre red-ball record, with zero centuries in 20 first-class appearances, Bethell has been selected for England’s upcoming Test trip to New Zealand, where he is expected to be the reserve batter.
“All the attributes are there,” Trescothick said of whether Bethell could make the switch from white ball to red. “If you had markers to be able to go, right, you need to do this, this and this, he’d be knocking on the door for that.
“There’s no reason why he can’t break through and succeed, because he’s flourished in both formats that we’ve seen in the recent period of time. You could almost see him being the next youngster after Harry Brook, the real exciting one coming through for the next journey this group will take.”
The series saw the return of Jos Buttler to the England setup after four months out with a calf injury. Upon arriving in the Caribbean, Buttler admitted that he had feared for his captaincy after consecutive disappointing World Cups and how he hoped this next period of his career would be the most “rewarding”.
Batting at No 3 to allow Phil Salt and Will Jacks to open, Buttler was soon back to his best, making 83 off 45 balls in the second T20, and was creative in his captaincy throughout, often employing highly attacking fields and positioning himself at short-leg in several matches.
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“It hasn’t been an easy time being captain of the team for a period of time,” said Trescothick. “We know the results and it’s been challenging. And that always makes it tough, of course it does.
“You can sort of see it falling back into place for him almost, a little bit where it’s hopefully some more enjoyable times coming forward with the growth of the team, but also with other players coming back in and a bit more settled structure with the coaching as well.”
The final makeup of England’s coaching staff across red and white-ball teams is expected to be made during the New Zealand Test tour, where Trescothick will resume his previous role of assisting with the Test batters.
Elsewhere, Buttler has said that Ben Stokes and Joe Root are not guaranteed to return to England’s white-ball setup, with the Champions Trophy only two months away.
“I don’t know exactly,” Buttler said of whether the pair will be back in February. “It’s conversations for the next few weeks with the guys in charge. The guys here have played really well. Some of the young players have done themselves no harm at all. There are people who aren’t here who will have aspirations to be in the white-ball side as well. It’s really exciting.
“I can’t speak for them individually but I hope they have white-ball aspirations. They’re two great players.”
