Travis Head\u2019s latest masterpiece is three days old, the postmortems are complete and England supporters have done their pained vox pops in Australia. And somehow we\u2019re still more than a week out from the second Ashes Test. It\u2019s a hefty gap bound to be filled by rage, moving from the defeat in Perth to the preparation for a pink\u2011ball affair in Brisbane.<\/p>\n
England\u2019s first-stringers could pass the time with a day\u2011night knockabout against a prime minister\u2019s XI in Canberra<\/a>. Instead, as planned, it will be a Lions side that plays this weekend, joined by Josh Tongue, Matt Potts and Jacob Bethell, unused squad members in Perth. It is understandable why this has annoyed many, why Michael Vaughan\u2019s soundbite \u2013 that it would be \u201camateurish\u201d not to play the fixture \u2013 carries some substance.<\/p>\n The day-night Test is a regular part of Australia\u2019s calendar, their record standing at 13 wins from 14. England haven\u2019t played one in nearly three years and have won just two of their seven. Mitchell Starc, chief destroyer at Perth, has more pink-ball Test wickets than anyone else, at an average of 17. Taking in some match practice with an unfamiliar pill would be of obvious value, even if it is against a long-retired Peter Siddle, six years since the end of his Australia career, in conditions that are unlikely to mirror the Gabba. For fans there would probably be more comfort from a scorecard: hard, undeniable proof that the boys are hard at work.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, England\u2019s decision to skip the fixture \u2013 adding further scrutiny to their methods \u2013 is hardly a surprise, keeping in line with Brendon McCullum\u2019s and Ben Stokes\u2019s refusal to play to the gallery. There is a stubbornness \u2013 sometimes admirable, other times deeply questionable \u2013 that has powered this whole movement since it began three and a half years ago. It was there in the comments after the two-day defeat in Perth, with McCullum stating that \u201cwe\u2019ve just got to keep backing our approach\u201d. It is in their continued selection of Zak Crawley when the returns say: are you sure?<\/p>\n For McCullum, the focus now will be \u201cmaking sure that camaraderie is tight and morale doesn\u2019t drop\u201d. It is easy, after a crushing defeat, for some eye\u2011rolling, to retreat to the hellscape that is the BBC comments section \u2013 \u201cbring them home if they can\u2019t be bothered to act like professionals\u201d, reads one entry \u2013 and petition for the abolition of golf.<\/p>\n Harry Brook\u2019s wild style resulted in the second-highest score of the first Test. Photograph: Dave Hunt\/EPA<\/p>\n But there is a case for avoiding a sudden vibe-shift, validity in not cramming when that hasn\u2019t been your way all this time. This is a four-year project, a response to the misery of England\u2019s last Ashes visit to Australia.<\/p>\n A squad has been finely tweaked and built for this series, and the mantras have stayed consistent: have a bit of fun and \u201crun towards the danger\u201d<\/a>. They play the professional game but with the enjoyment of an amateur. This is an experiment that has produced exhilarating cricket and, while it hasn\u2019t resulted in pedigree series wins against India and Australia, its successes meant England entered this tour with lofty expectations. Along the way, they haven\u2019t played many warm\u2011up games. Why change now?<\/p>\n It is worth seeing this whole thing through before offering judgment. Even after a pair, they should continue with Crawley for the second Test because he has been their man for this cycle.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers’ thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week\u2019s action<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Of course it isn\u2019t the wisest thing to swish so loosely outside off when your innings is minutes old, and some adaptation is necessary. But Harry Brook should not, and will not, turn suddenly into a nuggety grinder; his wildness still resulted in the second\u2011highest score of the first Test and has taken him to an outstanding record after 31 games.<\/p>\n This side has been pulverised in the past. After beginning with four consecutive victories in 2022, England were undone inside three days at Lord\u2019s against South Africa with two sub\u2011200 totals. The response was a comprehensive win at Old Trafford, powered by a couple of grown-up tons by Stokes and Ben Foakes, indicating some adaptability even as their innings moved at close to four runs an over.<\/p>\n England will hope for a similar response this time round. If it doesn\u2019t come in Brisbane, then the collapse is well and truly on. Should it go the way of previous tours, resulting in the embarrassment of a thumping, then the natural responses will surely follow, English cricket doing its thing: inquests and departures, a revamped team for the first Test of next summer at Lord\u2019s against New Zealand. County Championship averages could become fashionable again. Accountability will come. For now, though, let them test the limits of this grand idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Travis Head\u2019s latest masterpiece is three days old, the postmortems are complete and England supporters have done their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-309438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cricket","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}