There might have been a few sore heads in England’s squad on the morning after their epic, extraordinary victory against South Africa in Southampton, if only because of dizziness. On Sunday, after all, what had been down was suddenly up, what was bad became good, what was strong appeared feeble. And so the series ended having only really proved that what fails today can flourish tomorrow, which does not necessarily help with planning for the day after that.
Clearly England have a team with great potential, but across the week it only really shone when their opponents had misplaced both motivation and quality. Brendon McCullum, the England head coach, described “an oscillating series” that concluded with “an incredible blueprint of what this team’s capable of achieving if we can get it right”, but if it is hard to argue that scoring 414 before routing your opponents for 72 is anything less than ideal it is also not hugely repeatable.
England are ranked eighth in the format by the International Cricket Council and in 14 bilateral series since the end of 2021 they have won just one against the seven teams currently ranked above them, while being humbled both in the 2023 World Cup and in the Champions Trophy this year. One win, however emphatic, cannot expunge a troubling long-term record.
Since the Champions Trophy, Harry Brook has taken over as white-ball captain and one key change has been made to the team: Will Jacks and Jacob Bethell have come in, and with batting depth strengthened at the expense of bowling that pair are expected to combine for 10 overs. Across the summer their economy rates have been 8.80 and 9.06 respectively, with the team and their new captain still learning how to flex these muscles.
“We’re going to need them to bowl some overs and we’ve got to be a bit smarter with it,” McCullum said. “Brooky and I had a chat about it the other day, just making sure we give that fifth bowler slightly more in their favour, making sure we’re utilising the big side of the ground or trying to maybe set more defensive fields. They don’t need to take three for 30 off 10 overs, they’ve just got to find a way to create pressure and hold for a period so our attacking guys can come in.”
Attention now turns to T20s, with three matches against South Africa starting in Cardiff on Wednesday and a World Cup looming early next year – and though McCullum’s view is that “I don’t think there’s too much that separates the formats”, England’s squad is changing in a few interesting ways. The one-day international openers, Ben Duckett and Jamie Smith, are both being rested – “I’m in the racing game and not even Phar Lap could go around every week, even he needed to go to the paddock occasionally,” McCullum said – while Sam Curran, player of the tournament when England won the T20 World Cup in 2022 but out of favour for nearly a year, has been recalled.
“The door’s never shut on anyone,” McCullum said. “I sat down with Sam at the start of the summer and had a good chat. He wanted to know where he was at and it was a really honest conversation. The message to Sam was that a lot’s come to you quickly and you’ve had a lot of success and a lot of fame and a lot of things have fallen your way, but of late your performance had just tailed off a bit. But if you can get back to demanding a position, go away and do that in franchise cricket and bang the door down, then his opportunity will come.” Twelve wickets and a couple of memorable innings in the Hundred – coupled with a batting average of 51.16 in the County Championship – has achieved that.
On Sunday came the latest advance of another player for whom a lot has come quickly, with Bethell scoring his first senior century, 10 days before – still aged 21 – he becomes the youngest man to captain England, against Ireland in Malahide. “We’ve put him in that position because we feel he’s got leadership qualities and you’re always looking to give guys opportunities,” McCullum said.
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“He’s a great conduit for the entire squad. He links a lot of the guys and the different personalities in the group and I think he sees the game and the similar way to we do – and he’s nowhere near the finished article either. He’s a huge player. He’s going to have some life.”
It remains to be seen whether Bethell’s thrilling future includes involvement in the Ashes – “We’ve got a few other fish to fry before we get there,” McCullum said – but he has already experienced some dizzying highs and crushing lows. And that’s just last week.
