As Ben Stokes heads home to County Durham and Brendon McCullum to his farm on New Zealand’s north island there is no doubt that reality has set in about leading England’s Test team.
The Bazball project is at a critical juncture, and England are a better team now but come up short against the best teams. After the 4-1 defeat in India both Stokes and McCullum departed from the positive script to admit they need to take stock, make changes both in mindset and personnel.
McCullum is at the halfway point of his four-year tenure. He has been in charge for 23 games and has 23 more to go if he sees out his contract, which ends after the fifth Ashes Test in Australia in early 2026. Of those 23 Tests so far England have won 14, a record that does not look so clever after six defeats in 10 Tests against Australia and India.
The worry from this tour is how England ended on a downward spiral, reminiscent of the past three series in Australia. McCullum never played a five-Test series so is learning how to deal with long assignments on the road, and in India he witnessed how previously uber-confident players were drawn into self doubt and scrambled thinking for the first time.
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McCullum and Stokes are weary at the end of a tough seven weeks but remain strongly committed to their jobs. It is three months until they play Test cricket again, the benefit of split captaincy and coaching model, so there is plenty of time to digest what went wrong and identify individuals who need shipping out.
They are definitely on to something with their purposeful, aggressive style. It just requires a little refining and smartness when matches are there to be closed out. Giving away winning positions in Rajkot and Ranchi cost them this series. The one-run defeat in New Zealand was a freakish match but England let their opponents back in by declaring on Joe Root when he had a hundred. Against Australia, the rush-of-blood riposte to the short-ball tactic at Lord’s could be excused at the time as naivety by a team bedding down but was repeated by Root’s reverse ramp in a similar situation in Rajkot when Ravichandran Ashwin had pulled out of the match. In selection they need to be more ruthless, toeing the fine line between consistency and ensuring players stay on their toes. James Anderson played eight of 10 Tests in the past two series, at least two too many, and the top six started to look like a closed shop in India, spare batsman Dan Lawrence not once seriously considered.
“I think we need to understand that while we’re both very relaxed and happy to make sure everyone’s enjoying themselves and not anxious as such, let’s not mistake that for us not having a hard edge,” McCullum said. “We didn’t get where we’ve got to in life and in our careers without having some sort of hard edge and for us we judge the input, the enthusiasm, the energy and always giving to the team and the want to develop as a player. If guys are doing that then they’ll get a lot of support. If they’re not doing that they’ll have some tough conversations and we won’t be shy in having those conversations either.”
England must aim for a statement summer, winning 6-0 against West Indies and Sri Lanka while giving opportunities to new bowlers because the reliance on Anderson has to end soon and proper succession planning put in place to give young players matches before the Ashes tour.
The external messaging has to be toned down, too, and a little more honesty about situations would not go amiss because constant positivity is seen through very quickly in England. Ben Duckett’s comments about Yashasvi Jaiswal learning from watching Bazball and that England wanted to chase “more the merrier” amount of runs in Rajkot were emblematic. It was not necessarily arrogance, just a player taking to the extreme the absolutism of Bazball, but it is not needed now. The mindset is now embedded in the players. There is room to deviate sometimes and not worry about being a bit more matter of fact and sincere.
“It is fine to inwardly believe what you can achieve but just be a bit smarter around how we say things sometimes,” McCullum admitted. “But it is people growing up in the environment, right? They are not the finished articles yet and surely they shouldn’t be hung for making a positive comment in the media that might be construed as arrogance. It is not arrogance, just confidence in the group.”
The one positive is the return of Stokes the all-rounder. He is crucial for the balance of the team, and how he can lift everyone with bat and ball. He almost became too wrapped up with trying to play the big innings in India, forgetting to free himself up because he knew he could not contribute with the ball. His knee injury appears to have healed better than expected and by missing the Indian Premier League he has given himself the best chance to build fitness for the summer.
“He’s a world-class all-rounder and even his impact in the five overs he bowled in this game showed what he can do. He’s able to make things happen that other people can’t at times and he’s got that maverick streak in him,” McCullum said. “To have him back in full operation is a huge positive for us out of this trip, and moving forward allows us to know that we can balance the team in the right way and he adds to our firepower with bat and ball to be able to take on good opposition.”
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