You might have missed it, but Test cricket is really fun right now.
Rewind to the start of 2024 and England’s 4-1 defeat in India. In the fourth Test, England had a golden chance to level the series at 2-2, but they squandered it and lost. Then the 3-1 quickly became 4-1, but there was no shame. India beat everyone at home.
Nevertheless, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes set out to make radical changes. James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes were absent. Gus Atkinson, Jamie Smith and Shoiab Bashir were there.
England’s new guard proceeded to beat West Indies 3-0 and then beat Sri Lanka 2-1. The only game they lost all summer was the final match at The Oval, where they fell to a bizarre, bordering on complacent, eight-wicket defeat.
England beating Sri Lanka 2-1 was the minimum. Because Sri Lanka is not very good. Except Sri Lanka immediately beat New Zealand 2-0, which suggests that it’s actually New Zealand who aren’t very good. Which would make sense if the Kiwis hadn’t immediately blanked India – in India – 3-0. The place where no one wins, remember. It was India’s first series defeat at home since 2012 – and one of the biggest shocks in the history of the sport.
Test the cricket. Here, everyone beats everyone.
All of which is to say that the next three Tests between New Zealand and England promise to continue the theme of fun. Nobody knows who will win. And if they say otherwise, they’re lying.
Both teams arrive after contrasting results in their last outings, but both in conditions that will be completely foreign to what awaits them in the next three weeks. New Zealand, as mentioned, beat India in India. England lost 2-1 against Pakistan.
Both these series took place on the turning wickets of the subcontinent, but in New Zealand, England will face a trial by seam. This series is the last of Tim Southee’s career: he will retire at Hamilton, unless the Black Caps qualify for the World Test Championship final, after 107 Tests. Southee has been one of New Zealand’s best players but has declined in recent times, with his figures for 2024 showing 11 wickets at 61.72.
In his place, it’s Will O’Rourke, the 6ft 4in Kingston-upon-Thames-born seamer, and Matt Henry who will be ones to watch. Henry has taken 33 wickets this year at an average of 16.45; O’Rourke, 26 at 19.4.
For England, the majority of their bowling workload will fall on Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse, with Bashir and Ben Stokes helping out when necessary.
But it was with the bat that England attracted the most attention. With stand-in wicketkeeper Jordan Cox ruled out of the series after breaking his finger and Ollie Pope replacing for a Test, the decision was made to give 21-year-old Jacob Bethell a start at No. 3, with Pope sliding down. order at n°6.
Bethell is a player of considerable talent and has already proven himself in white-ball cricket for England, but has no red-ball record to speak of. In 20 first-class matches for Warwickshire, he averages 25.44 without hundreds. He never reached number 3 in his professional career.
This is the latest – and arguably most extreme – selection in a long list of left field picks from Stokes and McCullum over the past two years. Which, to their credit, almost all ended in considerable success.
“We don’t select people just to liquidate them,” Stokes said of the latest selection call. “We know what we are doing. We know what we are looking for, and when you are in a position to make decisions, you must do so to your standards.
“Not really,” added Stokes, on whether he had considered moving Joe Root, who will play his 150th Test for England in Christchurch, to number 3, to a position he has played 60 times for the England during his career. with an average of 43.57, compared to his overall average of 51.01. “We didn’t want it to be too complicated. There was another way of thinking: If we strike first, Popey can strike three. But again, there were too many moving parts.
“The arrival of Bethell gives an opportunity in the order, instead of just filtering and not being able to impose himself on the game.”
However, a key difference between New Zealand and England entering this series is that the Kiwis are playing for today, while England are preparing for tomorrow.
Thanks to their victory in India, the Black Caps still have a chance of qualifying for the World Test Championship final next year, with two or three wins in the series potentially enough to secure a place and regain the title they won. 2021. England are already practically out of the competition. England have never paid much attention to the WTC, a position which is increasingly difficult to defend with five teams around the world now competing in the final at Lord’s.
For all England’s recent protests that it is putting Test cricket back on the map, it is the nation paying the least attention to the competition which – while imperfect – provides context for the global game and comes to an exciting conclusion. Instead, England have outwardly stated that their focus this year is to prepare for the two series against India and Australia next year.
Nonetheless, this England team is simply fun to watch along the way, whether they win or lose. Throughout 2024, they have done both. Their record indicates that 14 matches were played, seven wins and seven losses. With three games remaining, no one knows whether they will end the year in the black or the red.