It was along the expected lines. Prior to the start of the series, I wrote that it was advantage England. In the end, it happened exactly as I thought it would. New Zealand had a consolation win but England won the series in a canter. Of the two teams, it was England who had much better bowlers and much better batsmen. They had pace and their bowlers are all tall. Brydon Carse, Gus Atkinson and Ollie Stone are bowlers capable of bowling at 90MPH ably assisted by the spin of Shoaib Bashir. New Zealand on the otherhand, did not have any batsman to support Williamson which resulted in them losing the series. The England New Zealand series did not contain too many twists or turns. It went along the expected lines.
Fresh off of a resounding series win in India, there were quite a lot of expectations on New Zealand. That they fell way too short was not because they have fallen suddenly. It was because they were against a team who was better in all aspects of the game. It took a couple of New Zealanders to bring down to earth the New Zealand team. Eversince, McCullum and Stokes took over England, they have been meticulous in their preparation though the execution has a few times, faltered.
Ofcourse they had several reversals, in India, in Pakistan and against Australia but the overall record is still impressive. A couple of years ago, when England again toured New Zealand, they could have or rather must have won the series if not for a shocking Stokes declaration. This time around, Stokes did none of that. Infact, he allowed the lead to swell past 500 before declaring.
Something the Stokes of a year ago, would not have.
Gains for England – Bowlers
Of that there were plenty. Eversince, England lost the series to India, a need for overhaul was felt. James Anderson, England’s highest wicket-taker, was told in no uncertain terms that his services were no longer needed and that at his age, he was likely to have negligible impact in Australia. Johnny Bairstow, the hero in the first couple of years of Bazball, was also jettisoned because of diminishing returns. So were Ollie Robinson and Ben Foakes. The last was a bit of a surprise because in the limited opportunities that he got, he didn’t perform that poorly. Anyway, his replacement, Smith, has had an excellent start to his international career.
Let us admit that whatever England does, it is always with an eye on Australia. The English establishment, firmly believes that the reversal in Australia over the last several years was because they did not possess bowlers who are tall and with pace. This they believe is a potent combination to take advantage of the bounce on offer. Towards that end, they have selected Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse. Carse especially, seems to have been an inspired selection. He was the main reason for England winning the series with a game to spare. Both combined with Stone and Archer, will be a potent bowling attack. Ofcourse, Archer did not play a single game but England seems to be giving him ample amount of time to be ready for India and Australia in 2025. The added bonus is that Atkinson is decent with the bat.
On the whole, England have managed to build a formidable fast bowling attack with each one vying for a spot. Next year’s Ashes is promising to be excellent for England. If these bowlers can stay injury free, chances are that England will run roughshod over Australia.
Gains for England – Batsmen
Jacob Bethell, the youngster, enjoyed a successful introduction to international cricket. Three scores of above 50 with a best of 96, showed that he has potential and the ability to survive at the highest level. His discomfort against high pace will be noted by the bowlers around the world. However, when Smith returns, it will be interesting to see whether Stokes persists with Bethell and thereby drop Pope or the otherway around.
Joe Root and Harry Brook are proving to be the men around whom the entire batting unit evolves. Brook has having a great relationship with 100. It is interesting to note that the Tests that England lost, against Pakistan and New Zealand were the Tests in which Brook did not perform. Root is in the form of his life. Easily the best batsman based on current form. He is the fulcrum of this English lineup. England will need him to score plenty of runs in Australia. It is one country where Root has not yet scored a hundred in 27 innings. A blot on an otherwise, brilliant CV.
Ben Stokes has learned from his past mistakes and is now less adventurous with declarations.
Any negatives?
Ofcourse there were. The continued slump of Crawley and to a certain extent, Duckett is a major cause for worry. Crawley has played more than 50 Tests and his average is 30. This is unacceptable by any standards. England just cannot afford poor starts in every innings. They need Crawley to become consistent. How England persists with him is beyond any reason. Sooner or later, Stokes will have to draw a line and force Crawley to perform or perish. Not too many gets these many games to prove their worth.
It is clear that Stokes prefers Shoaib Bashir as the sole spinner. Jack Leach has gone out of favour but Bashir at the moment is an unfinished product. He needs lots of game time to learn his craft. I don’t think that international cricket is the place to learn.
Wrapping up England New Zealand series
About New Zealand in the next blog.
