England entertained in 2023 but next year they must learn how to win again
It was a year of entertainment rather than England winning. The Test team were brilliant to watch and produced an unforgettable Ashes series.
But they ended the year without winning a Test series and England endured a forgettable World Cup as well.
In 2024 England have a chance to do something special: winning a five-Test series in India and a T20 World Cup. Get those two right and England will be right back up there.
The whole English summer was superbly entertaining and it was a great success having the Ashes earlier in the season when it dominated the sporting calendar. Cricket has to fight for attention and in the future, big series or World Cups should be played when other sports are quiet. It is how cricket becomes the national conversation. But let’s face it, England should have won the Ashes. They should have regrets about that. England’s women too should have won the Ashes. They should have won that Test in Nottingham. It is okay to say Bazball is great and the women’s team are getting better but let’s be honest they didn’t win anything in 2023.
The World Cup was a disaster. I give Matthew Mott and Jos Buttler one mulligan. They did not prepare right for India, selection was poor and they messed up the contracts. That’s all gone now.
They have to go to the West Indies and America in June much better prepared. Let’s judge them on that tournament. I expect them to be better in the World T20 but other teams will have improved since England won the last tournament in Australia. India will be a better team than they were last time around, Pakistan will be competitive, South Africa are dangerous, Afghanistan a threat if the pitches are slow and the Aussies and New Zealand will be well prepared and managed as usual. England are better in 20-over cricket but have they stood still like they did in 50-over cricket? We will find out in June. Like I said, Buttler and Mott get one mulligan, not two.
I give England a small chance of winning in India but a big chance of winning the World T20.
The Test series at home next summer should look after themselves. They will probably win every Test quickly against West Indies and Sri Lanka but it is the T20 World Cup we will judge this team on next year and the India tour.
The Test team has to be willing to understand it is not about playing one way only. The Test team are flamboyant and great to watch but they can’t just play one style. On a spinning wicket in India, Ollie Pope said the other day you have to look to score off every ball. Well, good luck. How about trying to stay in first and then attack.
Brendon McCullum has created a different mindset and I admire his positivity and belief in giving people freedom but Test cricket has been played for a long time and successful teams read situations. Yes, fundamentally you play aggressively and get on the front foot but it is not always possible to put pressure on the opposition. Then you just have to see out a period and be patient. I don’t want to see England throwing away strong positions like they did in the second innings of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston or when they started hooking the Aussies at Lord’s.
The India Test series will be a great spectacle but the hardest place to win. If England are still in the series by the fifth Test then they will have done remarkably well. But in the back of my mind, I worry they will give it away.
The only world-class spinner they have come up against is Nathan Lyon and he is 2-0 up against Bazball. Spin offers the biggest challenge to the Bazballers.
Let’s be honest Lyon did not play the last three Tests of the Ashes. I’m pretty sure it would have been a win for Australia had he stayed fit because he was bowling beautifully and had England on toast. That is what they are going to come up against multiplied by three in India. They will face three world-class spinners, not one. Edgbaston was a reminder that in India there are moments when it can go flat and you can bat forever. Don’t let the opposition back in. At Edgbaston it was flat and England gifted Lyon a five fer. If they gift Ravi Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin five fers on flat pitches, they will lose.
Can Harry Brook be a really fit role model who plays brilliant cricket?
Ben Stokes had a great year. He was outstanding. A different style of leader. Zak Crawley had a good summer, but he has to go again. We should not be lauding him at this stage. He played well and scored some nice runs on good pitches. In India, on a flat one, can he capitalise against good spinners? I have seen him in the subcontinent before and he just tried to launch the left-arm spinner over mid-off. He had no success with that method. Will he have changed his game and learned? One thing is sure, England will need big scores.
He showed in the summer, England were right to stay loyal and consistent with him. He definitely has a ceiling that is high. Good players have one good series, find confidence then go on a roll. Can Zak do that?
Harry Brook is the one who looks like the real deal. This is the time for Harry. He is a great character and good fun but I would love him to have a look at Virat Kohli from 2013. See where Virat was then and 10 years later he is the greatest player in the world. He changed his lifestyle and how he prepares. He became the fittest cricketer in the world and look at him now.
Can Harry do that? Someone should knock on his door and ask him, do you want to be like Virat or just an exciting player who entertains but not quite the best? He is a Yorkie. He likes a good time. I am a pot and kettle calling out Harry on that but we are desperate for a really fit role model who plays brilliant cricket. Stokes is an athlete. But can we have someone like Harry or Alice Capsey in the women’s game, become the best role models English cricket has had. They are both young, can they take the leaf out of Kohli’s book and be the best role models?
