The Brendon McCullum effect is crystal clear. England are not holding back. It almost mirrors the change in approach they made in the white-ball cricket to become a formidable side in both formats. As McCullum took over as England's head coach, the results are clear after just one Test series against the inaugural World Test Championship (WTC) winners. The former Kiwi skipper's partnership with Ben Stokes is redefining how teams approach chases in red-ball cricket.
New Zealand did not just whitewash New Zealand in their home conditions but won all the matches chasing decent totals. In doing so, they created history in Test cricket by becoming the first team to chase down 250-plus scores thrice in a Test series. This includes Test series which include more than three fixtures - 279/5 at Lord's, 299/5 at Trent Bridge and 296/3 at Headingley.
Before the series, England were at the bottom of the current WTC 2021-23 table. With three wins, they are no seventh on the table above New Zealand and Bangladesh with 28.89 win percentage.
Before they followed the McCullum way, most England batters were struggling for runs and often suffered batting collapses which led to point of no returns. They were embarrassed in Australia which almost ensured that Joe Root’s captaincy tenure will come to an end in near future. While it is often seen that teams struggle during the rebuilding phase, it turned out to be the other way round with players gelling on and off-the-field and delivering match-winning performances.
While Root regained his form, Jonny Bairstow turned out to be a revelation. Under the new regime, Bairstow looked like a different player altogether. He turned out to be the much-needed ingredient as he did not curb his natural instinct. The attacking batter scored 394 runs at an average of 78.80 and a strike rate of 120.12.
While Bairstow was the perfect soldier, Stokes made others believe in making comeback when the chips were down. Both Bairstow and Stokes hit as many as 10 sixes in the series. During the series, England also broke the record for most sixes (19) in fourth innings of a series.
However, it was Root who turned out to be the perfect senior player leading the charge. Root scored 396 runs at an average of 99 including two hundreds. Even Root batted at a better pace and hand a strike rate over 74.
The new England are now a major threat to India as they play the rescheduled Test in a few days time. They will have a chance to rob India of a chance to win their third Test series in England.
