England’s summer so far has been respectable without being spectacular. Against top-quality opposition India and South Africa, England have shown enough promise to fuel the upward trajectory of their cricket.
The five-match Test series against India at home was one of the hardest-fought contests in recent times, lasting the full 25 days. A 2-2 series verdict was a fair result for both sides, who put their bodies on the line and came close to breaking point by the end of the Oval Test.
Last week, England completed an ODI and T20 series, again at home, against all-format heavyweights South Africa. A 2-1 series defeat in ODIs was followed by a drawn T20 series.
Most teams have pretty much given up on ODIs and take them seriously only around ICC 50-over tournaments. Tests and T20Is matches offer more intensity, at least by the top sides, all year round.
England are ranked third in the ICC rankings for Test and T20 teams. Against strong opposition, England held their own; winning at home is a more pressing need though.
The Proteas started the tour with wins in the first two ODIs, although the second match had a margin of just five runs.
But England hit back with great fury. In the third game in Southampton, England once again went past the 400-run mark – for the seventh time – before dispatching the Test champions and T20 World Cup finalists for just 72. It was a thrashing of embarrassing proportions. And also the largest defeat in ODI history.
England were at it again in the fourth match, smashing 304-2 in the second T20 against the Proteas; the first time a Test side had breached the 300-run mark against a fellow Full member team.
Bilateral white-ball series generally fly under the radar and are mainly testing grounds for new combinations and strategies. However, with ranking points important in all formats, there are no freebies. And England were not looking for any.
Why should they? After all, this summer marks the beginning of a new era for England – under the soon-to-be all-format captaincy of Harry Brook.
Brook is the man selected to take England’s cricket forward. The 26-year-old knew the challenge facing him this summer needed his undivided attention, which is why he pulled out of the IPL for the second year. That he faces a two-year ban from the franchise tournament seemed a price worth paying.
Brook was declared England’s player of the Test series against India, smashing a little under 500 runs. After The Hundred competition in the interim, Brook was hit and miss against the Proteas. And that is possibly why England were as well.
But as a collective, the pieces are falling into place for England with Brook at the pointy end of it.
Brook is already the T20 and ODI captain. Now Brendon McCullum has suggested that Brook is in the running for the vice-captain’s position in the Test side for the Ashes tour of Australia.
Incumbent Ollie Pope has yet to convince as a batter or leader and Brook is seen as a markedly better choice on both fronts.
Test captain and star all-rounder Ben Stokes is returning from a shoulder injury he sustained during the India series. And it seems highly unlikely that he will last all five Tests of a gruelling tour Down Under.
Which means Brook is, in the near future, set to take over as the all-format captain of the England team.
The Yorkshireman is part of an exciting bunch of young batters making their mark on the world game, alongside India’s Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, New Zealand's Rachin Ravindra, South Africa’s Dewald Brevis, and Pakistan’s Saim Ayub.Brook looks likely to become the first all-format captain from that group.
This can only be good news for England, who had lost their way in the previous seasons owing to disjointed leadership and coaching structures. The fall after the 2022 T20 World Cup win was steep and across formats.
Soon, there will be one captain working with one coach. Since Brook is young, he has a good 10 years of quality cricket ahead of him. That’s plenty of time to get the team back on top.
And, if they continue on their current path, Brook should find himself in at least a few world championship finals.
