Never dull with Bazball, is it?

A year that began with a heist in Hyderabad ended with a Hamilton hammering. In between those starkly contrasting results, we saw brilliance, brittleness and brainfades.

That all amounted to a record of played 17, won nine, lost eight for England in Test cricket in 2024.

“Good but not vintage,” was Sky Sports Cricket pundit Michael Atherton’s assessment of an up-down 12 months.

“When they are good, they are very good and when they are bad, they are really bad and the wheels come off,” added Nasser Hussain.

Still, there were more victories than defeats – marginally – and there are probably more reasons to be optimistic than downbeat heading into a bumper 2025 that sees five Tests at home to India before the start of an away Ashes series in Australia.

The positives are plentiful (the emergence of Jacob Bethell and Jamie Smith with the bat, the arrival of Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse with the ball, the excellence of Harry Brook and Joe Root, who are currently flip-flopping at the top of the Test batting rankings).

However, there are areas of concern (Zak Crawley’s lack of runs, Ben Stokes’ dodgy left hamstring, this tendency to have an absolute shocker in the final Test of a series, batting against spin, and off-spinner Shoaib Bashir remaining, at best, a work in progress).

But back to that heist…

Stunning win precedes demoralising defeats in India

England’s hopes of beating India in their first Test of the year looked over after trailing by 190 runs on first innings, only for Ollie Pope to score a superb, sweep-laden 196 – looting more runs in that knock than he did across eight goes combined on the 2021 India tour.

Then, with the hosts needing 212 for victory, it was over to the left-arm spin of debutant Tom Hartley. The Lancashire man rebounded from a first-innings collaring to take seven wickets, roll India for 202, and secure one of England’s greatest Test triumphs.

Captain Stokes, as usual, played his part. Top-scoring with 70 in England’s first innings and then astonishingly running out Ravindra Jadeja with a reverse underarm flick in India’s second, leading to calls for the all-rounder’s knee surgeon to be knighted.

The win displayed the best of Bazball at times: proactive but not reckless batting from Pope, whose strike rate during his ton was a nudge over 70, and then that ultimate belief victory could be snatched from even the most perilous of positions.

But we saw the worst of Bazball in the matches that followed. Batting collapse followed batting collapse as England’s hopes of becoming the first side to win a series in India since they had done so in 2012 were vaporised.

It would end up being New Zealand who achieved that feat.

England batted a poor game and talked a bizarre one on occasion, with Ben Duckett replying “the more the better” when asked how many runs the tourists could realistically chase in the fourth innings of the third Test in Rajkot – having lost 8-95 in their opening dig to wilt from 224-2 to 319 all out.

Duckett got pelters for that comment and Root’s shot selection was questioned, too, after his ill-advised/inventive (delete as you see applicable) reverse scoop triggered the spiral.

England were eventually set 557 to win – and demolished for 122, losing by 434 runs as they suffered the second-heaviest defeat in terms of runs in their Test history.

The fact their fourth-heaviest, a 423-run shellacking to New Zealand in Hamilton, rounded off their 2024 showed once again that Stokes’ side are prone to a complete and utter stinker.

‘Refined’ England win five out of six in home summer

After the India tour ended with an innings rout in Dharamsala, coach Brendon McCullum spoke about Bazball needing to be “refined”.

That is what we got over the home summer, with an altered approach and some new personnel recording five wins in a row (three vs West Indies, two vs Sri Lanka).

A smart partnership between Brook and Root against West Indies at Trent Bridge – the two dialling things back under cloudy skies and with the ball zipping around under the lights rather than continually looking to attack – was a sign that Bazball had grown up.

Wicketkeeper-batter Smith stood out, too, showing the ability to accelerate with the tail in the way the man he had replaced as gloveman, Surrey team-mate Ben Foakes, could not.

Smith can also dig in, so looks a keeper for England, in more ways than one. He missed the New Zealand series on paternity leave but will definitely get his place back.

A customary last-Test blip sabotaged a home clean sweep as England went down to Sri Lanka by eight wickets at The Kia Oval.

In four of their five series in 2024, they were beaten in the final Test, although only once – when they were spun out by Pakistan in a decider in Rawalpindi – did it impact the final result, with series already won and lost by then.

That said, that stacking up of defeats was a significant reason they failed to reach next summer’s World Test Champions final. That and poor over rates.

Stokes will give you short shrift if you suggest England’s penchant for an end-of-series horror show is down to a lack of “ruthlessness”. He hates that word, perhaps as much as “draw”. But he will wax lyrical if you ask him about the many highs of 2024.

Adios to Anderson as Atkinson emerges

After he, managing director of cricket Rob Key and McCullum decided to kickstart Project Ashes by pensioning off record wicket-taker James Anderson – who is now bowling mentor after an emotional send-off against West Indies at Lord’s – the seamers stepped up.

