Bold skipper Stokes has stamped out fear of failure
You can talk the talk, as Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have done since coming together, but it is quite another thing to walk the walk. How England walked it here.
They have talked about promoting Test cricket and making people enjoy it. Well, if you have not enjoyed the five days of this second Test, then cricket really is not for you.
To chase down New Zealand’s first innings 553 with that constant positive, attacking mindset was truly phenomenal and once England got close to parity, then the third innings of the Test became so difficult for New Zealand. England just took it away from them.
It is noticeable Stokes was not there at Lord’s last season when England refused to chase 273 in 75 overs against New Zealand. I reckon if he had been, he would have tapped Joe Root on the shoulder and said: ‘Do you know what? I think we should go for this.’
Stokes was certainly here at Trent Bridge yesterday and you can see the impact of his mentality. He is a very smart cricketer, not just a hit-it-out-ofthe-ground one. Every time he is there in a big moment — for instance Headingley 2019, the World Cup final and now here — he is there at the end. He completes the job time and time again.
Remember, Stokes put New Zealand in here before they made that mammoth total. I have been there as England captain and you think: ‘What is happening here?’ But for Ben it seemed to be: ‘Fine. They’ve scored 553, now let’s go and do the same. And do it quickly.’
McCullum and Stokes have taken that fear of failure away from the England team. There has been so much doom and gloom around them.
The players lost, admittedly largely because of Covid, that love and enjoyment of playing for England. As Jonny Bairstow rightly pointed out last night, the previous management were dealt a very difficult hand but that spark, energy and fun have come rushing back.
There will be more difficult times ahead. There will be pitches that nibble around where surely even this England team will have to rein it in a bit. But can you imagine the lack of confidence in that dressing room after the defeat by West Indies in Grenada just a few months ago compared to how it must be now? The transformation has been rapid and remarkable.
I said at the time Rob Key was the right choice as England managing director and that Stokes was the right choice as captain. Key then went leftfield to appoint McCullum when nobody thought of him as a potential Test coach and that is already proving a success, too.
Bairstow has now made three hundreds in his last six Tests but you always feel he is the one having to prove a point. And once he made two low scores at Lord’s some people were saying: ‘Get Bairstow out of the side and put Harry Brook in’.
That sort of thing drives him on because he always seems a better player when he has that point to prove. on this ground, on that outfield, the game can quickly get away from a fielding side — you only have to look at some of the white-ball scores to see that — and a player like Bairstow is simply destructive in this type of situation.
During that onslaught after tea, Bairstow almost took four out of the equation. He was just looking to hit the ball to the short boundary for six every time. And when New Zealand pitched it up, he hit it back over their heads for six. It left the visitors shell-shocked.
There was a different audience at Trent Bridge yesterday, with the free admission. I walked round the ground and the crowd seemed younger, there seemed to be students in and there was a family atmosphere.
Those that came for the first time will surely want to have a bit more of this.
It will not be like this every time but it was perfect yesterday.