England captain trying to get to the root of Ashes problem in NZ series
For England’s test captain, Joe Root, this two-match series against New Zealand with new head coach Chris Silverwood is a fresh start in solving a complex problem, and although it is not part of the World Test Championship, that does not matter.
If England’s previous head coach, Trevor Bayliss, was a benign uncle, Silverwood is more like Root’s older brother — more hands-on, proactive and structured, more prepared than Bayliss to do the talking in the dressing-room before and after play. And whereas Bayliss was a batsman for New South Wales, Silverwood was a fast bowler for Yorkshire, Middlesex and England, and perhaps better positioned to solve this complex problem: how to dismiss Australia — Steve Smith and all — in the 2021-22 Ashes for less than 400 a time.
“We’re aligned on how we want to move forward,” Root said. He and Silverwood want to “utilise these 25 tests within that period to make sure [when] we go to Australia we have all bases covered and are in the best possible shape to win there. It’s married up nicely with him coming in as coach and does give that fresh feel, fresh start to the next couple of years.
“It is a chance to grow in these conditions on some flatter wickets ahead of South Africa and maybe Australia down the line. And how are we going to approach those conditions, bat for long periods of time to set the game up in the first innings, and can we find different ways of using that flat surface to our advantage and take wickets? In this part of the world, if things get flat, you can’t just roll the dice and gamble. You’ve got to be patient and sit in for long periods, and build pressure in different ways. And that will be a new challenge for this group, not something we’ve done a huge
amount of. But if we want to get better and more consistent around the world, and win more frequently away from home, that’s an area we’re going to have get better at.”
New Zealand, unbeaten at home in their last nine tests, are second in the ICC test rankings, England third. Root’s test record is by no means as bad as some might think. Like most England captains, he has won slightly more tests than he has lost: 16 to 13. The question is whether England are making the most of their resources, which are only really exceeded by India’s.
At least in this series England will be forewarned. The last time they started a series in New Zealand, at Eden Park in a day/night test, their score was soon 27 for nine because Trent Boult swung the pink ball.
The opening test pitch in Mt Maunganui is said to offer more pace and the second test pitch, at Hamilton, more lateral movement.
In the warm-up games at Whangarei, Jofra Archer did not behave remotely like a superstar, though he would have had some justification after his bowling in the World Cup, most notably the super over, and against Australia. In his four Ashes tests he was instrumental in winning two, at Headingley and the Oval, taking six wickets in an innings at both venues. The only one of the four tests where Archer played and England lost was at Old Trafford, where he seemed to find the biting gale too much on the first two days.
Already it is apparent that Archer is a bowler, not of many moods but of gears, yet his run-up remains the same. At Whangarei, after a month’s lay-off, he began in first gear and moved up to fourth by the end. He can take wickets in clusters and will harry New Zealand’s best batsman, captain Kane Williamson.