England were the very best image of ‘Bazball’ in their series-clinching win over New Zealand in Wellington but, after the third Test in Hamilton, they’re not again in action until a one-off Test against Zimbabwe in May, before the visit of India next summer.
With an Ashes tour of Australia also less than 12 months away, what are the key talking points currently concerning Ben Stokes’ side?
Carse sets stall out for Ashes
With conditions in New Zealand not too dissimilar to the type expected in Australia for the 2025/26 Ashes, which England have long been planning for, Brydon Carse and his 16 wickets at 12s in this series might well have made himself a shoo-in for selection.
A quick glance at Carse and you could be forgiven for thinking he was all about brute force. Standing at 6ft 3in tall, he was regularly charged with banging the ball into the pitch in Pakistan in October on surfaces that did not really aid the pacers. But he has more guile and skill than that.
Tall fast bowlers can sometimes struggle to bowl that perfect length on the top of off-stump, their height and just pure genetics resulting in their natural length landing slightly shorter.
Steve Harmison (6’4), Andrew Caddick (6’5), and even Stuart Broad (6’6) and all of his 604 Test wickets, at times found this a challenge due to, in the pursuit of pitching the ball up, a fear of delivering floaty half-volleys.
Carse, four Tests into his career, has demonstrated a natural ability to operate on an ideal length. Among his 16 wickets, his deliveries to clean-bowl Kane Williamson (albeit off a no-ball) and Tom Blundell in the first innings in Wellington – the top of off-stump located with deadly accuracy – particularly serve as testament to that.
England may well have found their difference-maker Down Under.
Questions continue over Crawley
It is cricketing lore, certainly in the ‘Bazball’ era, that there must always be one batter battling for form and for their place in the side – two wins in two and the series secured, or not – and that man right now is Zak Crawley. As it has been too often in his 52-Test career.
Crawley averages only a smidge over 30 across that rather considerable sample size, and his record against New Zealand in particular makes for grim reading – an average of 10.15 across 10 Tests following his latest two failures.
Also, it’s now four times in four innings (and six times overall) that Matt Henry has taken his wicket, with Crawley yet to register a single run against the seamer this series.
Crawley has tended to operate in a ‘feast or famine’ sphere throughout his England career, but had been seemingly begun to show a touch more consistency at the top of the order prior to this series, upping his average to 35.11 over his 24 Tests since forming a dynamic opening partnership with Ben Duckett on the 2022 tour of Pakistan.
However, Crawley is without a Test hundred to his name since a sparkling 189 at Old Trafford in the Ashes last year, the Kent man going hungry far more often than he is feasting, and it feels like only England’s lack of batting depth at opener – Dan Lawrence having filled in for the Sri Lanka series this summer, serving as an example – is granting him an extended stay in the role.
But for how much longer?
England’s selection headache at No 3
Quite the selection dilemma is brewing at No 3, with Jacob Bethell’s impressive showings in his debut series – a second Test fifty in Wellington four runs from being converted into a maiden first-class hundred – leaving England with a bit of decision to make.
The 21-year-old’s inclusion in the squad was really for experience purposes, to get him familiar with the group and the demands of the longer format after his early foray into the international white-ball arena since the summer. He was not expected to play, that is until Jordan Cox went down injured pre-series.
Deploying Bethell at No 3 was largely based around easing stand-in wicketkeeper Ollie Pope’s workload but, as well as the young left-hander impressing, Pope is also looking more settled at No 6 too, supporting Harry Brook in a couple of crucial first-innings rescue missions in both Tests.
Pope’s form was firmly in the spotlight prior to this tour, having averaged only 11 across three Tests in Pakistan, and the somewhat frantic nature of his game is perhaps better suited to a lower middle-order berth than first wicket down – despite the man himself insisting “I want to keep trying to make it mine”.
He might not be granted that opportunity, however, as Jamie Smith – who Cox was due to be deputising for while he’s on paternity leave – is sure to return to the fold after a dazzling start to his Test career this year… so where does that leave Pope?
If No 3 has at times proven problematic, then no matter Crawley’s poor form, it’s unlikely that Pope, or Bethell, could – or should – be shunted up there.
One man must miss out, but who?
Brook or Root – who is world No 1?
Two positions in the batting order where there is a far greater deal of certainty are Nos 4 and 5, with Joe Root and Brook trading in centuries, and in compliments, as they battle it out at the top of the ICC Test batting rankings.
Root currently holds that honour, having notched a sixth Test ton in 2024 in Wellington, a 19th since 2021 and a 36th for his career, seeing him tie Rahul Dravid for fifth all-time among the game’s most prolific century makers. In the process, he also became the fourth batter in history to post 100 scores of fifty or more in Tests.
It’s form that prompted Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton to hail him as “unquestionably” the world’s best, although the man himself sees it differently.
“Brooky is by far and away the best player in the world at the minute,” Root said after his fellow Yorkshireman smashed 123 off 115 balls to rescue England 43-4 on the first morning of the second Test. It was his second successive century of the series, and following hot on the heels of a triple-hundred on the recent tour of Pakistan.
Brook’s brilliance has taken him to eight Test centuries in only 23 Tests for England and 38 innings, a rapid rate bettered only by the great Denis Compton, while his 2,280 runs in that span is unrivalled.
His average of 61.62 is the third-highest in history of batters to have played at least 20 innings, behind the great Sir Don Bradman and fellow Australian Adam Voges, while in Tests away from home that average leaps to an astonishing 91.50.
All that said, Brook still believes Root is the man to beat. “I’m trying to catch him, but he’s too good, isn’t he?” he said.
Signs of Stokes returning to form
Keeping one eye on the Ashes in 12 months’ time, the England captain is absolutely essential to their hopes – from a fitness point of view, but also in terms of him finding his best form.
There are signs that he’s on the road there, following on his hamstring injury enforced absence from August followed closely on the back of a long-running knee issue that required surgery last winter.
Stokes played against the West Indies in early summer and then, after missing the Sri Lanka series, returned for the final two Tests of the Pakistan tour but his bowling spells were minimal, almost as brief as his contributions with the bat.
A quick-fire 49 off 42 balls in the second innings in Wellington was more the vintage, boundary-clearing Stokes we’ve come to know and love, while he also bagged three bonus wickets at the back end on the match to clinch the series.
Encouraging stuff, given that Stokes pulled up while bowling towards the end of the series-opening triumph in Christchurch, unable to complete his over. He was true to his word post-match though that it was just a precautionary measure, playing a full role in the Wellington win.
If the bowling was to increasingly become an issue, however, could a move up the order and greater responsibility with the bat be an option? He does arguably boast the best defensive technique in the side, while he blasted an England record-fastest 24-ball fifty as a makeshift opener against the West Indies at Edgbaston this summer.
Should Crawley’s struggles continue, and given the dilemma at No 3, could we see a battling lineup come the first Ashes Test in Perth of: Duckett, Stokes, Bethell, Root, Brook, Pope, Smith? Just a thought…
