After beating the reigning World Test champions New Zealand by a score of 3-0 at home yesterday, England sent a stern warning to other teams who playtests. The cricketing community has taken a keen interest in the manner in which the English team has approached every match, as well as their newly adopted attacking-minded strategy. Brendon McCullum, the head coach of England, thinks that it will be interesting and entertaining to play a new opponent. McCullum is getting a lot of praise for this quick shift from the team, which has surprised a lot of people.
After having just one victory since the beginning of 2021, England made significant changes to its managing staff in preparation for the series against New Zealand. Ben Stokes took over as captain after Joe Root, and the former New Zealand batting sensation took over as head coach after Chris Silverwood. Before the series began, McCullum made it plain that he wanted to take an offensive attitude while playing red-ball cricket, and the outcome was fantastic.
It’s going to be a lot of fun to look at a different competitor: The name Brendon McCullum
In a test series, England scored runs at a rate of 4.54 runs per over, which was the most of any side (minimum of five innings). Jonny Bairstow scored 394 runs at a strike rate of 120.12, while Ben Stokes scored 194 runs at a strike rate of 82.55. Joe Root scored 396 runs at a strike rate of 74.15. McCullum said that he is excited about the India challenge and also mentioned that this is the style of play that this squad is going to use moving ahead.
“Taking a peek at a different challenger should be a lot of fun. The world test champions were a challenging adversary to go through, and the rest of the cricketing world is probably a little bit concerned about how this squad is going to perform moving forward. We need to make sure that when we face a new opponent, we have done our study, we have a strategy, we are well prepared for it, and we strive to put on a performance that is comparable to what we did before. Let’s not go too far ahead of ourselves; instead, let’s savour the present while keeping an open mind about what the next few minutes will bring,” Brendon McCullum said as reported by ESPNcricinfo after the Headingley Test.
The last and fifth test match is going to be played in Edgbaston on July 1st, and England will be facing a completely new and different challenge in the shape of India. The series now stands 2-1 in favor of India, which is currently ranked second on the ICC Test teams rankings. However, since they have adopted a new strategy, England is now considered the favorite to win the last test match against India. Both the visitor’s captain Rohit Sharma and his deputy KL Rahul are now out. Sharma is away with Covid-19, while Rahul is suffering from a groin strain.