There is a sense of epochal change in English cricket. For the first time in more than 20 years, the men’s Test summer began with neither Stuart Broad nor James Anderson available for selection, the former’s grandstand Ashes finish at The Oval followed swiftly by his long-term partner’s rather more enforced curtain-call at Lord’s last summer.
With the pair go 1,308 Test wickets and the grey matter that comes with trundling in the best part of 75,000 times, combined, with red ball in hand.
While Anderson ploughs on increasingly impressively for Lancashire, and Broad slips seamlessly into his new role with Sky Sports, the next generation of English seamers must fill their bowling boots.
In fact, make that generations; in the 12 Tests so far since Anderson’s retirement, England have fielded nine fast bowlers, ranging from the callow to the consummate, the raw tools of Josh Hull contrasting with the grooved gifts of Chris Woakes.
By the end of the India series, a fit-again Jofra Archer and resurgent Jamie Overton may be added to that number; others wait in the wings, with 19-year-old Eddie Jack spending time with the squad recently despite being yet to make his County Championship debut. Ahead of 10 era-defining Tests, England’s pace race is underway.
The first clash with India at Headingley this week fires the starter’s pistol on two marquee series back to back, an almost referendum on the regime led by Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes. In such a landscape, it is understandable that the hierarchy sought to instigate a seam-bowling sea change.
“They’ve given good exposure in Test series that haven’t always been hugely testing,” Broad explains. “Now is a real pressure point – they’ll be under pressure in every single session of the India series, and that’s where you will see which players rise up and take it and which players don’t necessarily rise to the occasion.
“The opportunities that Gus Atkinson has had, Josh Tongue coming back into the set-up with his attributes, [Brydon Carse] has come in and done really well. There are attributes there that are outstanding. But I also look at how lucky they are to come into an environment under Baz and Stokesy where they are given the freedom to go and express themselves. What an amazing way to start your Test journey.”
It has been a theme of Stokes’s tenure just how much he has got out of his raw rookies, each of Atkinson and Carse enjoying standout showings during their debut seasons in Test cricket. Tongue, too, went well against Australia, and is a welcome returnee after injury. While Broad has watched on from afar, Anderson has had a closer perspective, stepping into a coaching role after concluding his playing days last year. “Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse haven’t played a huge amount of Test cricket, but they are brilliant bowlers and they will do fantastically well,” he predicts. “They’ll need a little bit of a nudge in the right direction but their actions are good, there is not a lot you can do with them technically, it’s more the mental side and tactical side of it.”
Just as crucial, though, has been what Stokes and McCullum have got out of their old stagers. Anderson and Broad twinkled in their twilight while both Woakes and Mark Wood – who may yet be fit for the end of the India series – provided crucial impact during the Ashes on home soil. The leadership’s shift in mentality was stark, Anderson explains.
“It gave us a new lease of life because of the approach to how they wanted to play. I’d spent 20 years in a team trying to keep the run rate under two and a half an over to create chances. All of a sudden, that went out the window. It was like, ‘I don’t care about the run rate, I want to take wickets and get off the field as quickly as possible’. It was quite refreshing to hear that.”
Out of Broad and Anderson’s twin departures, a predilection for pace and point of difference has been clear as England bid to build an attack capable of challenging in Australia. All of Wood, Archer, Tongue, Carse, Overton, Atkinson and Olly Stone are capable of approaching 90mph when fully fit and firing, providing England with a stock of speedsters they have perhaps never previously possessed.
But there will also be a place for the softer skills of Sam Cook and Woakes, with the oft-unfortunate Matthew Potts somewhere betwixt and between. Australian pitches have become more and more hospitable to seamers of late.
“The last series in Australia, three of the wickets were really seam-friendly. That screams out for skill and control,” Anderson stresses. “It’s great to have pace in your attack, and there will be times for that. But I actually had a conversation with Marnus Labuschagne not long ago and he would much rather face a 90mph bowler to an 83mph bowler who is nibbling it around and constantly asking questions of him outside off stump.
“You need the skilful bowlers because there will be movement out there, but there will be times when we need that extra pace. You need a big squad and as many bowlers as you can fit, because you can’t go through five Test matches with the same bowlers. Hopefully Ben Stokes is bowling because he adds a huge amount to that group at full tilt. You need depth – there will be injuries, people not bowling their best or out of form. Part of the reason I got told that I wasn’t going to play again was because they wanted to give people a chance to play a few Test matches before the Ashes. From that point of view, I can see their reasoning.”
The temptation will be to look immediately to the prestige and problems that a trip down under will provide but England dare not overlook the challenge that India will pose. The tourists have not won a series in England since 2007.
“I don’t think the Ashes was ever mentioned within the four walls of the dressing room,” Broad says. “It was the job of Rob Key, Luke Wright and [Brendon McCullum] to plan for series that are coming up. One of Baz’s great strengths as a coach is keeping the players very present as to what challenges are in front of them. I doubt they’ll even look at Australia until India have been played.
“It’s always hard as a player to not be looking towards an Ashes but there is such a big test before that. It’s as big as it gets. They are two huge series which will define the Bazball era – it’ll be an amazing success if both are won and looked on very differently if not.”
Watch all five England vs India Test matches live on Sky Sports Cricket and NOW from 20 June
