As Joe Root calmly ran the rule over the Test summer and reeled off the ways in which it had been “chaos”, “unusual” and “unsettling” for England, it felt telling that first among them was Ben Stokes calling time on his international career during a match and a series that were both still live at the time. Cricketers announcing their retirement mid-game is nothing new. Heather Knight went on to do the same during the women’s Test at Lord’s two weeks later.
Root is also too loyal to Stokes to question openly whether that scene-stealing exit before New Zealand’s win at Trent Bridge was entirely keeping with his call for “selfless cricketers” four years earlier. But even with two drink-related incidents either side, it was the week when England bottomed out: their first home defeat for 14 years in a series of three or more Tests, and one that had the Black Caps quite literally laughing in their faces during the final throes. Since becoming unhooked from the emotions of Stokes, and realising they would never shake the stigma of Bazball without Brendon McCullum’s removal as Test head coach, things have settled down a touch for England (the sight of Brydon Carse in handcuffs in Derby, Stokes lurking in the shadows, notwithstanding).
They also got a taste of how New Zealand felt in June, or Australia during the Ashes last winter, claiming the win but seeing the losers hog much of the focus. For all that the 21-year-old Razaullah deserved the headlines at Edgbaston, with his jaw-dropping 81 in keeping with south Birmingham’s love for unexpected fireworks, Pakistan were a reminder that there are different levels of dysfunction. Scraps with Saracens players?
A curfew that may or may not have been spelled out correctly? I’ll raise you seven players sent home, a head coach and bowling coach likewise, mobile phones seized, and a light shone on a government-run board that would sooner no one thought about the plight of the country’s greatest captain. As Saj Sadiq, editor of PakPassion.net and someone who has seen it all over the years, neatly put it: “As an entire series, this has been the most embarrassing and difficult to watch.
On and off the field Pakistan have been an absolute shambles.” For all that Pakistan were easy-beats, it would be wrong to call this a wasted summer for England. Stephen Fleming might not be arriving in the UK until this week (Root is itching to finally meet his new head coach in person after a long-distance courtship) but he will have learned a fair bit about the team he takes over while catching up with the highlights over his cornflakes in Canterbury. For one, a promising stable of fast bowlers is emerging.
Ollie Robinson has returned to devastating effect, Jofra Archer’s appetite for Test cricket lives on beyond Stokes, while Josh Tongue has hardened up physically and is becoming a significant weapon. Gus Atkinson’s returns dipped after the Rex Rooms and a change of role, but it was also the quickest that England’s quiet man has bowled across a season. There are caveats, of course.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
