No Test Drag, No More

Going Down with a Swing and a Smile

    There is already a brilliant book written about the Brendan McCullum / Ben Stokes revolution in Test cricket to harness and complement the many views and compliments it has elicited, and the criticisms. By and large the feedback, and book, focus on what happens on the field and the psychology that makes it happen.

    Until the last few days, there hasn’t been an intense focus on what happens between Tests, or doesn’t happen. England’s tour of India is the longest, by far, on which Stokes and McCullum have taken their road show and their challenge to tradition is as radical as ever.

    Most of the squad didn’t even take their cricket gear to Abu Dhabi after the second Test. Families and partners were there to greet them after Visakapatnam and a relaxing time was the major team instruction. Concessions were made for those players who wanted, or needed, to do cricket ‘stuff’ but, for the majority, the week between Tests was all about Theme Parks, water-slides, shopping malls and golf.

Long tours of India have tested the inner resolve and character of generations of cricketers. Decades ago, there was no escape, literally. The concept of hotel ‘Team Rooms’ for the players was in its infancy. The priority for the men tasked with the security of those places was ensuring that their friends and family members were at the front of the queue for autographs (the forerunner to selfies, for those too young to know.)

As much as the modern world has profoundly changed life in India over the last 10-15 years, the old stresses and strains of touring life have not just remained, but have been increased by more mobile cameras and cheaper data than anywhere else on earth. Social media may be a problem in other countries but in India it is a pandemic for which there is no known cure.

    The mental and emotional corrosion on these tours was regarded as an unavoidable and intrinsic part of the experience of touring India. It resulted in the best players ‘shutting down’ or ‘switching off’ to their own, non-cricketing needs and the needs of their team-mates. The correlation between the most successful tourists and the most selfish personalities after two months on the road was, occasionally, more than a coincidence.

    Logistical tweaks have been made for years to make touring more comfortable for the players. Golf simulators have been taken on tour, England wicket-keeper and keen cyclist Matt Prior once negotiated to have his bicycle included in the team luggage instead of the golf clubs preferred by team-mates.

    But McCullum and Stokes haven’t tweaked anything. They have ripped up and burnt the heavily-thumbed ‘How to Tour India’ handbook and started again with the key premise of ‘spending as little time as possible in the country.’ By the time Stokes and his players arrive in Rajkot for the third Test it might not feel like they’ve been on a tour at all. Fresh bodies, refreshed minds. Joe Root, for example, will not benefit from hitting more cricket balls between Tests.

The size of this departure from what has happened before is the only reason some people take issue with the ‘fly-in, fly-out’ strategy. Some Indians have been personally offended by the unwillingness to stay in the country, and travelling with their own chef when they do, but McCullum addressed that head-on when the squad arrived in Hyderabad before the first Test:

    “It is no reflection on the country at all, I’ve spent many years here and I love India, it is like a second home to me. We are just trying to prepare in the best possible way to ensure the players can perform at their best.” The astonishing England win in Hyderabad and another fiercely contested, highly entertaining match in Visakapatnam leaves the series tied at 1:1. Anticipation for the third Test in Rajkot is huge.

    If England’s new approach is all about reducing the ‘drag’ of Test cricket, on and off the field, poor old South Africa used it as their prime modus operandi in the first Test against New Zealand.

    “We wanted to manage the run-rate. This might sound terrible, but we were realistic enough to know we weren't going to knock New Zealand over,” said Test coach, Shukri Conrad, after their 281-run drubbing in Mount Maunganui. “So, we had to drag the game. If we did that when we were bowling, and they didn't bat at a decent rate, then you could drag the game more by batting well. Then we could have gone deep into day five, and who knows.”

    Conrad could have ‘puffed up’ his ‘C’ team players and encouraged them to stand toe-to-toe with the full-strength home team. He knew that would end in defeat, although it might have been more entertaining than a dragging defeat. He opted for the drag because he cares “deeply about the job” and convinced himself that his inexperienced underdogs could, somehow, conjure a result other than defeat.

    But the days of drag in Test cricket are finished. For well over a century, a couple of days of attritional grind, even five, were fine. Part of the game. But no longer. Stokes and McCullum have seen to that.