Sachin Tendulkar, right, and Ben Stokes wait on Centre Court for the third round match match between … [+]
England’s Test match cricketers are back in view on Wednesday against the West Indies. The white-ball side had the air of a team in transition, despite reaching the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup in Guyana last month. Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum descend on Lord’s in their whites with some clearing out of the old order too.
Tradition at the home of cricket is set in stone, as it is at Wimbledon, but this England team likes to rip up scripts and historical methods of accepted five-day tactics. Entertainment is key. Personnel must match the wider creed that drives Stokes. He wants a team remembered for the way they played rather than purely a results-based legacy.
When Bazball was crushing all before it at the start of the ‘McStokes’ era, it was easy to believe in the mantras. “What we’re trying to do is bigger than results and all that kind of stuff, but obviously it massively helps when you are winning and in the way in which we are winning,” said the skipper after whitewashing Pakistan in December 2022 to complete an impressive eighth Test victory out of nine.
England were going hard at the opposition from the off, reaching Test match run rates that were unheard of. The feelgood factor was at its peak when Zak Crawley caressed the first ball of the 2023 Ashes to the boundary ropes at Edgbaston. Crowds were enraptured with the helter-skelter approach where England scored almost 400 and then installed Australia to try and take late wickets. It didn’t work out but the methodology was to attack. The series was eventually drawn with a grand send-off for Stuart Broad.
Twelve months later, England find themselves at the bottom of the Test Championship table. The opposition aren’t as glamorous as the old enemy (a struggling Sri Lanka follow the Caribbean side) and Bazball has stalled with the Three Lions winning only four out of their last 11 Tests. Ticket prices continue to challenge a nation with a cost of living crisis while the heroes in white are currently playing in the Euros in Germany rather than London. There’s also a tennis tournament called Wimbledon which runs for the whole duration of the Lord’s match.
The first four days are sold out, but there is also a demand for a more adaptable approach from the side. Beating India away in the first Test was a false dawn, just as it had been for Joe Root’s 2021 tourists. The hosts played the big moments far better. The series on the subcontinent showed potholes in England’s planning with boldness, raw recruits and character not enough without the dexterity needed. 3-2 would have been a more respectable scoreline against a team that is invincible on home turf.
Fast lives can buy into the bullish approach of English Test cricket, but the wheels have come off at times when the engine overheats. Ollie Pope, Ben Duckett and others were trying to smash the Australians – minus an injured Nathan Lyon – all over the park last July to lose a good position and the match. Stokes’s commitment to the bigger picture and dispensing with the fear of failure is admirable and has even energized old warhorse, Jimmy Anderson, who retires after this match. McCullum, Stokes and director of cricket Rob Key called time on the Lancashire great with a view to refreshing for the 2025/26 Ashes. His exit, much like Andy Murray’s, is probably worth the entrance fee alone.
The England squad certainly has an eye on the future with no Jack Leach, Jonny Bairstow or Ben Foakes. Incoming players include the dashing all-action keeper-batsman Jamie Smith, who has been described as a “generational talent”, Gus Atkinson and Worcestershire’s fast bowler Dillon Pennington. Shoaib Bashir impressed the management with how he bowled and bonded with the team on debut in India and retains his place. The Somerset offbreak bowler took 17 wickets in three Tests against Rohit Sharma’s side.
Harry Brook looked back to his best in the T20 World Cup after a break from the game and Pope will be looking to cement his place after his brilliant 196 at Hyderabad was followed by a run of low scores.
The loss of Broad, Anderson and quite possibly Bairstow will mark a transition in the characters that England have leaned on for years. Those who take the baton now will be expected to play with a smile and a spontaneity to back themselves. The process is more important than the outcome but professional sport provides statistics that don’t lie. Wins are more valuable currency than credit for coming close.
DHARAMSALA, INDIA – MARCH 05: England coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes during a nets … [+]
If England beat Holland in the Euros on Wednesday, Anderson will have to play second fiddle to a more pressing sporting matter. The Ashes 2005 series that captivated the nation didn’t have to compete with the beautiful game. This England Test team will need to produce five-star entertainment this summer to recreate the love for the red-ball format.