by It was mission accomplished for England, after their 3-1 T20 series win over the West Indies capped a “perfect” white-ball tour of the Caribbean, according to interim head coach Marcus Trescothick.
On a trip in which several young players were given opportunities, with four debuts, Trescothick believes England managed to find the balance between winning and learning after three weeks which left the team in a better position than the one she arrived at.
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Trescothick, whose temporary coaching stint ended after the final game of the series with Brendon McCullum taking over the white-ball role from January, said the results on the field had been “brilliant” after the England secured their first away T20 series. win in more than two years.
“If you look at the end result,” Trescothick said, “we won one of the two series and we won several games in the two series that we played and we saw more players. So you sit back and you look at it on paper and there you go – perfect.
“Of course the balance is you always want to win. But I think if we had one goal on this trip, more than anything else, it was to see the players we saw and see if they will be good enough next week, next month, l next year or for three years.
Trescothick singled out Jacob Bethell and Saqib Mahmood for their “superb” performances, with the former England opening batter backing Bethell, 21, to emulate Harry Brook’s success in all formats.
Bethell impressed throughout the Caribbean tour, making three half-centuries in seven innings and confirming England’s suspicions that they had a player of real talent on their hands. So much so that despite a poor red-ball record, with zero centuries in 20 first-class appearances, Bethell was selected for England’s upcoming Test trip to New Zealand, where he is expected to be the reserve batter.
“All the attributes are there,” Trescothick said of Bethell’s chance to move from the white ball to the red ball. “If you had some benchmarks to be able to go there, right, you have to do this, this and this, he would knock on the door for that.
“There’s no reason why he can’t break through and be successful because he’s flourished in both formats we’ve seen in recent times. You could almost see him being the next youngster after Harry Brook, the most exciting thing to come for the next journey this group will take.
The series saw the return of Jos Buttler to the England line-up after four months out due to a calf injury. Upon arrival in the Caribbean, Buttler admitted he feared for his captaincy after back-to-back disappointing World Cups and hoped this next period of his career would be the most “enriching”.
Batting at number 3 to allow Phil Salt and Will Jacks to open, Buttler was soon back to his best, making 83 from 45 balls in the second T20, and was creative in his captaincy throughout, often employing very offensive pitches and positioning themselves short. -leg in several matches.
“It wasn’t easy being captain of the team for a while,” Trescothick said. “We know the results and it has been a challenge. And that always makes things difficult, of course.
“You can kind of see things coming back into place for him, a little bit where hopefully more enjoyable times will come with the growth of the team, but also with other players coming back and some structure a little more stable with the coaching too.”
The final makeup of England’s coaching staff in the red and white ball teams is expected to be established during the Test tour to New Zealand, where Trescothick will return to his previous role assisting Test batting.
Elsewhere, Buttler said Ben Stokes and Joe Root are not guaranteed to return to England’s white-ball set-up, with the Champions Trophy just two months away.
“I don’t know exactly,” Buttler said of whether both men will be back in February. “These are conversations for the next few weeks with those responsible. The guys here played very well. Some young players did not harm themselves. There are people who are not here who will also aspire to be on the side of the white ball. It’s really exciting.
“I can’t speak for them individually, but I hope they have white ball ambitions. They are two great players.
