The way the cricket calendar is broken up seems a bit absurd; a sort of speed-dating event for general managers and presidents of full member countries, organized every four years by the International Cricket Council. Not that the ICC – more of an events company than a governing body – gets involved. His managers apparently have to leave the room before the bigwigs start chatting around the tables and the ops guys log the devices in their spreadsheets.
The schedule for future men’s tours emerged from one of those opaque lockdowns in 2022 and even then, England’s 2024-25 winter proved slightly unimaginative. Test tours to Pakistan and New Zealand were planned for the second winter in two years, the latter for the third time in five. This is despite England’s entire four-year block without Tests in Sri Lanka or the West Indies and the gap between Tests in South Africa – a third favorite of their traveling supporters – expected to be seven years when they return in late 2026 .
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Given the number of moving pieces – alliances and schisms, a free-for-all process and the World Test Championship (WTC) – it was probably optimistic to hope for a reasonable and even distribution. In fairness, even with the repeat and England being out of contention for next year’s WTC final at Lord’s, this winter remains intriguing. The 2-1 defeat in Pakistan in October, where they won 3-0 two years ago, rocked the good ship Bazball, so much so that the three-Test series which begins in Christchurch on Thursday looks quite important.
Under the leadership of captain and head coach Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, England enjoyed an upturn in fortunes from the previous bleak 18 months. Twenty wins and 11 defeats in 32 Tests is the second best ratio behind Australia over that period and their pedal-to-the-metal cricket – whose fortunes have wavered wildly – has been compelling to watch.
Likewise, they have won seven, lost seven in the last 12 months and have not won an away series since Pakistan in late 2022. The 2023 home Ashes draw was a missed opportunity , while New Zealand’s recent 3-0 triumph in India made England’s 4-1 defeat look a little worse. Grumbles about their style have intensified in Pakistan; a feeling that they are committed to all-out aggression and are inflexible when the ground is not flat. Even with McCullum’s contract now extended to 2027 and soon joining the white-ball teams, next year – India at home and an Ashes series away – will likely define how the project is perceived as a whole.
To that end, England would need a strong performance against the team they know better than most (and who could qualify for the WTC final with a clean sweep). This will be the seventh time they have met for Test cricket in the last 10 years. Not that England’s familiarity with New Zealand has helped, having not won a series here since 2008; the tour when Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad began their record-breaking relationship to claim a 2-1 victory after a 1-0 scoreline.
The post-Anderson and Broad attack blew away the last remnants of jet lag in a postcard perfect Queenstown on Saturday, with Chris Woakes (three for 25), Gus Atkinson (three for 15) and Brydon Carse (four for 48) starting a two-day warm-up match by launching an inexperienced Prime Minister’s XI for 136. They look most likely for the first Test – Matt Potts and Olly Stone are the others on tour – Shoaib Bashir probably being the first-choice spinner, given Jack Leach was serving drinks. In response, England made a total of 249, with Zak Crawley (94) looking particularly good in touch.
England were a little loose after reaching 170 for two, but it was more practice in the middle than a match in itself. As propeller planes landed on the nearby airstrip, Stokes preferred to watch from the sidelines after doing his job before the game began.
Fitness isn’t the reason he’s been out – he just doesn’t enjoy warm-up cricket – but his ability to fully play his role as an all-rounder will be key again. the balance of England. After being very out of form on his return from a hamstring injury in Pakistan and a tactically oddly passive match in the deciding Test in Rawalpindi – perhaps partly explained by the stress of the traumatic burglary of his family at home – Stokes will be doubly eager to make an impact.
Another is Jordan Cox who, with Jamie Smith out on parental leave, is listed for a first Test behind the stumps next week. Fresh from the recent white-ball tour of the Caribbean – and, like Smith, not the first-choice wicketkeeper for his county, Essex – the 24-year-old’s first outing behind the stumps for 15 months comes went well, but he was absent for 11 attempts. a wild hoick. The intensity will be much greater at Hagley Oval, although Galatasaray will not be far away.
Indeed, 18 months after their last encounter – New Zealand’s one-point victory in Wellington which meant the series ended 1-1 – another hard-fought but friendly affair looms; the kind that will likely have their bigwigs heading towards each other again the next time they come out of the speed-dating tables.