England and New Zealand shared their T20I series 2-2 – here are five things we learned from the series.

The rubber had a close scoreline, but without a close game, England blowing New Zealand away in the first two before the Black Caps staged a comeback. There’s a T20 World Cup nine months away, but of more relevance is the ODI World Cup which starts in India in less than a month.

Here are the main talking points from the encounter:

The Harry Brook question isn’t going away

Semantic satiation is a phenomenon in which repetition of a word causes it to lose all meaning for the speaker and listener, to the point where it begins to no longer sound like a word at all. Matthew Mott was surely on the verge of experiencing it with his constant utterances of ‘provisional’ when discussing Harry Brook’s World Cup omission.

We don’t need to dwell on the debate again. Brook is good. So are England’s other players, but Brook is increasingly showing he’s a cut above. He’s not in England’s World Cup squad. But basically everyone to give an opinion outside of the England camp feels he should be. What Mott’s interview suggests is, England themselves might be starting to waver.

Brook isn’t yet in the squad for the New Zealand ODIs, depriving them of a last chance to take a look at him before the ICC’s cut-off. Expect that to change.

Gus Atkinson has the goods

You never quite know. A player can tick all the boxes, pass all the personality criteria, but until they stand at their mark or crease, take a deep breath, and face up for the first time, there will be that question: Can they handle the step up? Gus Atkinson claimed six wickets in two games at an average of 8.50 and an economy of 7.46. He bowled quickly and he bowled well, both with the new ball and at the death. England’s World Cup squad might still provisional, but, for Atkinson’s name, you can write over the heavy pencil in ink now.

Brydon Carse: The new Liam Plunkett?

Brydon Carse was a late call-up to the T20I squad, with England’s fast-bowling injury list beginning to tot up again. He has the profile of an international-class player, capable of bowling fast, if not quite Atkinson fast, and developing with the bat too. He doesn’t yet have the numbers of one, with a mediocre T20 record up until now. But he excelled in his eight overs, taking 4-66 across the series, and earning another late call-up, for the New Zealand ODIs. A third last-minute addition, for the World Cup, might just be beyond him, but he looks to have the tools to take wickets when there’s little happening, a role England have struggled to fill since the sidelining of Liam Plunkett, and could well be key in the next cycle, with Mark Wood and Chris Woakes unlikely to make it to 2027.

England’s batting – and batting order – under question

If you thought the Harry Brook debate had rumbled on, wait until you hear about the discussion over whether Jos Buttler should bat in T20Is. He, like everyone else, is best as an opener, and he is better than everyone else as an opener. But he is also one of the few who can capably bat in the middle order, as he did in this series.

Perhaps that was just a chance to allow Will Jacks to open, and he had a promising series, providing some fast starts, even if it was Jonny Bairstow who made the two big scores. Below them, however, England struggled to capitalise on the platforms. Dawid Malan, whose form is relevant in the Brook conversation, floundered after a half-century in the opener. Brook sparkled twice but had a quiet end to the series. No one else made a score above 30. A 2-0 lead became a 2-2 draw, and the batting was a big reason why.

New Zealand have the tools to mount a World Cup challenge again

The other big reason was a resurgent, heartening performance from New Zealand. Let’s not do the ‘dark horses’ thing again – after two consecutive ODI World Cup silver-medal finishes, everyone should see them coming, and they will be in amongst it again this time. Glenn Phillips will be key in the engine room, and he was excellent this series. If they are to back Finn Allen in fifty-over cricket, a steady, by his standards, 53-ball 83 in the third game will be encouraging. In Ish Sodhi and Mitchell Santner they have a wily, hardened spin pair. And they are emboldened by the news that Kane Williamson, Player of the Tournament in 2019, is ahead in his race to be fit for the 2023 event.

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