England bringing back the fun to test cricket

Joseph Terry assesses the recent success of the England test cricket team

TEST cricket has been seen as the sick man of cricket for the majority of the 21st century. Less profitable, less exciting, less mainstream. In the era of T10 cricket and tournaments that award 12 runs for a six — the resurgence of test cricket via the swashbuckling English test team is welcome.

Thank you, Brendon McCullum, Ben Stokes and Rob Key, for saving the most prestigious format from extinction. And, for however hyperbolic that may sound, I think that this recent period has saved test cricket from extinction. Let me explain.

Brendon McCullum’s time as head coach has solved three main problems that blighted the English test team. These problems were as follows:

Firstly, no English test team since 2005 has been this confident. Gone are the days that English fans expect a batting collapse, gone are the days that a draw is good enough, gone are the days of the conservative declaration. McCullum and Stokes understand that confidence has been the biggest barrier to a successful English team for years. A lack of confidence leading to uncertainty over the ever-rotating spots at the top of the batting scorecard ever since the exit of Sir Alistair Cook, a lack of confidence leading to a roulette over the wicketkeeper gloves, and lack of confidence leading to a lack of respect for specialist spin bowlers.

Exeter University and Chiefs star banned

OLLIE Leatherbarrow, star of both the EURFC 1st XV and the Exeter Chiefs, has been handed an 8-week suspension by the RFU.

The no. 8 was caught up in an incident in early February representing the university at Cardiff.

Leatherbarrow, 19, is said to have "ran from behind the opposition rugby posts, towards the home team, a distance of approximately 20m."

The RFU report continues "He then proceeded to violently strike a player from the home team (Cardiff) to the face on two separate occasions which resulted in the assaulted player falling to the ground."

"The injured player received reddening to the right side of his face and was obviously shaken up by the incident."

Leatherbarrow also put forward his interpretation of the events in defence of his actions.

The forward suggested indecent language was used towards him by the assaulted Cardiff player and that he simply “walked towards the victim with the sole intention of him to repeat the words and to seek an apology.”

Finishing day one of the first test 506 runs to the good at nearly seven runs an over at Rawalpindi is a prime example that this team wants to change how test cricket is played, and their confidence is key to this. Given a mandate by Rob Key, Bazball is vibrant as ever.

Secondly, a strict culture of humility and enjoyment that has been spread by Ben Stokes I believe is crucial to their success. Probably driven by the riches and everything in-between a run in the countless number of franchise tournaments today — international teams battle increasing egoism. Take the spat between Cricket West Indies and Shimron Hetmyer, which included a bizarre report that criticised Hetmyer for missing a flight. Or growing apathy by South African internationals electing to play in the SA20 competition ahead of the one-day series with England.

How have Stokes and co responded? With humility and respect. Speaking after the batting collapse at Lords against South Africa last August that led to a day-three innings defeat — Stokes replied, “This isn’t a wake-up call for us (…) South Africa were better than us.” Previous English teams responded less constructively. Previous English teams would spin the media. But not this team led by Stokes.

More so this culture has bred a new crop of young test players that feel comfortable at this level. There are two ma- jor examples of this mentality welcoming younger players, being Rehan Ahmed and Harry Brooks. Rehan Ahmed, the 18-year-old leg-spinner awaiting his fifth cap in the County Championship, getting a start in the Pakistan series and picking up 7-137 in his debut (including 5-48 off 15 overs), was a moment when I genuinely felt optimism for red-ball spinners when reliance on part-timers or sometimes starters like Joe Root and Moeen Ali has been overused. Furthermore, Harry Brooks stands on the point of being recorded as the best debutant in test cricket — scoring 800 runs in his first nine matches. I raise these examples as I don’t believe that Ahmed or Brooks would have ever felt confident in an English team from 2013, 2018 or 2021.

Image: Airwolfhound

Eyes focus on a home Ashes series now. And for once I am coming into this series confident that England will regain the urn as the two best test teams in the world face off. England fans shouldn’t write off Australia however — that despite recent batting struggles in India, given the conditions afforded to them by Indian groundsmen I don’t take the Australian losses too seriously.

This English team looks fierce on paper. Anderson, Broad, Archer, Robinson the electric guitarist; Ahmed and Leach the bass guitarists; Brooks, Root and Pope the drummers; McCullum and Stokes lead singers. The question is whether they can find harmony against an off-tempo Australian team during the Ashes.

Leatherbarrow revealed he acted violently because he felt “threatened and in danger by the presence of other Cardiff University players and squad members.”

However, the Exeter University student admitted he “regretted the altercation and accepts that he should have ignored the victim’s actions.”

Leatherbarrow has since missed out on chances to represent his national team, Scotland, at under-20 level at the under-20 Six Nations.

Rob Worthington, Sport Editor