The final word on England’s series defeat in New Zealand came from Graham Thorpe. The assistant coach was standing in for the absent Chris Silverwood at the end and urged individuals to reflect honestly on their recent shortcomings.
There is a quick turnaround before the tour of South Africa, with Ed Smith’s selection panel convening via conference call on Saturday to pick a touring party that departs on 15 December and plays a four-match series, this time counting for World Test Championship points, that begins on Boxing Day in Centurion.
Jimmy Anderson, Mark Wood and Jonny Bairstow are part of an advanced group already training in Potchefstroom and are expected to be included in a squad of 16 or 17 players, while the captain, Joe Root, is due to speak to Moeen Ali after landing back in the UK to establish the all-rounder’s readiness to return.
And for those players who went down 1-0 in New Zealand, Thorpe is keen for the lessons to be learned even if, like Root and a good number in the management setup, this continues to be spoken about in terms of an Ashes series still two years away.
“We’ve got to keep developing our players, no doubt about that. They have to ask themselves when they come away from a trip like this: where can I get better?” said Thorpe, who deputised for Silverwood for the last three days in Hamilton with the new head coach back home following a family bereavement.
“Because the big picture is that down the line in a couple of years’ time we’ll need resilient cricketers going to Australia. It’s down to our players to be honest and for us to be honest with them. If we are going to keep trying to go up that Test ladder and really compete abroad then we have to keep challenging the players along the way.”
Thorpe expects Root’s bowling attack to get more zip out of the South African pitches than the ones in New Zealand that left them so neutered but even so, they must still find a way to conjure up wickets with the Kookaburra ball.
As well as talking about hatching more plans for new batsmen and those well set, it was here that Thorpe questioned whether the side’s management of the ball’s condition may need improving – legally, of course, given South African camera crews are pretty eagle-eyed – in order to get more sustained movement through the air.
Thorpe said: “How much can we do with the ball? We’ve got to work very, very hard to get it to go off-straight, taking care of it. South Africa has slightly different surfaces, a little bit more carry. So again, our players have got to look ahead and say: ‘What have we learned from this [New Zealand] trip?’”
Thorpe bemoaned a failure to seize moments in the field too. In Mount Maunganui the hosts sat on 197 for five, only to post 615 for nine through BJ Watling’s double-century, while Hamilton witnessed 191 for five become 375 all out as New Zealand’s hugely determined wicketkeeper held firm once more.
He added: “The mark of a top side is one that recognises when it’s on top and is able to push it through. That’s our big learning experience from this series, for me.”
As the coach responsible for the batsmen, Thorpe naturally offered support for Dom Sibley after a tricky first outing of 38 runs in three innings, insisting it was “still early days”, and was encouraged by Ollie Pope’s 75 in Hamilton that showed the “technique and temperament” England are looking for from their Test batsmen.
While Rory Burns took another step up in his own development with a second Test century, Root’s double, the third of his career, was clearly the standout performance with the bat. Thorpe cited its impact on the captain’s own authority and the knock-on effect for a side striving to regularly put big first innings totals on the board.
He added: “It’s great to see Root back and scoring some runs and how he is in the dressing room as well – that’s great for his confidence. But he was already held in very high esteem, so he’s just confirmed that and also that he’s a world-class player.
“We’ve talked a certain way about batting a long time and I think we mustn’t misinterpret that. For me it’s just getting a big first-innings score – a 500-run target. That’s a good way of selling it to the players. And if Joe can produce more performances like that, we’ve got more chances of getting that sort of total.”
