Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Read more
To Sydney, and to stick or twist.
“I can’t see there being someone else who I could take this team [with],” said Ben Stokes of his relationship with Brendon McCullum. “From where we are now, to even bigger heights.”
Stokes chooses stick.
A debate has broken out in English cricket about the need for change. Every four years, England comes to Australia, loses, throws the Chris Silverwood out with the bath water, and then come back four years later, and loses again.
“If you do what we did four years ago,” Stokes says, making his case. “We’ll just end up back in the same situation.”
It’s a logical argument. To change, in this instance, is to stay the same. Bucking the trend of yesteryear and forging onwards with the same power trio of Stokes, McCullum and Rob Key that got us here. Yes, they made mistakes that have contributed to the loss, but they will be able to learn from them.
The problem is when a series that has been earmarked as a referendum on your era fails, to change the narrative that you are still the right men for the job requires you to be able to point to a wider array of work. But there isn’t much to go on.
“We want to get this team back in the direction we were in two years ago,” Stokes said ahead of Sydney. “Both in results and in the way in which we were playing so consistently in terms of getting on the right side of results. That’s gone downhill.”
But has it? Two years ago, England hosted Australia at home, and then went to India away. They drew two-all at home, and lost four-one away. This year, they have hosted India at home, and travelled to Australia away. They drew two-all at home, and are one defeat away from a four-one loss away. The results are identical.
open image in gallery
The win in Melbourne was too little, too late for the overall series and may prove the same for the hierarchy (Getty Images)
Since winning the first 10 of their 11 matches as captain and coach, Stokes and McCullum’s time in charge has seen 34 matches played, with 16 wins and 16 losses. The last three years have seen England losing as much as they win.
The golden touch that they once had, where debutants arrived and shone immediately has faded. All of Josh Tongue, Rehan Ahmed, Will Jacks, Tom Hartley and Gus Atkinson took five-wicket hauls on debut, but since then they have handed a bizarre debut to the 20-year-old Josh Hull, picked and discarded Sam Cook after one match and done the same with Liam Dawson.
Shoaib Bashir, Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope were backed as the three project players of this era. Bashir and Crawley, in particular, were selected with this series in mind. And so far, Bashir has been deemed unselectable, Pope has been dropped mid-series and Crawley, for whom the theory goes is tailor-made for these conditions, has averaged 32, compared to his career average of 32.
The show of faith in Bashir and Pope has also had negative knock-on effects. In backing Bashir wholeheartedly, only to blink at the end, England arrived in Australia without a back-up spinner. The result was it was left to the part-timer Will Jacks to bowl almost 40 overs in Adelaide and go toe-to-toe with the greatest finger spinner of this generation in Nathan Lyon. Jacks conceded over 200 runs across the match at five-runs an over. It was not his fault.
open image in gallery
England have acknowledged mishandling Jacob Bethell (Getty Images)
So too the backing of Pope has dented the progress of England’s one true wunderkind Jacob Bethell. Bethell batted at No 3 against New Zealand last year and looked at home immediately. But since then, he has played just four first-class games, as he missed the Test against Zimbabwe to play at the IPL, and subsequently warmed the bench for England across the summer after Pope regained his place and England opted to keep him around rather than play for Warwickshire.
England have acknowledged they got the handling of Bethell wrong. They have also acknowledged they have got selection wrong – with Rob Key saying before the Melbourne Test: “You start looking at some of the decisions we’ve made and think do you know what? Should we have made a change there much sooner?”
They have also acknowledged they got the preparation wrong. Undercooked ahead of the first Test, and then overcooked ahead of the second. They have launched an investigation into their mid-series break to Noosa after allegations that it became a ‘stag do.’
What, exactly, is in the positive column at the moment? If Key and McCullum’s pitch to the ECB is “look at all the mistakes we can learn from”, then good luck to them.
For full transparency, I’ve loved this England team. They have been enormous fun to watch and I’ll miss it when they’re gone. What’s more, Ben Stokes, clearly, is still the best leader for the team.
open image in gallery
Brendon McCullum has been backed by Ben Stokes but the whole regime may topple (Getty Images)
But if accountability is to remain in elite sport, an industry that prides itself on being a results-based, cut-throat business, then how can the status quo remain? It is no secret that the county game is resentful towards this England regime. The feeling is that meritocracy has gone, where domestic success is no longer recognised. What message does it send if neither is international failure?
Change with those still in charge would see the pendulum swing back to structure. Specialist coaches will return and a more refined (aka, defensive) method of play will be put in place. But how McCullum, a coach who has prided himself on a no-consequence approach, and focuses on the mental rather than technical side of the game, will be able to deliver that message authentically after years of preaching the opposite is anyone’s guess.
The final cruelty of this tour, is that a win in Sydney will only exaggerate the pangs of regret that surround the series. For the first time in a decade, England had a team to challenge Australia, but didn’t.
“I think we had a team that actually hasn’t played anywhere near its potential,” Key said before the Melbourne Test, with the series already gone. “In the last game, we started playing something like what we can do. And you have to look and think, well, did we give the players the best chance to come out here and succeed from the start?
“And I don’t think we did, to be honest. And that’s on us.”