There was little to suggest such a huge transformation and yet England humbled New Zealand 3-0 in the recent Test series. India, 2-1 up, must be wary of the hosts entering the final game at Edgbaston
The England versus New Zealand Test series was as unusual as it was exciting. It also held out an ominous ring for the Indian team ahead of the Edgbaston Test starting on Friday. Few could have foreseen a 3-0 clean sweep by England. New Zealand became World Test Championship winners last year, and while the period since has been rather disappointing, they still started the rubber as favourites. Captain and batting mainstay Kane Williamson was back, and the Kiwis boasted arguably of the best fast bowling attack in the world.
Ben Stokes celebrates with trophy after England completed a whitewash against New Zealand in the three-match Test series (Reuters)
On the other hand, in the inaugural WTC cycle, England were pathetic, finishing in the lower echelons of the championship, Joe Root’s golden form notwithstanding. The Ashes was a disaster. There was little to suggest such a massive transformation.
Yes, champion all-rounder Ben Stokes was back and in the ageless Jimmy Anderson, supported superbly by Stuart Broad, England had a potent new ball pair. But redemption seemed not just far off, also implausible.
Whitewashes are not uncommon, especially in 3-Test rubbers, but it is rare for a side that has the highest wicket-taker (Trent Boult, 16) and highest run-getter (Daryl Mitchell, 538) to be wiped out in this manner. Mitchell’s astonishing form even as New Zealand went from one defeat to the next was a major highlight of the series, but sadly in vain.
Instances of batsmen scoring so heavily while their team gets roundly beaten are few. Two that come to mind are Brian Lara (688 runs v Sri Lanka in 2006 in a 0-3 rout) and Rahul Dravid (461 runs in 4 Tests against England in 2011 when India were routed 0-4).
Lara and Dravid were among the world’s top batsmen then, having played around 100 Tests each. Mitchell on the other hand was touted as a T20 specialist, had played fewer than 10 Tests and was a marginal selection when New Zealand flew to England.
The only player I can draw a parallel with is Mohinder Amarnath, who made more than 1,100 runs in 11 Tests (6 vs Pakistan, 5 vs West Indies) in the 1982-83 season. Pakistan and West Indies then boasted of the most dreaded fast bowlers in the world, making Amarnath’s comeback (he had been sidelined for a few years) among the more compelling stories in cricket history.
England’s resurgence has had accolades coming in thick and fast for captain Ben Stokes and chief coach Brendon McCullum. With good reason. “Intent to win” is a widely used but banal phrase to explain a team’s success in sports. All coaches and captains aim to ignite this desire in their players, but not everyone manages to get the right results.
In the Middle Ages, the challenge for alchemists was to turn ordinary metals into gold. For the present England team, McCullum and Stokes seemed to have found the formula to inspire a motley bunch of players, some exceptional, most reasonably good, but collectively engulfed by mediocrity, into a pack of hungry match-winners.
For the better part since the 2019 Ashes, England have been a moribund Test side, lacking elan, vigour, conviction and self-belief. Stokes and McCullum appear to have instilled these sterling virtues in the team, in an amazingly short time.
The bionic strokeplay of Jonny Bairstow, who seemed to suddenly find kryptonite in his bat, has been held up as an exemplar of the change brought about by the all-aggressive approach promoted by McCullum and Stokes. England chased almost 300 in the fourth innings of all three Tests. In the last two, these runs came at more than five an over in a stunning display of power hitting.
After the series, McCullum said his team would be testing the limits of this approach even further, but this should not be read as licence to be reckless. Remember, McCullum once made 302 (559 b, 775 min vs India at Wellington in 2014) to save a Test. He knows how to work out the risk-benefit factor better than most.
While Bairstow’s pyrotechnics got all the headlines, equally important was the success of Jack Leach who had 13 wickets in the series, including 10 in the last Test. Both Bairstow and Leach were on the verge of losing their places in the team, found faith from captain and coach, and having salvaged their places, now provide a major arsenal to England.
Add these two stalwarts to Root, Anderson, Broad and Stokes, and with Ollie Pope proving he is not a misfit at the international level, England are looking a heavy-duty team that will take some stopping. India beware!
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