After an epic contest at Lord’s, England stand within one win of their finest series triumph of the Ben Stokes era. A 3-0 victory in Pakistan in 2022 was impressive, but this would be the first time they have won a five-match series against the big beasts of India or Australia.
Their approach this summer has been notably different. They have not been flawless but their best cricket has shown greater maturity — what has been dubbed “Bazball with brains”. The run chase at Headingley was measured; the best of the batting and bowling at Lord’s on a difficult surface, pragmatic.
Their strike rate of 49.01 in the previous match, the third Test at Lord’s, was their slowest since Stokes took over as captain three years ago, and the victory was secured by drying India’s runscoring to a trickle — a far cry from the first Bazball summer of 2022, when batsmen were told to embrace the danger and bowlers urged to think of every ball as a wicket-taking opportunity, and not worry about economy rates.
Then, all the talk was about being entertainers. Now, they are more focused on grit than glitz. When tempers flared last weekend, the players resolved to be more vocal. “We said, ‘Sometimes we’re too nice,’ ” Jofra Archer recalled. “We go to other places and some teams are not as nice as we are to them. We just tried to shift.”
Shoaib Bashir celebrates dismissing Mohammed Siraj as England beat India by 22 runs on a tense final day at Lord’s
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Stokes is such a resolute, determined character that it is easy to forget how much he has shifted course in the 36 months and 39 matches since this extraordinary, often enjoyable, and sometimes exasperating period began.
Age one: A whole new attitude
(June 2022 to March 2023, 12 Tests, won 10, lost 2)
Stokes set the tone for others to take risks
Rob Key, the managing director of England cricket, recently summarised the plan in the first year of Stokes’s captaincy: “It was all about changing the mentality — the way we go about playing, batting in particular.” A team that had forgotten how to win, or trust their talent, was largely retained — though Stuart Broad and James Anderson, who had been dropped, were recalled — and urged to liberate themselves.
Stokes sent out the clearest message with an almost manic approach with the bat. In his second Test as full-time captain, against New Zealand at Trent Bridge, he scored 121 off 103 balls across his two innings, with 104 of those runs coming in sixes and fours. He wanted his players to know that it was all right to play like that; if he didn’t take risks, they would not. Talk of winning and losing was blocked, as it might makes things “a bit cloudy”.
Stokes set the tone with aggressive batting — here hitting a six in an innings win over South Africa at Old Trafford in 2022
SHAUN BOTTERILL/GETTY IMAGES
The strategy worked better than anyone could have imagined. Joe Root, Stokes’ predecessor, and Jonny Bairstow were both revitalised and England pulled off some big run chases at remarkable speed, including three of the five fastest successful pursuits in history. In Rawalpindi, England hit a world record 506 runs on the first day.
So fast did they score that it created time for the bowlers to take 20 wickets. As a result, most games were won — and one of the two defeats was by just one run. What this astonishing sequence of performances masked was that the bowling was not especially deadly. The batting was papering over some shortcomings.
Typical XI (v New Zealand, Trent Bridge 2022): Crawley, Lees, Pope, Root, Bairstow, Stokes, Foakes, Potts, Broad, Leach, Anderson.
Age two: descent into hubris
(June 2023 to March 2024, 11 Tests, won 4, lost 6, drawn 1)
Root lost his wicket playing a scoop shot off Jasprit Bumrah in the third Test in Rajkot — England were 224 for two at the time and collapsed to 319 all out, conceding a big first-innings deficit
England got heady on their first-year exploits and mistakes, borne of arrogance, crept in. Stokes’ declaration on the first day of the 2023 Ashes, and some wasteful batting on the fourth afternoon, allowed Australia to sneak a two-wicket win at Edgbaston that should never have been theirs.
In India, they overlooked the importance of first-innings runs on pitches that could — and did — deteriorate faster than in England. Ben Duckett saying in Rajkot that India could “have as many as they want, and we will go and get them”, summed up the naivety. In many of the defeats, England had opportunities to win, but blew them.
The introduction of Duckett and Harry Brook had injected further bravado into the batting — England’s rate of scoring in the Ashes was the fastest in history — and selection similarly became ever more audacious, with Josh Tongue picked for the Ashes and Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley taken to India, all on scant form.
Root getting out to an attempted reverse-scoop in Rajkot was a turning point; he thereafter reined in his approach before the management did the same. Root was averaging 52.63 under Stokes up to this point, and is averaging 63.07 subsequently.
