On paper, it was a 3-0 series win to England over New Zealand but that only tells half the story.
The way England played their cricket was on a different planet to the one we saw meekly surrender to Australia in the Ashes.
Granted home conditions were always going to make England more competitive but it was the manner in which they won the games that has England fans daring to dream about what’s possible with the great Baz AKA Brendon McCullum leading the revolution as coach.
“The era of ‘Bazball’ is here,” Sam Drury wrote for Sky Sports.
“In the space of a couple of weeks, Jonny Bairstow played two of the most remarkable innings you could wish to see. What happened at Trent Bridge was just staggering.”
Drury was referring to Bairstow’s brutal 136 off 92 balls when England scored 160 in just over an hour to win the Test.
Bairstow then backed it up in the third Test with 160.
“It has gone really well,” new captain Ben Stokes said after the series.
“To walk away with a 3-0 series win against the best team in the world is a pretty special start. It’s a huge testament to the team.
“When I took over it was about more than results – it was about changing the mindset of the lads towards Test cricket, having fun, enjoying representing your country. Then the results will look after themselves.
McCullum’s coaching philosophy has given players the confidence to just go out and have a crack.
“I think it is a pretty simple game,” Brendon McCullum said.
“Sometimes we can get caught up in the fear of failure and maybe try to protect something rather than actually enjoying the opportunity you’ve got to represent your country.”
This notion of enjoying the game was emphasised by Jack Leach in the third Test. Leach who was heavily criticised for failing to make an impact in Australia is now a key part of their team overnight and he credits Stokes and McCullum for his transformation.
Leach took 17 wickets in 6 Tests in the 2021/22 season and for this series alone had 13 including match figures of 10 for 166 at Headingley.
“I don’t know if I thought it was possible, probably not,” Leach said.
(Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP/Getty Images)
“My biggest thing is having belief in myself and that’s what Ben and Baz have really helped me with, and it looks like that’s starting to pay off. I know there’s going to be challenging games, but this is a good one for me.”
Perhaps the most pleasing thing for England fans is former captain Joe Root has been able to just get on with doing what he does best – batting.
Without the burden of captaincy, Root scored 396 runs at an average of 99 including two centuries. He also made a few viral highlights by playing some outrageous T20 reverse flick shots that you would never have seen him play if he was captain.
The captaincy fell to Ben Stokes and he gobbled up the responsibility.
“No captain has stamped a mark on the England team as quickly, or revolutionised their style so completely in such a short time,” Nick Hoult wrote for the Telegraph.
“Those with Test ambitions now have the same clarity of job description: bat positively, look to score or bowl attacking lengths. It is the Australian way preached by two south islanders from New Zealand.”
“It should take longer than 25 days (14 of cricket) to bed in a new regime, but Brendon McCullum, the head coach, and Stokes are such clear communicators. There is no waffle, and insiders reveal they actually say very little, but choose their moments and speak in words every player understands.”
It’s not all rosy for England as they countdown to next year’s Ashes series.
They still had James Anderson and Stuart Broad take 23 wickets between them and they’ll need to find a new-look attack for the inevitable day that both Anderson and Broad retire.
They have found one such bowler in Matthew Potts who had an outstanding debut series with 14 wickets at 23. They’ll need Potts to continue his form and someone else to stand up and lead the charge.
Sedz
Guest
Well Sehwag has scored 105 vs SA at Bloemfontein, 195 va Aus at MCG, 106 vs England at Nottingham, 309 vs Pakistan at Multan, 254 at Lahore, 180 vs WI at Gros Isllet, 151 at Adelaide, 201 vs SL at Galle, 109 at Colombo, 109 at Galle. No centuries at NZ , Zim and Bangladesh.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Wait...the six Davis Cups NZ "won" were as "Australasia" i.e. Australia, so doesn't count.
Sedz
Guest
Really? Lets re-visit after the match to see who wins?
Micko
Roar Rookie
The articles that delved into more meaningful statistics than the very basic (and quite misleading) stats that are career averages clearly illustrated Mark Waugh's greatness. This is the major problem with the batting average ozinsa, and the religous worship of these blunt instruments that don't tell you a heck of a lot about a player.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Wow, NZ won 6 Davis Cups?! I'm impressed! (must've been a long time ago: very early 20th century I guess?)
Micko
Roar Rookie
Kepler Wessels is the only one of those who wasn't an Australian product. And BJ Watling was raised in NZ, so harsh to not let NZ claim him. England more than others poaches foreign talent. Joffra Archer playing for England is just ridiculous.
Micko
Roar Rookie
The test rankings go for a longer time presumably. The WTC is a pre-set 3 home & 3 away schedule for all nations involved before the top two qualify for the Final.
The Bush
Roar Guru
‘03, ‘05, ‘08… the Waugh and Ponting years? So you agree with me then?
Mate you have an over inflated opinion of Australia Test Team. The Taylor, Waugh, and most of the Ponting era they were great, but in the least 10 years they have been nothing more than OK.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
As noted above, his away average is 44 (rounded) - UAE matches have to be treated as away, it’s just a Cricinfo quirk that defines them as “neutral”.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
While we’re on meaningless stats - lets do how many in total? Australia 7, NZ 3, SA 3, England 3. Add in rugby league world cups - Australia 18, England 6, NZ 4, SA 3. Add in Davis Cup: Australia 46, England 16, NZ 10, SA 4. This is fun! Shall we do results of Test series?
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Who would you leave out for Wagner? Southee?
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
“ “My biggest thing is having belief in myself and that’s what Ben and Baz have really helped me with.” Doesn’t say much for previous coaches- isn’t that one of a coach’s main jobs? Mind you, making Leach have confidence in himself would seem to require a massive con job!
Megeng
Roar Rookie
Yes I've watched his last innings a couple of times. It was fantastic. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it
The Bush
Roar Guru
Except his away average of 39 is inflated by performances in the minnow nations. Forget that comparison to Warner, the fact is Williamson has never really performed away against elite opposition. Someone noted that Ponting “only” averaged in the mid-40s away, but look at how consistent he was in places like SA and England. Really, his away average was brought down by his dismal performances in India.
Perthstayer
Roar Rookie
Never mind to stand corrected. I just looked at the stats and I suspect my friend was focused on recent WIndies tour when the whole team really was rubbish!
Keith Griffen
Guest
Now you're opening a huge can of worms. Here goes. Where would nz be without the African XI? Watling, de groundhomme, Conway and Wagner were all parachuted in the team. Without them nz would have never won the wtc. They are all outstanding talents England get alot of flak for KP, strauss etc but truth is nz is basically the African 2nd XI. Yet they do not get criticism. Where would Australian football be without players of Balkan heritage? Where would nz and Australian rugby be without the Polynesian influence. Where would Australian cricket be without Kepler wessels, marnus and khawaja? You pick your best xi.
Nick
Roar Guru
Fun fact...none of those three were won in standard playing time. Not critical, just a fun fact.
Nick
Roar Guru
Ah, toward the end of his career he certainly became absurdly aggressive in test cricket. He broke Viv Richard's fastest century, and also scored an absurd 195 off 134 balls...had he just eased off the gas, that near unbreakable Astle record was his. I think he gave NZ the belief they could be world beaters, but there were some deficiencies in his tactics. It was very home ground driven.
The Bush
Roar Guru
his batting’s usually rubbish Foakes has a FC batting average of 39 from 133 games and Test match century, there's nothing "rubbish" about his batting at all.