Atkinson, who somehow may be even shyer than Anderson, ripped the headlines from the retiring great at the Home of Cricket by taking 12 wickets on debut. He is now up to 52 scalps in 11 Tests and also has a century to boot after flogging Sri Lanka’s attack around Lord’s. Atkinson plays for Surrey but sure is loving his appearances at the ground of London rivals Middlesex.

Carse could have been a contender for a Test honours over the summer, only for a three-month betting ban to scupper that.

Yet, the quick now seems a dead cert for The Ashes after starring in Pakistan and New Zealand: 27 wickets in five Tests, with ability, pace and endurance on display.

He has been called a three-in-one bowler by Stokes: an enforcer with short balls, a genuine wicket-taking threat and economical as well. With the potential for Mark Wood and Jofra Archer to return to Tests in 2025, England look well stocked seam-wise post Anderson and Stuart Broad.

Onto the batting and Stokes has two bankers in Root and Brook, the former an all-time great and the latter looking well on the way to achieving that status.

Root is now England’s highest run-scorer and leading hundred hitter in Tests, snatching those records from Sir Alastair Cook in a year in which he totalled 1,556 runs and stroked six tons.

Brook notched 1,100 Test runs in 2024 – from five games and 11 innings fewer than Root after missing the aforementioned tour of India following the death of his grandmother.

A whopping 317 of those runs came in one hit, against Pakistan in Multan, as he helped himself to the fifth-highest score by an England batter in Tests and his side to the fourth-highest team total in the format as they plundered 823-7 declared during a win by an innings.

England spun to defeat in Pakistan but bounce back in NZ

Meek surrenders against spin in the next two Tests – as England once again went from a hedonistic high to a dizzying low – saw the tourists tumble to a 2-1 series defeat, with Pope unable to buy a run, averaging 11 across the series and seeing his place questioned.

Stokes, meanwhile, looked short of a gallop after returning from a left hamstring injury sustained batting in The Hundred that kept him out of the three Tests against Sri Lanka and the first in Pakistan.

His house being burgled by a masked gang while his wife and two children were inside only made things more difficult for Stokes and put his cheap dismissals into perspective.

The smile was back on Stokes’ face in his native New Zealand (at least at the start of the tour) as back-to-back batterings of the Black Caps – by eight wickets in Christchurch and 323 runs in Wellington – earned a first series win in that territory since 2008.

Brook was marvellous again with hundreds in each of the first two matches, hitting what he considers the best of his eight Test tons to date at Basin Reserve as he rescued England from 43-4 on the first morning, while Root peeled off his 36th Test century, Stokes and Pope returned to some form with the bat, and seamers Atkinson and Carse sizzled with the ball.

Plus, a new star was born.

Bethell to stay in side long term?

Bethell, 21, headed into the series as a rogue pick having not yet scored a first-class century and averaging 25 in red-ball cricket.

He ended it not having scored a first-class century, either, but three knocks of fifty or above from a No 3 spot where he had never previously batted bumped his red-ball average up to 75 and may end up bumping one of Crawley or Pope out of the side.

When Smith returns, someone will have to make way. Crawley is the obvious candidate after averaging 8.66 at the top of the order in New Zealand and just 1.66 against his nemesis Matt Henry.

Bethell was a quasi-opener anyway, never coming in later than the fifth over across the three Tests due to Crawley or Duckett falling early, and appears to have the composure to start off an innings.

He certainly looked less skittish at No 3 than Pope, who dropped down the order to No 6 against New Zealand due to also keeping wicket. That lower middle-order spot looks more natural to Pope, so what England do with him, Bethell and Crawley will be fascinating.

The team’s next Test is not until they host Zimbabwe in May and a lot can happen between now and then, although McCullum has admitted Bethell’s rise has given him a “good headache”.

Another rethink may be needed about the spin situation with Bashir regressing since his promising debut series in India and decent displays at home against West Indies and Sri Lanka. He took his wickets at close to 50 in Pakistan and over 50 in New Zealand.

How to manage all-action Stokes?

The biggest issue, though, may be Stokes’ left hamstring, which flared up again while he was into his 37th over of the match against New Zealand at Seddon Park. That is too many overs, surely?

Stokes is an all-action cricketer and seems to feel a lesser part if he is unable to back up his batting and inspirational leadership with lots of bowling. Yet, England may have to rein him in.

Hussain said: “There has to be a long-term view and realisation that England are the side they are because of their captain and that they are hugely diminished, both with an all-rounder and a leader, if he is not there. If he is not in Australia, England’s chances fall off a cliff.

“Part of leadership is having a word with someone and saying, ‘we need you’. Pump up his tyres and make him realise England are a better team when he can do all facets. I thought 37 overs after coming back from such an injury was a huge workload.”

So that was 2024 for the England Test team. If 2025 is similar, it will be gripping viewing once more, even if much of it is done from behind the sofa or with your fingers over your eyes.

We repeat: it’s never dull with Bazball.