Sometimes I feel this England team can’t take two steps forward without doing something that makes me think they’ve gone backwards. So much progress has been made, so many reasons for optimism provided before a year that is likely to define them. But then they end it with a display that forces me to wonder whether they have it in them to become the best in the world, to win the World Test Championship, to be more than just entertainers.
Ben Stokes says he hates the word “ruthless”, but I am puzzled by him attaching a negative connotation to a word that is synonymous with all the greatest teams in the history of sport. No team relishes facing talented and ruthless opponents – well England have the talent, but not the attitude. This is a team that has shown they can dominate, and that they can also self-destruct.
