At least England were finished by 12 this time. New Zealand’s wrapping up of second Test victory inside 50 minutes on a sleepy Sunday morning at the Oval left the afternoon clear for what one would assume was a rather quieter post-match period than that which had followed Lord’s – for Brendon McCullum’s squad at least. After the Ashes, it was suggested that the England head coach was not doing enough media; in this series, that seems to have been addressed but his latest public utterings only served to make more of a mess.
What is clear is that Ben Stokes will be back to captain England at Trent Bridge from Thursday, and will, in all likelihood, have Gus Atkinson alongside him, too. An internal ECB investigation found that the pair’s absence from the second Test was sufficient punishment for what is now described vaguely as a breach of “specific contractual obligations that require England players to at all times maintain the highest standards of conduct and act in the best interests of England cricket”. The blame for the altercation that allegedly left a member of England’s security team needing stitches was laid squarely elsewhere. “Stokes was not involved in the altercation and did not witness either incident,” a statement continued. “The evidence the ECB has seen demonstrates that Atkinson was the victim of unprovoked attacks and did not retaliate on either occasion.”
Such vagueness has been made necessary by an environment still lacking in detail and discipline. It transpired just before play on the fifth morning, courtesy of a report in The Cricketer, that there had been confusion over the curfew that Stokes and Atkinson had supposedly breached actually existed – at least in official form. “Look, even if there is ambiguity, I think we’ve sat here and talked about the curfew, talked about standards, talked about many things we want to be known for as a cricket team,” McCullum stressed by way of a defence.
“I think fundamentally, when you represent your country, you have certain standards you need to live up to and you’re not just representing yourself — you’re representing your family, the fans, the country and you’re being paid to do it. Perhaps while there may not have been a hard blueprint potentially, I mean like a hard factual blueprint, everyone knew what was going on.”
One could accuse England of lacking a hard factual blueprint in other areas, too. This Stokes shemozzle is just the latest in a lengthening line of mistakes from an environment found wanting too often. Clearly, as has been found, the skipper was wrong to be out at such an hour after the first Test, but the fact that the rules may not have been so clearly defined as it first appeared require an even greater level of sympathy than first expressed. While one must also extend the benefit of the doubt to the ECB for what has been a complex and evolving situation, the fortnight since has not perhaps been ideally handled. They have form on this front: having hidden Harry Brook’s altercation with a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand in November, the white-ball captain then admitted to lying initially over the details when news of the incident first emerged at the end of the Ashes.
Both Rob Key, the ECB’s managing director of men’s cricket, and McCullum were strong in condemning the breach of internal standards; if they were not as strictly set as each initially claimed, it leaves them in an altogether messier position. Each had claimed to have learned the lessons of a winter in which England were shown to be underprepared but their positions again seem in peril. The head coach’s repeated expression of concern for his captain was met with bemusement at Durham, where Stokes performed well in a rare County Championship outing during the second Test – McCullum’s worry may have come from a good place but, in retrospect, it felt a slightly strange tone to strike. Can a leadership trio inexorably tied together still present a united front?
The centrality of Stokes, due to speak on Wednesday, to this England team has only been highlighted by the pushing to the periphery as the investigation progressed. In the mean time, an unbalanced, inexperienced England slipped to a sixth defeat in their last eight match. It leaves huge pressure on the Trent Bridge Test. The XI is likely to look rather different again – and perhaps directly resemble the Lord’s line-up if Ollie Robinson is passed fit – but New Zealand look good for a gallop, and showed real rigour and ruthlessness at the Oval. “Never a dull day in English cricket, is there?” McCullum quipped after defeat was confirmed. Without five of them in Nottingham, something may have to give.
