The end of this Test summer is a time for quiet reflection. In cricket it is important not to get too excited when you are doing well. And not to get too down when you are not doing well.
When England were 5-0 up and winning everything they could, it wasn’t the time to say, ‘Wow, their Test cricket is unstoppable.’
They played West Indies and Sri Lanka at home with the Dukes ball – two teams they should have beaten and did. The nice thing about those five wins in a row was that it looked like they had a good look at themselves and that version 2.0 of Bazball was in the making.
There has been a real changing of the guard this summer, with Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson coming in, and the new signings, particularly Gus Atkinson, have also done very well.
But there are much tougher challenges ahead. Next year there is a home series against India followed by an away series against Australia, so I never felt that these successes in 2024 were more than baby steps on the way to winning against those two teams.
England secured a 2-1 summer series win over Sri Lanka despite losing the final Test at The Oval
England played the West Indies and Sri Lanka at home with the Dukes’ ball – two teams they should have beaten, and did.
Brendon McCullum’s 2.0 version comes as England begin to take shape ahead of next year’s tough Tests
In the same way, we shouldn’t take defeat this week: typical Bazball, crap, England taking the game for a ride.
Yes, some of the England players didn’t look at the ball and didn’t recognise moments in the game where they could have absolutely nailed things. But give Sri Lanka a lot of credit for the way they fought back. When I played against Sri Lanka, they were at their best when they were aggressive.
Off the field, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jaywardene were gentle, kind people. On the field, they were a different story.
This week, the current Sri Lankan team showed aggression with the ball through Lahiru Kumara and the two Fernandos, Vishwa and Asitha, and calm elegance with the bat in the form of Pathum Nissanka.
Yet England must judge how they were bowled out from 261 for three to 325. Were players dismissed? Or did they simply give their wickets away? Some of their play reminded me of their recklessness in the Lord’s Test against Australia last year.
Sri Lanka worked on Harry Brooks’ patience to start that first innings collapse, exposing a minor technical error – he can’t get his foot over the wider deliveries. Pakistan, New Zealand, India and Australia will have taken notice.
They also need to figure out how they were bowled out for 156 the second time in 34 overs. They need to remind themselves that scoring is a viable alternative in Test cricket.
This week the current Sri Lankan team showed aggression with the ball with Pathum Nissanka (right) hitting excellently
On Monday England looked flat and the match had something of an end of season feel to it.
When you are ahead, you only need to be bowled out cheaply once to lose. So even if you are 62 runs ahead in the first innings, you have to keep the opposition under control and play out the game as far as possible. Instead, England collapsed.
On Monday they looked flat and the proceedings had a season-ending feel to them. They looked tired. Atkinson’s pace had dropped off after his thigh injury. A Test debut looked like it would be too much for Josh Hull and his quads were badly strained.
I couldn’t understand why Shoaib Bashir didn’t bowl more. It would have been a learning curve for him. A chance to show the attacking version of himself that we saw against West Indies at Trent Bridge.
England need to keep developing and this result is a reminder that you don’t keep winning Test matches unless you’re ruthless, especially against the best players in the world.