England competed with Australia and India but failed to beat the best two teams in the world and to move to the next level they need to “knock off the rough edges” as Brendon McCullum admitted after defeat in Ranchi.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” said McCullum when asked about the next Ashes series in 18 months’ time. England are scheduled to play 18 Tests between the start of next summer and touring Australia at the end of 2025 and it is plenty of time to scope out the weaknesses and put them right.
Ruthlessness
Stokes was slightly bemused when asked if his team needs to be more ruthless. He sees it as a post-factual concept. But McCullum was more perceptive. He knows his team must recognise better when to put pressure on opponents, after all that is a main ethos of Bazball.
In all but one of their six defeats, they have been in the game. Moments such as Nathan Lyon limping off at Lord’s, Ravi Ashwin disappearing suddenly during the Rajkot Test and Jasprit Bumrah not playing in Ranchi were all opportunities missed. In Wellington, England enforced the follow on, which was New Zealand’s only chance to come back, which they did winning by one run. In Vizag, England were blown away by Bumrah’s nine wickets, but they opened the door at 114 for one after restricting India to under 400 batting first on a good pitch when Zak Crawley slogged a ball in the air off Axar Patel. Bumrah came back and blew away Root and Pope in two overs.
“Times in games where we haven’t quite screwed down on our method just yet,” said McCullum. “Sometimes we get a bit outside of dealing with what needs to be done in the moment. Whether that is dealing with pressure, adjusting our games to the conditions, being able to absorb pressure, apply pressure. Various aspects to me.
“The skill component can get crowded because we want it too much or we have too much noise in our mind. We need to find a way to be totally present when those moments arise, identify the crucial moments in a game and try and strip away all the other external stuff, make a decision and make it work in the moment. If we do that I think we will see this team go to the next level.”
Making the most of Root
Twice Stokes declared on Root when he had a hundred — the Edgbaston Ashes Test and in Wellington, both narrow defeats. He has scored six hundreds in the Bazball era, five of them unbeaten. He has more not-out centuries under McCullum-Stokes than the rest of his career combined. Two were in run chases, so that’s unavoidable, but aside from the two declarations, he was also left stranded in Ranchi on 122 because Bashir and Anderson gave him no support. It was wasteful, and costly. Another 20 runs could have made the difference. Bashir slogged one in the air; in the second innings he batted defensively for 12 overs with Ben Foakes. It is hard to criticise a 20-year-old but had he put his head down in the first innings, like he did in the second, Root may have hit a few more.
Settle the keeping debate
Will either Foakes or Bairstow play in the next Ashes series? Bairstow will be 37 by then. He is a high-impact batsman but a keeper who dropped key catches last summer. Foakes is a flawless keeper who bats in one gear. He scored 12 runs in 12 overs with the field spread in Ranchi when he had Bashir at the other end. Foakes is an ideal sleeping partner when batting with a specialist batsman — he put on 112 with Pope and 113 with Root in this series. The ideal for England is a keeper that is a blend of the two — a shot-playing batsman averaging 36-38 who does not drop many chances. Not easy to find.
Ollie Robinson, of Durham, is fancied by England and had a decent Lions tour recently. There is Jamie Smith at Surrey, a good batsman but doesn’t keep because of Foakes, and James Rew at Somerset, who needs more time to develop.
Find a new Broad
This is less about Broad’s bowling, more about the competitive edge he brought to the side. He would have relished the scrap in Ranchi, compare that to the indifferent impression given by Robinson, who really fluffed his chance to prove he can be Broad’s successor. When England were flat in the Oval Test, Broad flipped Labuschagne’s bails, and at Lord’s he was ready to stand toe to toe with Stokes after the stumping of Bairstow.
When asked about the next Ashes, McCullum identified three areas. “A strong seam-bowling line-up, a couple of really good spinners and a batting group that’s another 18 months from what we’ve seen now, then we’ll give ourselves every chance.”
Matt Potts had a good Lions tour, is agile and athletic in the field and deserves another chance. Josh Tongue breathed fire in his only Ashes Test and England should look at Gus Atkinson in Dharamsala to find out if he can be a Test cricket candidate. None appear to have Broad’s spikiness, and that is an issue.
Settling on No 1 spinner
England left for India with one spinner in Jack Leach but will end it with four (including Leach) who can lay claim to being candidates for the home summer. Will Leach be an Ashes candidate? Unlikely after his mauling a couple of years ago. Bashir has bounce, like Lyon, but does not flight or turn the ball much so Australia will advance at him and try to knock him off his length. He appears to have the character for Test cricket, however. Hartley can bat but left-armers suffer more than off-spinners in Australia. Wrist-spin is effective on those pitches but Rehan Ahmed is a long way from the finished article and how much cricket will any of them play next summer? All need time to develop their skills, bowling over and round the wicket, and settling in for long spells. Some more turning pitches would help in county cricket and even some Lions matches against decent opposition. One for Rob Key to solve. Good luck.
Empathy with an edge
One of Stokes’s great captaincy skills is use of the carrot rather than the stick. He resented unbending authority figures telling him what to do and both captain and coach believe in giving players individual responsibility. Empathy is a big thing for Stokes, but alone it is not enough, says Mike Brearley.
“Empathy has to be combined with a willingness to confront. It starts with empathy to be able to get to that point,” he said last year. Stokes is at that stage now. We have seen him delay bowling changes so a young player can take a morale boosting first or fifth wicket, he burned reviews in Hyderabad through desperation to get Hartley a breakthrough when he was being panned and he gave Robinson the first overs on the third morning in Ranchi ahead of Anderson when he was not on it, possibly to coax more out of him.
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