Beginning of a New Era for England — Cricket Addictors Association
England finally end their test series losing drought with an emphatic 3–0 win against world test champions, New Zealand. England previously had just won one out of fourteen test matches from June 1, 2021, to May 30, 2022.
After the shambles of the Ashes and Windies series, there were massive changes in administration as general manager Ashley Giles, Chairman Tom Harrison, head coach Chris Silverwood and Test captain Joe Root all left their respective positions. Brendon McCullum was appointed their red ball coach along with Ben Stokes as their red ball captain.
With the new management, there came a new attitude within the English camp. We could see England being more positive in their playing style. McCullum wanted to see England play “with a bit of freedom and put pressure back on the opposition”. Everything went well in the first series with the new captain and coach. They were much more attacking. English batters did not let New Zealand bowlers settle, and put away the poor balls straightaway to boundaries. England certainly have found a way extraordinary mentality to chase any target within their merit, unlike in the past when they were clueless.
With this series win, England became the first team ever to win three matches in a series by chasing down 275+ in the 4th Innings. Even if they had failed to chase those targets, we could easily agree England are not afraid to chase the mammoth target and are not possessive in their approach.
There were many changes from the previous series in this series. England did not bother conceding a few boundaries while searching for a wicket. Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell took bonkers out of English bowlers but apart from them no other batters looked settled.
Leach has proven to be effective as a match-winner. He showed if the Skipper gives him longer spells and provides the field he wants, he can do wonders in non-spin-friendly tracks.
Pope at 3 is an astute decision from the Baz-Stokes era to utilize the best First-Class player in the country. Allowing him to free his arms and not worrying much about his consistency is paying dividends for England.
The emergence of Matty Potts is another positive take here — very drilled with his line & length. He can be a very successful fast bowler if he doesn’t carry long-term injuries which have been the biggest threat in the English camp.
Jonny Bairstow has found a new way of scoring runs, the test cricketer at his peak saved his team twice in the series. He’s borrowed some of the traits from his white-ball game; the best way England could utilize him. Jonny Bairstow is the first-ever player to score over 350 runs in the test series with S/R 120 or higher.
Originally published at https://cricketaddictorsassociation.com on June 27, 2022.