OPEN HOUSE
Cast your minds back to the start of the Test summer. England were reeling after a frankly dreadful series in the West Indies and an even worse World Cup. New Zealand – quirky, lovable New Zealand, with their titfers at a jaunty angle and a swagger in their stride – were in town, and the England team seemed shrouded in a miserable miasma of their own making. The question was posed in the first session of the first OBO of the series – why is this England team so disliked?
Fast-forward three months and the clouds have lifted. Wins have helped, of course, but it is far more than that – a team that six months ago seemed so insular now has a fresh approach. There is a new-found openness about this England side, and with it a reconnection between the dressing room and the wider world around it. It was interesting listening to two players, one past, one present, talking about this change in outlook.
First came Stuart Broad, who this week shed a little light on the new attitude. Speaking of Alastair Cook’s captaincy, Broad said: “He admitted after Trent Bridge that his stubbornness sometimes got the better of him. From what I gather, he has been talking a lot more to ex-players about captaincy and learning from people. I think we went through a period as a team when we wouldn’t speak to any of our ex-players and it was like us versus them.
“This new open theory, started by Peter Moores and with Andrew Strauss carrying it on, has helped. Go to Michael Vaughan in the morning and say: ‘What do you reckon here?’ He tells you – and that can set your mind at rest. And the way Ian Botham has been coming over and encouraging people – I’d played for six or seven years and never really spoken to Beefy. Now he is coming over to the team and going: ‘Come on, boys, let’s get this done today.’ It gives you a huge lift as a team.”
There are two striking aspects of that vignette – that Broad had gone half a dozen years or more without speaking to England’s finest ever all-rounder despite the fact that Botham is around the Test squad the bulk of the time in his role with Sky Sports (a surprising and pretty disappointing revelation) and just how appreciative Broad appears that those barriers have been broken down.
Second was Alec Stewart, whom the Spin had the pleasure of chatting to at a Waitrose wicketkeeping masterclass last week. Stewart was the latest former player to be invited into the England camp at the Kia Oval this week.
“It’s nice. They’re trying to reconnect with former players,” said the former England captain speaking on behalf of the team sponsor Waitrose. “And whether it’s a few words of wisdom or just having a social chat, literally one sentence or just walking by one-on-one, I think it’s good.
“As ex-players, as soon as you pack in playing you become a supporter. At times, if people are in the media, then current players can perceive them as highly critical but at times they’re right. But if they can connect and understand that we’re all fans then that can only be good.
“If you’ve sat down with an Ian Botham or a Bob Willis or whoever and they glean 0.1% of something then that’s going to help the team. All we want is to see England being the best. That goes for every ex-player that I’ve ever come in contact with. And it’s nice that they recognise ex-players that may be able to help. And if they can’t help then at least they’ve been there to support.”
Stewart wouldn’t be drawn on what he would be saying to the squad – “I’ve said to them: ‘Just let me know whatever you want’” – but was very clear on the need to tread carefully.
“You’re an outsider. When you’re playing you’re a custodian of the shirt – you hand it back or someone takes it. The dressing room is a very private place. The last thing they want is a bunch of outsiders intruding in. So you have to be invited in and rightly so, that should always be the case, and be guided by what the dressing room want. That’s how it should be. You don’t barge the door down and walk in uninvited, unannounced. If you’re invited to go in then you go in and do what you can do or what you’ve been asked to do.
“If they feel they want to listen to past players talk about what it means to play for England and the honour and all those things then there’s that route. If they just want to talk generally … I’ve had a good morning today with Jos [Buttler], talking generally. It’s probably the longest I’ve spent in his company there, two hours, he probably thought it was about 22 hours, but you’re just talking.
“I was talking about things I did as a keeper, he was talking about the things he does, how I train, how he trains, those things. Bouncing ideas, bouncing thoughts around, there’s going to be some common ground. If we can add something then it’s been worthwhile. And if you can’t you’ve still had the opportunity.”
Reconnecting this England side with the cricketing public has clearly involved more than simply allowing current players freer rein to talk to former ones, but it’s symptomatic of a clear change in approach. Long may it continue.
Alec Stewart was speaking on behalf of Waitrose, official team sponsor of England Cricket. See his wicketkeeping masterclass with Jos Buttler at waitrose.com/cricket
