Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have told the 18 first-class counties to embrace their new fearless ‘Bazball’ philosophy as part of a major attempt to bring greater alignment and collaboration within English cricket.
Stokes and McCullum, the England Test captain and coach, addressed a meeting of county directors of cricket about the way that they are seeking to play and the qualities that they are looking for in potential international players.
While counties retain complete control over their playing style, Stokes and McCullum discussed the kind of cricketers they are looking for the county game to produce to fit into their new way of thinking.
The meeting took place at the Hilton in St George’s Park, home of the England football team when Gareth Southgate’s squad convenes. While Stokes and McCullum – who is back home in New Zealand – dialled in for around an hour over Zoom, the county directors of cricket also held long in-person discussions with Rob Key and Mo Bobat, England’s managing director of men’s cricket and performance director respectively.
Ensuring greater alignment between the national team and the counties, and emphasising the role that counties can play in helping the England team, was a major topic of discussion. Since 2015 there has been a pipeline of players to graduate to the international limited-overs side playing in the same style as the England team.
It is hoped that greater clarity about what the Test side requires will now ensure a similar pipeline of talent for the Test side, enabling England to build on their stunning run of nine victories in ten Tests since the start of last summer.
The meeting was not prescriptive and counties will always be free to play in a way that they see fit. But giving directors of cricket a greater awareness about the needs of the national team will help them to maximise the chances of their players graduating to the England set-up, and ensure a steady supply of cricketers who play in a similar style.
The chances of meaningful buy-in from counties are greater because of England’s outstanding recent results and the attractive style of cricket under Stokes and McCullum – which is likely to be highly appealing to the county membership.
‘It’s an attractive proposition, the way they’re playing’
There is an understanding that not all players can play in the same buccaneering way as has been England’s hallmark under McCullum and Stokes. But Key and Bobat shared insights into what they are seeking to achieve and a general ethos about the mindset that England are seeking to foster with directors of cricket.
This entails players focusing on optimising their unique strengths and playing in a style that best showcases these, and a recognition that batsmen are generally at their best when they can be freed up.
At all levels of red-ball cricket, England are aiming to develop a culture in which players and coaches are not constrained by how things have been done in the past.
One county director of cricket said that the message to batsmen was, “If you have the basics in place as a batter, be prepared and open to experiment. Don’t be constrained by fear of getting out, making a mistake. Try to take your game forward, be aggressive and show what you can do.”
England players returning to the County Championship, and players pushing for Test selection, will be encouraged to play in a positive manner. But there is no expectation that counties will replicate England’s scoring rate in Pakistan, when the side scored at 5.5 runs an over throughout the three Test matches, with Key and Bobat emphasising the autonomy of counties in dictating strategy.
The meeting was not focused on Test cricket alone. Matthew Mott, the limited-overs head coach, also addressed the directors of cricket as England look to continue their outstanding run in the white-ball game, which has seen the side become the first ever men’s team to hold both the one-day international and T20 World Cups at the same time.
More regular meetings between senior England figures and the counties, to ensure a stronger sense of connection between the national team and the first-class game, is planned for the years ahead. This effectively implements one of the recommendations of last year’s High Performance Review, which advocated ‘Picking the right players at the right time: requiring clear selection criteria that is communicated to players and counties.’
The meeting hints at a thawing of relations between counties and the England & Wales Cricket Board, which have been strained since the High Performance Review.
“From a county’s point of view it’s incredibly positive because it’s an incredibly attractive proposition, the way they’re playing the game,” said Steve Elworthy, Surrey’s acting director of cricket.
He said that the clear messaging about what England’s Test team seek would have a knock-on effect on the style players adopt in the county game. “They ultimately want to play for England and you need to do whatever you can to help with that.
“There should be something that is a bit more your core DNA of what it means to play for England. You then also need county captains and directors of cricket to bring their own personalities and imprint to that.”
Another county director of cricket said he welcomed the clear messaging from England.
“Communication from Rob, Mo has been pretty good. They need to work with the counties because that’s where players are produced.
“They were very clear they won’t be preaching to the counties that we want you all to score at 4.5 or 5 an over and declaring and making a game of everything. That’s not what they are trying to do. They are trying to make Test cricket entertaining and successful.
“No, they are not in the business of telling counties they want us to play the game in a certain way to suit England’s needs.”
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