Mounting the Mount in Maunganui

Stokes' 'Team before Individuals' philosophy

    Watching the England team in close quarters feels like being a witness to history. The Ben Stokes/Brendan McCullum era has redefined Test cricket in a more profound way than ever before in its 145-year history, and there have been dozens of redefinitions in that time.

    When Australia started regularly scoring at four runs per over at the turn of the Millenium they were, rightly, seen as pioneers in a format which had taken the best part of a century to up the rate from two runs to three. England scored at six runs per over in three Tests in Pakistan and, for prolonged periods, were scoring at closer to eight runs per over in Mount Maunganui.

    The approach with the ball isn’t as easily quantifiable but it is no less bold. Just as the batsmen back themselves to hit the ball over the heads of the boundary fielders, the bowlers are encouraged to keep attacking with the concept of building ‘dot ball pressure’ very much a last resort.

    Outside of match days the tried and rarely tested routine has been turned on its head. Net sessions and warm-ups amongst international teams have had an austerity about them which borders on tedium – they have been a chore more often than not. Stokes and McCullum believe that playing cricket should never, ever feel like going to the office. They play music at training, they don’t judge each other, they smile and laugh during a variety of silly games. The toxic masculinity which usually seeps from the cracks of international teams appears to have been eradicated. Winning all the time inevitably helps.   

    One of the most obvious cornerstone philosophies of Stokes’ leadership style is promotion of the team above the individual. The concept is far from unprecedented but the new captain’s devotion to it borders on fanatical. Having magnificently manipulated the day/night Test to ensure England were bowling under lights in both of New Zealand’s innings, he gave the greatest England seamer of all time, James Anderson, just three out of 21 overs before the close of play while his partner, Stuart Broad, bowled a ten-over spell and claimed four wickets.

    On the fourth and final day, under a hot sun and cloudless skies, ‘convention’ dictated that Broad would be given the opportunity to complete his five-wicket haul. Stokes opened with Anderson and Ollie Robinson. On several occasions during the course of the Test match it appeared that anything resembling a cricketing tradition or convention, especially concerning individuals, was rebuffed on principle.

    With New Zealand battling forlornly and hopelessly on that last afternoon, Daryl Mitchell finished 57 not out. He had become the fifth fastest New Zealander to reach 1000 Test runs in the first innings and was averaging 55 with four centuries and five 50s. It was a hell of a record and, frankly, the majority of the world’s batsmen would have been disinclined to throw their wicket away cheaply in the company of the number 10 and 11 in similar circumstances. Five sessions to bat, over 250 runs away from the victory target…

    England bowled short at Mitchell and he accepted their challenge, pulling and hooking with little reward as the boundary fielders returned the ball to the ‘keeper for the first four deliveries of each over with Mitchell declining singles before attempting to keep the strike off the last two balls. It was an exercise in the purest of futility. Eventually Mitchell did take the singles leaving last man Blair Tickner to fend for himself and Anderson duly bowled him to finish with a match haul of 7-54, his second best outside England.

    As an act of cricketing selfishness, Mitchell’s innings and attitude barely registered a point on a scale from one to ten. It was clear that he wasn’t going to give his wicket away but it was harmless and irrelevant. Batsmen who deliberately play for ‘red inkers’ are frowned upon but, in this instance, Mitchell could surely be forgiven. (His average, incidentally, is now an eyebrow-raising 58 after 15 Tests.)

    Stokes made no mention of Mitchell in any of his post-match media interactions but, privately, he was appalled. Most of the England players didn’t leave the comfortable changing rooms at the Bay Oval for five hours as they toasted their victory and looked forward to the Basin Reserve in Wellington. At one point, however, Stokes did mention to his team mates that should they ever play for themselves in the manner Mitchell had, they would not play in his team again. Stokes’ conviction that the team, and team victory, be placed above any individual record is borderline maniacal. It is truly thrilling. Exhilarating.     

    *Cyclone Gabrielle which preceded the Test claimed 11 lives and left hundreds of families homeless but Mount Maunganui was left largely untouched. High winds and relentless rain for three days were followed by five days of unbroken sunshine and glorious cricketing weather. At the cyclone’s peak where we were, it was just right to ‘feel’ with a brisk stroll into the elements followed by a glass of red.

    The mountain was climbed every morning before play and the views were worth it!