Brave cricket, done right?

Thoughts on England’s latest Test rebirth

Source: @ecb_cricket on Twitter

South Africans of a certain generation may have a particular cynicism about the sudden adoption of an in-your-face, walk-tall, gung-ho, go-for-it brand of cricket. That’s because some of us are still haunted by the ‘brave cricket’ that was supposed to take the Proteas to 2007 World Cup glory in the Caribbean – but which culminated in Graeme Smith’s men whimpering to 149 in their semi-final against Australia.

I can’t seem to get that ‘brave cricket’ mantra out of my head when I watch England’s Test side under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum.

Though the two Kiwis (by birth) haven’t put any labels on this new way of theirs, there are certainly echoes. But there’s also a key difference, so far: they’re winning.

They’re off to a magnificent start, and already have a philosophy-affirming success in the memory bank thanks to that violent T20 final session of the chase at Trent Bridge. Success breeds success and all that. With two from two under the new regime, the buy-in and belief amongst the players looks cemented – with a few layers of bricks on top for good measure. It even seems to have seeped into their way of expressing thoughts: they seem to have found a new level of eloquence that delights the media.

But the South African story reminds us just how easy it is to look silly when you go out guns blazing and it doesn’t work. That when execution and chat don’t match up, it doesn’t look good. The narrative flips and the accusations of carelessness fly.

It already looks like the spirit in England’s dressing room will be able to withstand a fair few setbacks, as and when they come. But the English public and press will need to learn to tame their short memories and hold fire if an embarrassing day comes along. Because if they’re willing to accept the spoils of Trent Bridge, then they’ve got to be willing to accept that when the very same approach goes wrong, it’s going to be a loss and not a draw. They must remember that this way of doing things has credit in the bank. Can they do that?

Sensing the moment

Just as Jonny Bairstow knew it was time to go in for the kill on a depleted New Zealand attack on that final afternoon, the Stokes-McCullum axis of bravery has picked a good moment to launch itself at the cricket world.

First of all, it’s a home series. A good place to start. And New Zealand, for a variety of reasons we may explore in another article, are not the side they were in their triumphant trip to England a year ago, during which they picked up a series win and a World Test Championship trophy. And it’s a juicy three-test series, which now means England have an opportunity to nail a first clean sweep (2-0 doesn’t count!) at home since India in 2011.

England’s next opponents after the Kiwis are South Africa, a team that has been making great progress of late and has shown unbelievable resilience. But one which may not have Stokes’ charges unduly worried just yet.

The next Ashes series in Australia will be the true measure of where England are. Remember that for all his success as a New Zealand player, McCullum was never able to conquer the Aussies over the course of an away series. But after all the debacles for England Down Under, the latest of which prompted the most recent cleanout, even being competitive there next time out will have to go down as a tick in this regime’s box.

(Given recent history, I still think three tests would be enough to get a feel on whether England have progressed enough to deserve five. More on that here.)

Ben Foakes and sensible selection

About a year and a half ago, I tweeted the following thoughts on Ben Foakes. And even that was long overdue.

The Foakes journey sums up the madness of England’s selection policies in recent years in a nutshell. That he didn’t get an extended run in the side after the start he had was an absolute shocker.

The problem with horses-for-courses, rotation or whatever you want to call it, is that it doesn’t take into account team dynamics and the importance of belief and a winning culture in the dressing room. Sportspeople aren’t just bits of a machine you can swap in and out; the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

When you’re trying to reinvent a side like Stokes and McCullum currently are, fiddling with the personnel doesn’t help. There was strong evidence that picking an unchanged team for Trent Bridge – letting players know they have a run in the side and you’re backing them – had a lot to do with the progress seen in Nottingham. Much has been written and said about that. I’m fascinated to see if England will go unchanged once again in Leeds, and where that takes them.

That said, there does come a time when performance considerations mean you need to drop a player. Which brings me back to Foakes. One of the few consistencies in England’s team-picking before McCullum was its unshakeable faith in Jos Buttler.

I don’t want to get into picking on Buttler here: he’s had enough of that. But it’s fair to say he came with a set of question marks in red-ball cricket. What about Foakes?

He scored a ton on Test debut and made 277 runs at 69.25 in that tour of Sri Lanka at the back end of 2018. Roll on to 2022, and look at his role in the first two run chases of the summer. He also happens to have the best set of gloves in England, which some say ought to play a role if you’re choosing a Test wicketkeeper. Question marks? Anybody?

Okay, the run-scoring may not have been spectacular in between, but Foakes was in and out of the team, rarely with the cards stacked in his favour. Until now, he’s never had the benefit of playing a Test match at home. And when England were back in Sri Lanka early last year, did Foakes get the chance to make merry with the bat again in the same conditions where he had first proved himself? Negative.

Apart from the runs he saves and catches he takes, don’t underestimate the power of Foakes’ presence behind the stumps in the current England setup either. This is a man so sure of himself as a wicketkeeper – and rightly so – that he’s got time to grin before a nick has even settled in his gloves. (Don’t ever forget, wicket-keeping is hard.) His confidence in that position has got to rub off on the team.

It might be a ‘dead rubber’, but Headingley will be another defining match for this England side. Not only in terms of it laying down a marker on selection policies – but also as a measure of its new ruthlessness…

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