If ever there was a time to think of the England and Wales Cricket Board solely as a commercial operation, this was it. Because the last resort of any struggling organisation that way inclined is to rebrand and still provide the same lacklustre service.
The “red ball reset” was supposed to be a change to believe in. A step beyond the line in the sand, where previous errors were not to be forgotten (though we were encouraged to forget about them) for the benefit of this new age. One where Test cricket, red ball cricket, was important again. Not because the only way was up – even though it was – but out of willing. Never mind that a lot of the same protagonists prevail. This was about simply being better. Being the best England men’s cricket team they could be, give or take a couple of people who tried to – and at times, did – make it that way.
