By Ebony Rainford-Brent
The broadcaster and former cricketer is writing for The Cricket Paper, in partnership with IG, for the duration of the Sri Lanka series. IG is the Official Investment Platform of England Cricket.
It’s a new-look England team at the moment and it is a direction that Brendan McCullum and Ben Stokes have wanted to go in.
It has been a really good chance to see the new talent come through and most of the selections have paid off really well.
When you look at the likes of Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson, they have performed excellently. It’s giving us a really good look ahead to what we can expect at The Ashes.
The only caveat is that the opposition haven’t been tough enough to get a good idea as to how this team can perform against Australia.
Style of cricket
It does give the team an idea of the squad and the style of cricket that they will want to play.
My number one standout player for this summer has been Gus Atkinson – and that’s not only because I’m Surrey through and through.
As the team came to the end of the Broad and Anderson era, Gus appeared at the right time. He already has 33 wickets this summer, the last player to go that well was Jimmy Anderson who got 39 in an English summer.
It’s incredible to see from Atkinson, and not only has he done that but he’s performed with the bat too, scoring a hundred.
Settled
He looks very relaxed and doesn’t look like he’s letting the hype get to him. He looks like a player that has really settled into the team.
He has so much going for him with ball, bat and that potential all-rounder role whilst still being so young.
Jamie Smith as well – another Surrey player – he was maybe a bit more of a punt, particularly when it comes to his wicket-keeping.
He was performing in the County Championship and Blast with the bat and it was clear he could be dominant but to see him do so well with his glovework (a few errors aside) has been excellent.
Strong summer
He’s had a really strong summer – he’s shown that he can bat higher up the order and does so in the style that England want. He looks like he can really thrive at this level.
I love the left-field selection of Josh Hull – not sure anyone saw that coming. When you look at his stats, on paper it seems like a brave selection. What I like about the McCullum/ Stokes/Key thinking is that they know that County cricket is different to Test cricket.
Brains trust: Key, McCullum and Stokes decisions have paid off handsomely
PICTURE: Alamy
What they see is a potential Test match bowler with his 6’7 height allied to pace and swing.
Jimmy Anderson has now joined the ranks and they need to give him something to do and what better project could you ask of Jimmy than a well-built 20-year-old with bags of potential?
Stroke of genius
It’s not conventional but I think it could prove to be a stroke of genius.
Pakistan is an interesting one, particularly as the England side don’t know where they will be playing yet but they need to focus in on their gameplan first.
There will be areas where they will be wanting to improve.
Keen to improve
The last time they played Pakistan they won comfortably but they will want to make sure that they remain dominant. There are definitely areas where they will be keen to improve.
The top order haven’t been quite as dominant as they would have wanted. In patches they have been good, but they haven’t necessarily had that consistent top order which they will want to have against Pakistan. New Zealand will be a tough series.
They will provide a more consistent opposition so England will have to turn up organised and be well drilled in all aspects of their game.
Consistent leadership
Against New Zealand, getting the captain back will be so important. Having that consistent leadership will help them overcome New Zealand.
Working out the bowling attack is an interesting one for that series too.
Chris Woakes in English conditions makes sense but they will also be looking at Matthew Potts, Josh Hull and Gus Atkinson, so finding that seam bowling formula will be key for success.
Ollie Pope started the West Indies series really well and then his form suddenly dipped.
Brendon McCullum has a lot of faith in his leadership skills and it wasn’t long ago that he was performing really well.
Extended run
Pope will get an extended run because they back him, but he will have to make sure that he capitalises on that and prove that he deserves that spot – his hundred in the first innings will have done him no harm at all.
The Bazball era at the start seemed a little frantic but they are starting to find that middle ground in terms of tempo.
Now they can just fine tune it to however it suits them; they can go aggressive when they need it, and they can dial it back. That is one thing that they will try and nail heading into those winter tours.
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