Just a few weeks ago I was so demoralised. The England team was a mess, a shambles. The management was terrible. One red-ball coach had just been sacked and the other wasn’t going to turn up for ages. The Test captain, whose skillset as a high-class batter who bowls at an elite standard was so important for the team’s balance, had abruptly retired. The squad seemed ill-disciplined and better at manufacturing scandals than victories. And now here I am, heading into the winter full of optimism.
The second half of the summer brought a series of outstanding Test and white-ball performances. There is a group of really talented cricketers, a coaching unit that has strong individuals and combinations across formats, and I feel we’re well placed to take on South Africa, who are always going to be tough and competitive, in our next Test series, and to go into next summer benefiting from a sensible, consistent approach.
It has been a long way from the perfect summer, but it is obvious that England are in a stronger position now than they were at the start. From the madness that followed Ben Stokes’s and Gus Atkinson’s night out after a promising win over New Zealand at Lord’s, England have rebounded and refined. The Kiwis, in the first red-ball series of the summer, played extremely well and actually exhibited a lot of the attributes England talk about adopting – resilience, adaptability, doing the basics really well. But against Pakistan we saw a more grownup style of play, leaning on a group of four pace bowlers, all different in their own ways and excellent as a combination.
The removal of Brendon McCullum as red-ball coach felt necessary, and the appointment of Stephen Fleming as his replacement seems astute. It took a while for him to get here, but he seems to have had a series of really good conversations with people in the game, and I believe he and Joe Root will forge a really good partnership.
When Fleming spoke to the media last week the word identity came up a lot, as it does often in modern sport. When I joined Middlesex in 1987 they had just won six trophies in six years, they were an elite team, and that word was never mentioned. In the other successful dressing room I experienced, at Surrey in the early 2000s, we had individuals who were highly motivated and highly skilled, we challenged each other every day – but nobody spoke of identity. But I happened to hear an interview with Fabian Hürzeler, the Brighton head coach, after his team beat Arsenal in the Premier League, and he also spoke about it, and how you can make a big impact from changing small habits. He wants players to be accountable to each other, to give them a say and make sure they’re invested in the team and how they play.
Modern sportspeople thrive off being given more clarity than anybody provided me with in my career, on being given that sense of identity. McCullum arrived with an idea of what that word meant to him, and for a while it helped England thrive, but to me, judging from the messaging that came out in public, it was always a bit one‑dimensional. I believe Fleming and Root will create a more satisfying and lasting identity for the Test team.
Fleming alluded to standards of behaviour. He wants people to relax and play with freedom, but to combine that with smart cricket and adaptability. He wants to focus on leadership and strategy. And he wants to take England to No 1 in the world, with an ambition to win the World Test Championship. As a lover of Test cricket and all it brings, how it challenges you as a player and as an individual, I was very pleased with what I heard.
England end the summer with a much stronger, more multifaceted coaching team than they had at the start. Kevin Pietersen has come in to help prepare, challenge and mentor the white-ball players and the potential of his relationship with Harry Brook in particular is very exciting. McCullum seems to be in his element in white-ball cricket, and England have had some marvellous results in the shorter formats.
I really enjoyed what I saw in the one-day series against Sri Lanka. Sonny Baker, taking the new ball at the Oval, looked to have changed the angle of his run-up and got the ball to swing away late, at 89mph. He reminded me a little bit of Brett Lee and that is high praise. I remember seeing him earlier in his county career and feeling he was a bit two-lengths, everything was either short or full, with not a huge amount of craft. That has certainly changed. Success as a fast bowler ultimately comes down to skill and making the ball move laterally, and that is why I have found some of his recent performances sensational.
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In the Sri Lanka series and the Tests against Pakistan, there was evidence of real competition for places, which should drive performance.
In the recent past there has not been enough of that, and people seemed to have incredibly long runs in the side irrespective of their results.
When players such as Jordan Cox, who has shown great temperament, character and technique and delivered outstanding performances in Test and one-day cricket, and Tom Banton are delivering as they are, nobody can rest on their laurels. England’s four seamers shone against Pakistan, but if Baker keeps improving he has to come into the mix.
There are, of course, concerns and questions, particularly around the Test side’s best spinner and probably also the best opening partnership, but there is also huge excitement for the future. From where we were just a couple of months ago, that has to be something worth celebrating.
