England and their pace attack face real baptism of fire after two-year changing of the guard comes full circle.
England quicks await India acid test after two-year changing of the guard.
James Anderson turned forty-three on Wednesday. It will be two years since Stuart Broad’s final day of Test cricket on Thursday, the first day of the fifth Test match against India. And England will take the biggest steps yet into that post-Anderson-Broad reality over the course of the next five days.
This will be the first home series decider since that Broad goodbye, but it will also be the seventeenth game without either. On a pitch with more live grass, England’s new-look, four-pronged, right-arm seam attack has been selected to win, but there will be plenty of opportunity for this attack to be evaluated against the standards of those former greats. Additionally, there will be five days of low cloud predicted.
Due to their workloads, Jofra Archer (two Tests) and Brydon Carse (four) must take a break. This demonstrates Anderson and Broad’s longevity as well as the series’ streamlined scheduling. It is a characteristic that is frequently overlooked when discussing their longevity.
In nine series, Anderson participated in all five games. In ten, Broad did the same. This week, Chris Woakes, 36, will do so for the first time.
But Woakes is a bit of an exception. He is the assault’s renaissance man, a player who spent 11 years honing his craft in the shadow of Anderson and Broad before being given the responsibility of spearheading the attack.
Could this be his final stop as a shepherd? With an Ashes tour of Australia to follow, it is not out of the question that this will be Woakes’ 62nd and final cap. After 167 overs in four Test matches, he will need to go even farther to lead Josh Tongue, Gus Atkinson, and Jamie Overton to victory. This is arguably his biggest job to date. Commencing with a series win against India for the first time since 2018.
But without Ben Stokes, their jobs will be more difficult than those they are replacing. Even before the team’s training session began on Tuesday morning, England’s skipper, the series’ most impressive bowler, was still debating whether or not to play.
Despite being unable to bowl due to a grade three shoulder rupture, Stokes was still expected to play as a batter until additional medical advice and head coach Brendon McCullum’s direction helped him make a more rational choice. His main consideration even at that time was the precise composition of the seam attack that would try to compensate for the discrepancy.
They will be somewhat encouraged by the fact that Tongue, Atkinson, and Overton have been given the task of punching this final ticket. Stokes will be in charge of everything off the pitch when Ollie Pope steps in, as is customary. However, he can only have so much faith in this trio, all of whom received debuts during his tenure.
The pool was plagued by injuries to players like Mark Wood, Olly Stone, and Atkinson, for a while. Others are not trusted enough to be taken into consideration, such as Dillon Pennington, who was underused despite being a member of the squad at the beginning of the previous season, Sam Cook, who made his debut against Zimbabwe, and Matthew Potts.
Then there are others who have been acknowledged, but for the time being nothing more. Despite not appearing to be in contention anytime soon, Josh Hull, who was given a surprise debut in this identical encounter last summer, has shown indications of improvement for Leicestershire. Even though both Sonny Baker and Eddie Jack, the young Hampshire duo, have been pushed—the former was given a development contract following the Lions’ tour to Australia at the beginning of the year, while the latter trained with England before the first Test after making an impression for the England Lions—it is still too early for them.
Even Lancashire’s left-arm fast, Luke Wood, 29, has been mentioned in passing without bringing up any concrete issues. He caught McCullum’s attention when he returned to the T20Is against the West Indies.
It all depends on a trio entering the cauldron cold for the time being. Tongue’s stellar start in the 2023 Ashes, Atkinson’s record-breaking 2024, and the management’s obvious appreciation for Overton as a multi-format cricket player will all serve as a crutch for them.
However, everything here is extremely different. And indirectly, an opportunity to venture deeper into the unknown.