How can the England Test Team get back to Number 1 and replicate the feats of Andrew Strauss’ epic side?
In the summer of 2011 the England Test team reached Number 1 in the Test rankings after easing past India but were knocked off their perch by South Africa only a year later. Ever since, the side has strived to get back to Number 1 but has not yet achieved yet. While seeing the One Day side go from a national embarrassment to World Champions in just 4 years, the same old problems with the Test team still persist. So, the question on very England cricket fans’ lips is how do they get back to Number 1 and replicate the feats of Andrew Strauss’ team of England greats?
Following the example of ODI side
Only 5 years ago, England’s One Day team was a stuck-in-the-past disaster which was knocked out in the group-stages of the 2015 World Cup. But by the summer of 2019 at the home of cricket England won an unforgettable final to be crowned World Champions. The success of the ODI side was perhaps always going to be to the detriment of the Test team as more emphasis was placed on the one-day game. It is clear though that the Test team can learn a number of lessons from the success of Eoin Morgan’s one-day team. One of the staples of the one-day team is the fearless cricket they play and a sense of freedom that every single member of the squad possesses. When I say fearless cricket, I do not mean that in a Test match every batsman must look to hit a boundary every other ball or the team score at over 4 an over every innings. Positive, fearless cricket is both a technical approach as well as a psychological mindset. Running hard between the wickets, defending with intent, leaving well outside off stump; all examples of positive cricket but not reckless cricket.
This is however not just a responsibility for the players themselves, it is also a duty of the coaching staff and selectors. The coaches need to encourage a positive mindset and maintain their backing to the players even if the execution isn’t always perfect. The ODI side has had so much success in part down to the selectors choosing a group and sticking with them for a sustained period of time, accounting for bad days and drops in form. Obviously, a sustained bad run of form should result in a player at risk of losing his place but the trap the Test team has fallen into is some players fearing for their place as soon as they get into the team and chopping and changing becomes a habit. An environment of positivity is key both on and off the field.
Picking players in the right position
A typically English thing to do; selecting players and picking them in positions they are not used to playing. It beggars belief why you reward a county player for their form in the county game with a place in the national team in a different position to their normal spot. When Ollie Pope received his first call-up to the England Test team in the summer of 2018 against India at the age of just 20, he was selected to bat at Number 4. Despite being a very talented young player, it is both unfair and unfathomable that England would select him in this position as he had never batted higher than Number 5 for his county Surrey. When England decided to give Jason Roy a chance in the test team in an attempt to replicate his destructive batting at the top of England’s ODI batting order, they selected him to open the batting despite him batting in the middle order at county level in 4-day cricket. If a player has been rewarded for his county form batting in the middle order, he should not then be picked to open the batting and vice versa. Using other sports as example, in rugby you wouldn’t select a scrum half at club level in the centres at international level and in football you wouldn’t pick a midfielder in defence for the national team.
Selecting the best line-up for different conditions
Notoriously England are strong at home and struggle on their travels, not an unusual trend in modern-day cricket. As well as individuals struggling to adjust to foreign conditions, England have suffered from too much rigidity in regard to their team selection abroad. Due to England’s normal success at home, there is a tendency to stick to what they know and what works at home, not factoring in that on most away tours the pitches and conditions are completely different. What works at home usually isn’t successful away. In England, line and length bowlers who hit the top of off stump are the order of the day. However, in Australia you need faster bowlers on pitches that don’t offer as much off the pitch and in the sub-continent the focus must be on spin. A perfect example of this was during the last Ashes series down under in 2017-18 when England’s seamers comprised of James Anderson, Jake Ball, Stuart Broad, Tom Curran, Craig Overton and Chris Woakes. In English conditions due to the lavish lateral movement bowlers need to hit an area consistently but in Australia with not much help for the bowlers it is fair to say that this group is too sany and not suitable for Australian conditions. To England’s credit, they did get selection right when they toured Sri Lanka in the latter stages of 2018. Winning the series 3-0, England picked 3 spinners which is something we very rarely see from an England team; pick a team suitable for the conditions.
Preparing for future series
Planning ahead for future Test series is a key part of long-term planning. England’s preparation for Test series in the future not just in the short-term but also the long-term could do with some improving. It is extremely difficult for current England players to experience different conditions in preparation for future series because they are busy playing for the national team. However, for young county players hoping to break into the England side in the coming years utilizing our winters to play in foreign conditions should be a necessity. For young spinners getting exposure in the sub-continent is vital and for young fast bowlers playing in Australia is a useful way of not only improving their game but getting used to conditions they will hopefully be playing in in the future for England.
More importance on the County Championship
With the money involved in T20 franchise competitions around the world such as the IPL and the Big Bash, T20 is becoming more of a priority for many in the game. The ECB is bringing in The Hundred in the next 12 months as the shorter formats are becoming more and more popular. Although these shorter formats are main streams of revenue for the ECB, it is important to remember test cricket always has been and always should be the pinnacle of the game but it feels that T20 is the ECB’s priority. Decisions on the future of the game are solely money-led rather than the traditions of the game. In the county game, the County Championship, the oldest and best format of county cricket, is being shoved to the start and end of the season which is not helpful for the test team as at the beginning of the season in early April batsmen struggle in bowler-friendly conditions and at the end players have played so much white-ball cricket it is difficult to re-adjust back to the longer format.
Captaincy
The elephant in the room; who should be captain of the England Test team. Whilst ODI captain Eoin Morgan is seen as one of if not the best captain in world cricket at this moment in time, England’s test captain Joe Root has come in for heavy criticism. Granted it is easier to captain a successful side that is performing at the top of its game, however Eoin Morgan’s captaincy would be praised even in a less successful side. Root is too much of a reactionary captain, who reacts once the horse has bolted. Not only has Root’s captaincy been called into question, his batting has suffered as a result. The pressures of captaincy can enhance performance level in the cases of Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson. But for Root captaincy has acted as a burden and he is currently a shadow of his former self. Despite many calling for a new captain to be put in place, the bigger, more pressing question is who replaces him if he loses the captaincy. There are very few suitable candidates to replace Root as only around half the team is currently guaranteed their place in the test team. It doesn’t make sense to burden all-rounder and best player Ben Stokes with captaincy and it would be tough for England’s front-line seamers James Anderson and Stuart Broad to captain the side whilst leading the attack. That leaves us perhaps with two candidates that have been mentioned; Jos Buttler and Rory Burns. Two players who might have the temperament and experience to take on the role (Buttler captaining the one-day side in Morgan’s absence and Burns for Surrey), however neither are completely guaranteed their spot in the team. Burns is probably more guaranteed of his spot than Buttler and the best choice, but is it fair on a player that is still fairly new to his England career to burden him with the captaincy? What is clear though is that due to poor captaincy skills and a drop in form with the bat Joe Root cannot continue as England’s Test captain.
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