After the 4-1 defeat in India, head coach Brendon McCullum said: “When you are exposed in the way we have been, you know you have to get better. The next couple of months will be us making sure we’re a more refined version of what we are.” He indicated there would be “tough conversations”.
Typical XI (v Australia, Edgbaston 2023): Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes, Bairstow, Ali, Robinson, Broad, Anderson.
Age three: a time to rebuild
(May 2024 to April 2025, 12 Tests, won 8, lost 4)
Bashir was named first-choice spinner, despite little evidence to go on from county cricket
The “refinement” was more about changing personnel rather than approach. Bairstow and Ben Foakes, the regular wicketkeepers, were both dropped, never to return, and replaced by Jamie Smith, a dynamic batsman, but it was the bowling that came in for significant restructuring. It was a long-term plan, and with home series against relatively weak opposition in West Indies and Sri Lanka, the moment felt right.
With five wins out of six, they got away with it, even though Stokes missed the Sri Lanka series through injury, with Ollie Pope deputising as captain.
Atkinson enjoyed a fine first summer in Test cricket, getting on to both Lord’s honours boards with 12 wickets against West Indies and a century against Sri Lanka
ANDREW BOYERS/ACTION IMAGES VIA REUTERS
The most striking move was to dispense with Anderson, a Test veteran of more than 20 years of service. Broad had already retired after the Ashes; Ollie Robinson was also sent packing. In their place came, first, Gus Atkinson and then Brydon Carse. Both displayed skill, commitment and, additionally, ability with the bat. Another significant change was that Bashir was named as the team’s first-choice spinner in preference to Jack Leach. Atkinson, Carse and Bashir took 111 wickets between them during this period.
Archer, who had not played a Test since 2021, was also deep into a careful comeback programme, and near to a return.
“We’d done it for two years, had a bit of success, but, actually, how were we going to evolve?” Key told the Sunday Times in November. “If we build a battery of fast bowlers with Archer, [Mark] Wood, Tongue, Carse, [Matthew] Potts, Atkinson, we’ll get a return on that. It will be a match for anyone in any conditions.”
Typical XI (v West Indies, Edgbaston 2024): Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes, Smith, Woakes, Wood, Atkinson, Bashir.
Age four: the birth of pragmatism
(May 2025 to date; 4 Tests, won 3, lost 1)
Siraj and Duckett clash as tempers frayed at Lord’s in the third Test
The prospect of ten Tests against India and Australia focused minds. There could be no repeat of the six defeats in the past ten matches against them. Stokes and McCullum wanted performances that were less careless and more clinical. Any sense of enjoyment coming ahead of training or winning — an allegation that surfaced during the Champions Trophy — had to be scotched. Key banned talk about golf.
As if to prove the point, Stokes returned to bowling as fit as he had been since taking over the captaincy. Two immense spells helped win last week’s Test at Lord’s.
Zak Crawley’s time-wasting to ensure England’s openers faced only one over on the Saturday night was also a marker. It incensed India but their fury — with Shubman Gill telling Crawley to “grow some balls” — only fired up and unified Stokes and his men, a point they may note for the future.
Not only was the batting more pragmatic in the run chase in Leeds and on the first day at Lord’s, but selection was now tilted towards players who could withstand the heat of battle. “Anyone who wants to get into that side, you’ve got to be able to put bowlers under pressure — and soak it up,” Key said.
With Bashir now out of the series, England have turned to Liam Dawson as replacement, a seasoned county pro who can bat as well as bowl, the sort of conservative choice they would never have made two years ago. Last year, England took a punt on a raw left-arm quick in Josh Hull; this summer they went with another county stalwart, Sam Cook.
Archer’s return at Lord’s provided another long-awaited piece of the jigsaw. He offers high speed but also crucial expertise against left-handers; in the first two Tests at Headingley and Edgbaston, England had conceded more runs to left-handers than in any other Tests under Stokes.
Archer returned to Test cricket at Lord’s after four years out and bowled with high pace, reaching 93mph
BEN STANSALL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Those who have watched English cricket’s many failures on tours to Australia will be relieved at the change in mindset. Be funky if you wish, but the best way to beat the best teams in the world is to sell your wicket dearly, and never take a backward step. That message appears to be sinking in.
Likely XI for next Test v India, Old Trafford: Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes, Smith, Atkinson, Dawson, Carse/Tongue, Archer.