Test cricket but not as we know it

During the month of June we saw the England cricket team somehow go from being the worst team in Test cricket to playing like the undisputed best.  How?  The obvious answers are the change in management, new coach and captain, ultra positive mind set and success strengthening confidence.  But Moeen Ali speaking on TMS mentioned something that should have been just as obvious, they’ve picked the right teams.  In recent series abroad we’ve handicapped ourselves by not getting the best available XI onto the field.  Go back to Brisbane last winter, just how fucked up was the thinking that led to that team being put out?  The Kiwis have made the same mistakes this summer, by not picking the right bowlers they’ve not been able to stop England smashing them all around the ground(s).

This unlikely series result against New Zealand came in the most unexpected matter, surely we couldn’t keep playing this way and expect to beat India?  For two sessions it looked like we might but then India took over and dominated, despite another Bairstow freak show.  By the end of day three India were in full control, there could only be one winner.  We knew it would happen really didn’t we, the Kiwis were out of sorts, the ultra aggression couldn’t work against India, we knew it…

But then we bowled them out and smashed 378/3 to win at a canter.  What the fuck did I just watch?  It’s a weird feeling seeing England make chasing down an impossible target look like a piece of piss and not even being slightly surprised by it. 

Hang on, we’ve just beaten, no thrashed last years’ world champions and runners up, this after a year of playing the worst Test cricket I can remember.  All of the fourteen players who took to the field contributed at some point in some way.  The batsmen are getting all the headlines but the bowlers and fielders took all eighty wickets available over the four matches. For once I have no speculation about team selection.

As captain in the field Ben Stokes has made a good start and seems to have the instinctive spark that escaped Joe Root entirely.  But with the bat he has given himself license to bat like a Sunday afternoon slogger.  For fuck sake Ben you’re better than that!  England will win more matches if he plays himself in first. 

So what next?  I don’t mean the white ball stuff which will be interesting in its own way.  How long can England keep playing Test cricket in this way before the wheels come off?  It’s got to happen at some point, hasn’t it?