In a Lord’s boardroom, the actual report that had been compiled was instead replaced by a two-slide PowerPoint containing novel suggestions for “Culture and Environment” such as “Positive, relaxed AND professional, high-performance” [What the actual hell is that syntax? Ed]. Gould guesstimated “only 30 to 40 percent” of the unpublished material was not already in action.
Gould also admitted that he had referred back to the Schofield Report, commissioned after the 2006-07 Ashes whitewash, and the similarities almost 20 years on are striking. Better planning and preparation for big series … emphasis on skill coaches … improving connections to the county game … readying players outside the England set-up for international standards … greater accountability around management and selection … and more professionalism. All these and more are crossover concepts from a previous era which highlight English cricket’s cyclical and ultimately insular ecosystem. That Ken Schofield’s background was in golf administration feels a bit too on the nose.
One perspective is that English cricket never learns. This time, however, they insist they have – which is why no-one has explicitly been held responsible for relinquishing the Ashes inside 11 days. The progressive stance, you see, is allowing Key, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes to not just remain but to re-embolden them to take the Test side further forward in their own, familiar ways. “These are all individuals that have got other things that they can do in their lives,” Gould said, “and they are all committed to doing the best for England and to learning the lessons that are evident.”
The notion that English cricket – and its supporters – should be grateful to have the same people in charge who oversaw such a dire Ashes campaign will jar. It made Monday’s fronting-up to the media the easy bit, before any of that moving-forward actually has to take place.
Yet, amid the acknowledgement that change will be judged by performances, attention was drawn to the fact that the two most important architects of this rebuild were not in the room. And probably for a very good reason.
Neither McCullum nor Stokes are fans of the formality of sit-down meetings, let alone ones that extend to PowerPoint presentations. But for all of Gould’s power and Key’s overseeing remit, Baz and Ben remain the ones at the wheel.
With England 2-0 down, Stokes came out in his press conference to state “Australia isn’t a place for weak men”. The comment hung around like a bad smell in Noosa over the following week. Stokes spent some of that mini-break adding context to his comment to both allay fears and reiterate focus, which was not exactly part of the itinerary when McCullum organized that trip a year in advance, seeing it as the ideal opportunity to step out of the heat of an Ashes.
Similarly, those who wanted to act on Stokes’ various calls to action throughout the series were wary of falling out of sync with the broader ethos of the group. It is understood one player who wanted an extra hit during the series was advised against doing so, and was instead told that needed to stop overthinking things.
The process starts now, but in reality we’ll only know the upshot of this show of confidence when the first Test against New Zealand begins at Lord’s on June 4. By then, we may actually see changes in playing personnel. That Glamorgan’s Asa Tribe got a namecheck from Key was a strong hint that spots are up for grabs, meaning domestic players will have something to play for in the early rounds of the County Championship.
So much rests on three distinct factors this summer. McCullum’s (genuine) appetite to do things differently; the ability of Stokes’ body to stand up to the rigours … and results. Those are all factors that cannot be determined on a slideshow, in a boardroom, or during an Ashes review.
Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo
