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 in keeping with his call for “selfless cricketers” four years earlier.
Related: England in better shape after ‘coming through chaos’ of a torrid summer, says Joe Root
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, the 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 may 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 inherits 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. The ball dominated the bat – a wicket every 41 deliveries led to the lowest strike-rate in England since the 1880s – and Pakistan’s batters were a wet paper bag in terms of resistance. The one time conditions eased – a good Edgbaston pitch, plus a ball that went soft after getting damp the previous evening – England lacked a bit of bite and struggled for breakthroughs.
Root also had a couple of familiar nightmares against the tail; Razaullah’s assault and when standing in for Stokes at the Oval in June. Marcus Trescothick, the interim head coach against Pakistan but unsure of his future place in the Test setup, fancies Fleming will be a good fit for Root here, as a tactically astute captain and the most decorated coach in the hothouse of the Indian Premier League.
What lies beneath the four first‑choice quicks is a question mark as thoughts turn to South Africa in December. A personal view is that Olly Stone’s late‑summer county form with Nottinghamshire should help him leapfrog the kids on the cab rank. And clearly the lack of a frontline spinner continues. One wonders if Fleming will want a Daniel Vettori-type – multifunctional – with Liam Patterson-White one such candidate.
Fleming’s own experiences as a player may also be relevant to a batting lineup that racked up 23 half-centuries this summer, with only Ben Duckett going past three figures. Fleming scored 10 before his first Test century, so may be able to ease the pressure that Dan Lawrence, for example, keeps putting on himself.
Every team strives for a settled lineup but Fleming may like the current tension for spots that will require a tricky call when Jacob Bethell is fit. Emilio Gay, likely to tour but already seeing his ceiling questioned, looks most vulnerable in terms of the XI. But this will mean manufacturing an opener to partner Duckett, who aside from his 113 at Trent Bridge has seemed caught in two minds post-Bazball.
Jordan Cox may be the one pushed up which, given the ninth over was the latest the No 3 appeared against Pakistan, is not a huge change of role. While like Lawrence he fell short of a defining score, settling for three half-centuries, Cox made an impression through his presence at the crease; almost cocksure, with Root admitting: “I didn’t really know what to make of him when I first met him.”
Cox has said on record that he has been trying to outdo Root which, while made easier by one of the captain’s quieter summers, is a pretty high bar of 14,000‑plus Test runs. But it’s probably also the template for this team post‑Stokes: to look to their captain not for inspirational moments or residual aura but as the quieter embodiment of what is required to thrive at Test level.
