England cricket managing director Rob Key's view on Test cricket has clearly rubbed off on Brendon McCullum's squad, as past quotes re-emerged following the agonising defeat to New Zealand.
England lost a thrilling Test match at the Basin Reserve by just one run this morning, with the series ending 1-1. Since McCullum took over as coach and Ben Stokes as captain, the national side have changed their approach to a more expansive and attacking style - not previously seen in the longest format.
During a chat with Wisden last month Key - who assumed his current role last April - talked about the reasoning behind England’s change of philosophy, and his comments rather summed up the thriller against New Zealand . “They talk about entertainment, which is the business we’re in. What’s the alternative? Just have a very, very boring game,” Key said.
“So somehow they’ve worked out that we’re in the right to sort of potentially lose this game, and we’ll get more credit than we would do if we just had the most boring Test match of all time. Somewhere along the line losing has just become far too big a deal, there’s a lot of fear around it. Whereas Stokes and McCullum say, ‘Oh well, we’ll just have another go the next day’.”
England captain Stokes said he felt "blessed" to have been part of a modern classic despite featuring on the losing side. The Black Caps edged past England in one of the all-time great finishes to draw the two-match series and gained some element of revenge for the nail-biting loss to their opponents in the 2019 World Cup final.
Neil Wagner took 4-62 as he helped his side bowl out the tourists for 256 after being forced to follow on. England were reduced to 80-5 at one point, before Joe Root steadied the ship with an important 95 of 113 balls.
But as more wickets tumbled, Anderson had joined number 10 Jack Leach at the crease with just seven runs needed for victory. Anderson saw off a stinging bouncer from Wagner, then sensationally whacked the next ball for a boundary.
Leach then saw off an over from Tim Southee, but Wagner got James Anderson out caught behind to win the game which resulted in a deafening roar from the crowd at the Basin Reserve. "It is disappointing to not win, but we look at the bigger picture," Stokes told BT Sport post-match. "What everyone has enjoyed here today is probably bigger than any disappointment at the moment. Being in that situation in the last half an hour, it is everything you wish for.
"And even though we came out on the wrong side of it, you can't help but feel blessed that we managed to be a part of an incredible game like that." For the first time in their history England succumbed to a Test defeat after enforcing the follow-on and it was the fourth such loss in the formats history - spanning 2,500 Test matches.
It ends England’s unbeaten run of six straight Test victories and denies them a seventh straight win, a feat last achieved by England 19 years ago. For New Zealand, their last-gasp victory, their first ever after following on, earned them a series draw and have remained unbeaten at home since 2017. England will next be in action tomorrow when they commence a three-match ODI series away to Bangladesh.
