Heroically though England fought to retrieve a difficult situation on the second afternoon at Trent Bridge, there could be no denying that they came into the first Test grossly unprepared for this most demanding of cricket disciplines. None of their players had featured in a red-ball game for at least three weeks; some had not done so for several months. So, no surprise they appeared rusty. But how did we get to this bizarre situation?
The domestic schedule is rightly held up to ridicule. Go back to 2014 and almost 50 per cent of County Championship fixtures were taking place in the prime months of June, July and August. This year the proportion is below 20 per cent, largely to accommodate the Hundred. This shift has made life harder for batsmen and spin bowlers in particular, but also left everyone short of game time at the precise stage of the summer when England play most of their home Tests.
Sadly, the way the Test team’s fixtures no longer synchronise with the domestic schedule is symptomatic of a wider disconnection. The England teams, whether Test or white-ball, have for more than 20 years been so central to generating the English game’s revenues, and are themselves so well funded, so well staffed, with more than 25 contracted players, and so well populated with coaches and back-room staff that they operate as a virtual principality.
This state of affairs is so entrenched that it is hard for those on the inside to look beyond and see much that is worthwhile. That is perhaps why Ashley Giles, the managing director of England cricket, could think it right to abolish the post of national selector that had existed for more than 120 years.
That is perhaps why, too, it is so hard for players outside the inner circle to break in: who knew or even thought to ask after England’s miserable batting collapse on Wednesday the identity of the leading runscorers in this season’s championship? Whoever they are, Chris Silverwood, the new head of selection, is unlikely to be seeking their contact details any time soon.
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There is also a disconnection between the England teams themselves. When Giles’s predecessor, Andrew Strauss, prioritised the winning of the World Cup it turned out that it was impossible to improve England’s 50-overs game without it having a detrimental effect on the Test XI.
This year we are seeing a similar process at work as players are rested from Tests but made available to Eoin Morgan as he and his squad build up to the T20 World Cup.
There has also been a fundamental change of mindset among the players. Once they are on England contracts, they are under no obligation to play for their counties, while they also have access to an array of specialist coaches who can help them to work on their games in outdoor nets and indoor schools. Many of them would rather spend time working on specifics than playing in domestic competitions.
This culture comes from the top. Australia’s Steve Smith is a fanatical trainer but rarely turns out for New South Wales. Joe Root is the same. His net sessions outside regular
pre-Test practice days can be unbelievably long. Root actually played five championship matches for Yorkshire early this season but sat out three more he could have played in. Jos Buttler, another big trainer, has made six championship appearances since 2014.
Tweaking techniques is a far more common phenomenon than it used to be, partly because data analysis has served bowlers well in highlighting flaws in batting methods. As was noted on the first day at Trent Bridge, Dominic Sibley has clearly spent recent weeks modifying his stance.
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While such attention to detail may be admirable, the danger is that tinkering is done for tinkering’s sake, and that things are not made better but worse. During the Tests against New Zealand in June, Ollie Pope was seen taking an off-stump guard in what was believed to be a ploy directly copied from Smith, but in his case it did him few favours.
“Players play less and train more, but that means they need to be careful who they listen to,” Trent Woodhill, a leading batting coach, has warned. “Their coach’s views carry a lot of weight but they may not always be right.”
At some point, rejigged techniques need to be tested out in the middle, preferably before entering the Test cauldron. Also, how do you cultivate concentration in practice sessions? And how do you properly hone slip catching? Sibley dropping KL Rahul yesterday suggested that he could do with more in-match experience.
This reluctance to play outside internationals has been tacitly endorsed by team managements who turn warm-up fixtures on tour into glorified net sessions, a situation that reached its apotheosis for England under Trevor Bayliss’s reign as head coach. Silverwood tried to move away from that practice but then came the pandemic and now formal warm-up matches have had to be scrapped on safety grounds.
Finally, a word in mitigation: England’s players are being worked harder than anyone’s in the pandemic. The Trent Bridge Test is their 50th international across all formats since July last year.
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Only Pakistan (44) and West Indies (40) have also played more than 31 games. These are not easy times for anyone.
