England sealed a welcome overseas victory in New Zealand with a victory as complete and comprehensive as any, perhaps Rawalpindi 2022 aside, under Ben Stokes’ captaincy.
In the end, England won by a whopping 323 runs with a varied cast of leading contributors. The elder statesmen made their mark; Joe Root scored his 36th Test hundred, Chris Woakes took crucial new ball wickets and the skipper Ben Stokes showed further signs that he is returning to form with both bat and ball. The younger established regulars – Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Harry Brook – registered game-defining scores, while there were also standout performances from newbies Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse and Jacob Bethell.
Compared to most Test nations, there is a relatively even spread of ages and experience in this England team. It is also striking how different the team looks under the same leadership group less than two years on from their previous tour of New Zealand. Of the England XI that played both Tests that series, only six have featured on the current tour; Stuart Broad has since retired, James Anderson is now the team’s bowling consultant, Jack Leach is firmly second choice behind his Somerset teammate Shoaib Bashir (who hadn’t even made his first-class debut two years ago), while Ollie Robinson and Ben Foakes look highly unlikely to feature again under the current regime. Jonny Bairstow, injured for that tour but at the time one of the figureheads of the new era, is another who has almost certainly played his last Test.
That is a dramatic turnover of personnel, especially when considering that while the jury may remain out on the Stokes era in some quarters, by English standards, this is a period of relative success during which they are unbeaten in home series and have only been defeated twice overseas. In fact, since Stokes became captain England have the highest win percentage of any side in the world – a statistic that can rarely be applied to England sides of years gone by. To successfully manage and work through a shift in personnel that substantial is a quietly impressive feat.
Missed a century? No worries.
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) December 8, 2024
The England skipper is full of praise for young Jacob Bethell’s fearless approach.#NZvsENG #BenStokes #JacobBethell pic.twitter.com/DZ2GdfWnOT
It gives them a stable foundation to build upon as they enter an era-defining 12 months, shaping a side that is both fresh and brimming with experience. It is also an approach that it’s in stark contrast to both their opponents in New Zealand, and Australia, who they’ll face next winter.
Since Stokes took over as captain, England have handed debuts to 15 players, two more than India, South Africa and West Indies. Australia, meanwhile, have fielded just three debutants – Todd Murphy, Matt Kuhnemann and Nathan McSweeney - in the past two and a half years. New Zealand have given six players Test debuts in that time, most recently Nathan Smith at Christchurch, the first Test of the England series.
These are teams who are at very different stages of their respective cycles. England feel like they are moving towards a peak while New Zealand and Australia more like teams clinging onto the achievements of yesteryear.
England’s proactivity in either moving on older players or individuals deemed ill-suited for their mission to be competitive overseas is reflected in the average age of the side, which is on average five years younger per player than the Australia team picked for the Adelaide Test. Just 10 per cent of appearances by Australia players since May 2022 have been aged 27 or under; by comparison, that corresponding percentage for England is 39.
If you can pull it off, there are advantages to proactively managing that regeneration. As New Zealand and Australia are finding out, there is a danger that older players endure a synchronised decline. It has happened before, notably the England side under Andy Flower that dramatically capitulated during the 2013/14 Ashes two years after scaling to the top of the ICC Test team rankings.
The seamlessness of England’s transition has involved several bold calls, many of which were originally unpopular among the wider English cricketing public. Jonny Bairstow was discarded after only one poor series under the current regime. Ollie Robinson was moved on despite a Test bowling average in the low 20s and most controversially, their greatest ever wicket-taker James Anderson was effectively forced to retire despite enjoying a decent tour of India earlier in the year. Six months down the line, England will feel vindicated by the regeneration of the pace bowling attack in particular.
Gus Atkinson has been a revelation. His strike-rate of 34.2 deliveries per wicket is the lowest ever for an England bowler with more than 40 Test wickets in a calendar year. Likewise Brydon Carse, a genuine quick but one with a middling domestic record, has taken to Test cricket like a duck to water. Four Tests in, he already has as many wickets in a single winter than Anderson managed at any point in his illustrious career.
In the batting department, that ruthlessness has left England in a position of real strength. Jamie Smith was the primary beneficiary of the decision to move Bairstow on and he has enjoyed instant success. Smith’s own deputy in New Zealand, Jacob Bethell, is another who has made an immediate impression. When Smith returns to the fray, England will have an enviable decision to make around who will remain in their top seven for a huge year against the two best sides in the world. There may be a brashness about several of the calls England have made over the past two years but overall, they are a better outfit for it.
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