GEORGE DOBELL AT HEADINGLEY: A series which started with concerns about ticket sales for a Lord's Test has ended with demand for tickets – albeit free tickets on the final day in Leeds and Nottingham – outstripping supply
Ben Stokes hopes England's attacking cricket in the whitewash series victory against New Zealand has "sent a message" to those who "aspire to play Test cricket".
Stokes's side scored at a rate of 4.54 across the three Tests, a huge increase from previous seasons, and seemed to react to every challenge by trying to hit the ball harder and further. England scored at a rate of 3.10 in home Tests in 2020 and 2021 and have only once previously scored more than four-per-over across a Test series of more than three Tests. That was in the 2005 Ashes when they scored at 4.12 runs per over.
As a result, a series which started with concerns about ticket sales for a Lord's Test has ended with demand for tickets – albeit free tickets on the final day in Leeds and Nottingham – outstripping supply.
That left Stokes celebrating the renewed popularity of the format and suggesting the selectors would be more interested in "the manner" of play rather than "stats or anything like that".
"I think these last three games should have sent a message to people who aspire to play Test cricket for England over the next two or three years at least," Stokes said after his side took just 15 overs to knock-off the 113 more runs they required for victory. "It's not necessarily about your stats, or anything like that. It's the manner that you play that is probably going to be first and foremost on selectors' minds.
Ben Stokes led England to a 3-0 series win over New Zealand [Lindsey Parnaby/AFP via Getty Images]
"We want to build on this. So, it's not just about the moment, it's about the future as well. And what I think we've done over the last three weeks is make people enjoy watching Test cricket again.
"I'd always say if we were on the wrong side of the results of these games, but if the team had played the same way but we'd lost, I would have walked off a very, very happy captain with the way that everybody's applied themselves and the attitude that they've given to every single session.
"I would like to think that people watching know what they have to do to try and bang the door down and get in this team."
The form of Jonny Bairstow was especially pleasing for Stokes. Midway through the second Test, after failures in his first three innings of the series, there were some calling for him to be dropped. But Bairstow responded with an outrageous century in Nottingham – the second quickest, in terms of balls faced, by an England player – and then perhaps an even better performance in Leeds.
Asked how he had coaxed the best out of a player who has struggled for consistency in recent years, Stokes suggested that clear role definition was crucial. For a player who has been shunted up and down the order and lost his role as keeper, it was a telling answer.
"The most pleasing thing for me about this week was the situation we found ourselves in and how we continued to play. To end up with a first-innings lead having been 55 for 6…. that's very special"
Ben Stokes
"Jonny's role in the white ball team is very clear, very specific," Stokes said. "He knows exactly what he's doing every time he steps out there to play. What we've managed to do is just install that within the Test team. It allows people to feel comfortable in the role that they play.
"I've never heard a bloke get 130 off 90 balls a week before then ask his head coach, 'how should I go out and play?' Baz [Brendon McCullum] said 'Go get your sudoku book and come and sit next to me.' So, 'shut up' basically.
"We just wanted him to do whatever [he] did last week. Jonny knows why he's in the team and how he wants to play. It's something that he's managed to do with the white-ball group and he's literally playing like he's got the white-ball colours on. 'Wow' is all I can say about the way he's playing.
"To back up that amazing knock at Trent Bridge with the innings this week was very special. The first innings here might have been even better than last week. We were 55 for 6 and yet he still managed to score a hundred at over a run-a-ball.
"The most pleasing thing for me about this week was the situation we found ourselves in and how we continued to play. To end up with a first-innings lead having been 55 for 6…. that's very special."
Stokes had words of praise for Matt Potts at the end of the series [Lindsey Parnaby/AFP via Getty Images]
Stokes also had warm words for Matt Potts, who enjoyed an outstanding game with the ball and looks set to feature in this side for a long time.
"I'm not at all surprised how well he's done," Stokes said. "He's obviously excelled. Straight away when I first saw him play, he struck me as someone who's not going to be fazed by any situation they found themselves in.
"His effort on the fourth day was just phenomenal. I think Jamie Overton was getting loose for four overs. I kept turning to him and saying, 'just keep getting loose; you're doing a really good job at getting loose' but Pottsy kept saying 'one more over; one more over; you're not taking me off’. He's been absolutely brilliant."
Asked if he was surprised how readily England had embraced the different approach – or why it hadn't been attempted before – Stokes suggested that, as at the 2015 World Cup which proved a turning point for the limited-overs teams, the results of the previous year had convinced all involved that a radical change was required.
"I guess when things don't go according to plan over a certain period of time, you do almost need to go completely the opposite way to see if things will change," he said.
"Obviously it's very early doors at the moment. But we couldn't have got off to a better start than winning 3-0 over New Zealand. We know we've still got a long way to go. But we're really happy with where we are at the moment."
Welcome to www.thecricketer.com - the online home of the world’s oldest cricket magazine. Breaking news, interviews, opinion and cricket goodness from every corner of our beautiful sport, from village green to national arena.