Another series defeat and England have now won one of their past 17 Tests. Whatever decisions are made over the next few weeks I expect this run to continue for a good while yet because, put simply, where you need a nucleus of quality, experienced players at the heart of a Test team they have a vacuum.
Particularly in this form of the game, the lack of experience countering different conditions is unquestionably a disadvantage.
England has an oversupply of young white-ball talent, players who can come in and play brilliantly from the off. But to succeed at the highest level of the red-ball game there are no short cuts – a batter needs to put in the hours grooving a repeatable technique that can stand up under pressure against the best bowlers in the world. There are not many Alastair Cooks who can come in and make a hundred on debut; that attitude, character and skill needs to be built up over a period of time.
If we are to create an experienced core we must keep faith in the best of our young players, which means celebrating their successes and forgiving their failures. There is a lot of scrutiny in red-ball cricket. As a batter you’re expected to make good decisions for long periods of time and there is not a lot of understanding when attention slips and you pay the price.
These players’ confidence has to be protected, by making sure they are in supportive environments at their counties and with England, surrounded by people who trust them, who know their games and their personalities.
Batters often go through cycles of getting picked, not doing well, getting dropped and eventually getting selected again – and every time the pressure is heightened. That makes it harder still to be clear‑minded and find a simple, repeatable method in the way you bat. Players need to focus, but they also need to be relaxed enough to enjoy the occasion.
In saying this I am remembering my own experiences but also thinking about players such as Ollie Pope, who is considered by a lot of people in the game to be a high-class young player, and Haseeb Hameed, who was dropped after the Ashes when I am absolutely convinced he would have been successful in the West Indies, certainly in Antigua and Barbados.
I am thinking also of Zak Crawley, who has talent and needs to be supported as he tries to learn quickly from his mistakes, to be more clinical with his execution without losing his aggressive intent, while Dan Lawrence shows promise but still has work to do on his technique.
England have three senior batters in the top seven, but one of those is Ben Stokes who is an all-rounder and at times bats like one, and another is Jonny Bairstow, who comes in at six where he is not necessarily setting the tone but reacting to what has gone before. That leaves only Joe Root in the top order and if he goes early it does set the tone and as we saw in Grenada things can fall apart quickly from there. England are lacking top-order players who can bat time and build partnerships and those things are so important.
Watching the final Test I was reminded of the match in Antigua in 2019 when West Indies played England on a very difficult, uneven wicket, not dissimilar to the one in Grenada this time. The home side won the toss and elected to field, Root was twice dismissed cheaply and West Indies showed a lot of determination, discipline and resilience, the key qualities of a successful Test side, to post a good first-innings score and win by 10 wickets.
I was involved as batting coach and that was one of the few times I spoke to the team after the game. I felt my role was mainly to deal with individuals one on one, but after Trevor Bayliss and Root had said a few things, I spoke up. It seemed to me that as a group they were lacking in those key attributes and that too many times batters showed poor decision-making in the shots they took on. The disappointing thing is here we are now and in Grenada that same fragility was still there.
It is not all about experience. The England squad have played far more first-class cricket than their opponents, but West Indies found players with real attitude and character. They are not flashy, butthey got the job done under the examination of Test cricket. We have to give credit to the way they came together as a team and in Nkrumah Bonner and Joshua Da Silva they had individuals without enormous Test experience who showed those qualities of determination, discipline and resilience.
In their desperation to reset the ambitions and the results of the red-ball team, I am not sure it would be wise for England to call up more youngsters. Not when there are people in the county game who have shown over a period of time an ability to adapt to different wickets, counter different types of bowling and show good decision-making.
I spent some time this week at Merchant Taylors’ School watching Middlesex play Surrey. Rory Burns was there, a bit of a comedown from playing in the Ashes in Australia to a cold school ground in March, and he was out for nought and 10. On the other side, Sam Robson and Mark Stoneman batted extremely well – both have tasted international cricket but have had time to improve as players and mature as people and would go back better for the experience.
For me, that red-ball reset has not started yet and will not while there is so much uncertainty at the top – no permanent head coach, no permanent director of cricket, no ECB chair and a lot of speculation about the ECB chief executive leaving his job soon. There are big calls to be made in the coming weeks.
I have seen some speculation about potential candidates for the role of director of cricket that have surprised me – my hope is that someone is chosen because they have the right qualifications and experience rather than because they happen to be popular with an influential group of people.
There are no Tests in the next couple of months, but this is a massively important period for the future of the England side.
