And so English cricket limps to its final stop of the winter.
Karachi, where England will exit the Champions Trophy after Saturday’s game against South Africa, is known as the City of Lights. Their last visit, the completion of a 3-0 Test series win in Pakistan in 2022, was Bazball’s brightest moment. Now Brendon McCullum and his men cannot shake the dark clouds.
Adele could write an album about how miserable England’s 2025 has been so far.
The end of 2024 wasn’t much better. The women dropped themselves out of the Twenty20 World Cup and the men were spun out in Pakistan. Heather Knight’s side at least won in South Africa and Ben Stokes’ men claimed an impressive win in New Zealand, then soured it with a stag-do of a performance in the final Test in Hamilton.
Since the turn of the year it has been a shambles: the women thrashed all over Australia, the men one win from 10 in McCullum’s new white-ball era. Andrew Flintoff’s Lions were hammered in South Africa and the Under-19 women were well beaten in a World Cup semi-final by India. Thank goodness Archie Vaughan’s Under-19 men won their Test series against South Africa.
It’s probably good to get a few things straight before delving into this: all of us – fans, media and pundits – want England to do well. We care. It hurts when they lose.
It is also fair to say I have never met an England player that is not desperate to succeed. They may occasionally forget the England team exists for everyone, not just the individuals in the dressing room, but there is an understandable element of self-preservation at play. Dreams and careers are on the line. Professional sport is cut-throat.
We must also be careful to not rewrite history. McCullum was a breath of fresh air to English cricket, both in terms of results and the feeling towards the men’s national team. It seemed a no-brainer to put him in charge of the white-ball side, largely because any other coach would have existed in the New Zealander’s shadow.
Jon Lewis did similar with the women’s team, even if Bazball-lite seemed too simplistic. The draw with Australia in the home Ashes of 2023 was creditable, and probably should have been better given Australia had lost Meg Lanning.