England must stand up for Stokes before the fun stops

Since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum joined forces at the start of the 2022 summer, their one unified aim has been for England's Test cricketers to realise how lucky they were.

The privilege and honour was front and centre. But underpinning it all was a sense of joy. This is the thing you dreamed of doing as a kid, now go out there and revel in the experiences that will nourish you in retirement.

While a reaction to the mental and physical travails of a team operating throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a broader aim to this holistic approach. To lighten the weight of the England shirt, and liberate a talented but risk-conscious playing pool so they could reach levels their conservative upbringings may have capped. Both Stokes and McCullum, renegades by nature, raged against the machine by lifting the men.

Whatever your feelings on it all, even especially right now on the eve of the third Ashes Test in Adelaide which could finally bring this fever-dream to an end, it is hard to square what the last three years have been.

Engaging? No doubt. Good? Depends. The record of 25 wins from 43 Tests is decent without being spectacular. They have yet to win a five-match series. This one in Australia is their fourth.

But they do deserve respect for, well, assuming the keys to the stately home and giving it a cavalier makeover. Sure, the paint may be peeling, the cracks previously covered up by the golf simulator are now yawning. But the audacity to change how English Test cricket is approached is remarkable when you step back to take it all in.

This has been erecting-a-rollercoaster-on-the-grounds-of-Buckingham-Palace stuff. Both a nonsensical endeavour and a great use of space. And who wouldn't want a go on that? The thing is, by design, only a select group have taken it for a ride. And as it sets about what looks like its final rounds of peaks and troughs, those few should appreciate how lucky they are.

The players, particularly these here in Australia, have been insulated from criticism, the media and, at times, even those staking better claims for their spots in the squad and the XI. The one silver lining for county cricket right now is that, if the next month does go as badly as the previous one, the ECB can skip the domestic review that usually follows Ashes nightmares given how little of it has influenced the top of the tree.

Not that any of the above is particularly outrageous. First-class cricket in the UK tracks very differently to Test cricket. And ultimately, if you want cricketers to express their truest selves, you need to shield them from consequence. Free spirits don't tend to look over their shoulder.

It worked well at the start. To go from the beginning of the Stokes-McCullum axis through to the end of the tour of India at the start of 2024, England won 14 of 23 Tests. In the time since however, they are 11 out of 20, losing as many matches (eight) in the first half as they currently have as they approach the end of the second, which neatly concludes with the three remaining Ashes Tests.

The shift in results is more or less down to an ethos that has not been updated for a new group perhaps taking it for granted. It is worth noting in Bazball's first stanza, the likes of Joe Root, Stuart Broad and Jonny Bairstow thrived having had to contend with their own struggles despite undoubted talent. Struggles that allowed them to appreciate just how unique the new environment was.

While the management felt a turnover of players at the start of 2024 was necessary - that insistence characterised by the forced retirement of James Anderson - there is an argument to make that having this environment as your first exposure to Test cricket is counter-productive. Cricket is, essentially, all about problem-based learning, technically and emotionally, and embracing those problems. The performances in Perth and Brisbane show England are a team that have struggled to learn.

The desperation of the current situation saw Stokes change his tack. Previously, he would have urged the players to commit to doing things their way. Now he is asking to fight in their own way, which sounds a lot like his way.

"I would never put it like that," Stokes said defiantly when it was put to him that these players must repay both the faith he has put in them, and the cover he has provided throughout his tenure.

"We have backed a group over a long period of time to not only enjoy what this game offers to you when it's all going well, but these are the times where the players you have backed, you trust to go out there and deliver in moments like these. Those are the guys who hopefully this week can stand up for the team and also for the country as well.

"I would never put it like that - you owe me, you owe us. Go out, do what needs to be done, and back yourself to do it."

There may only be another week of it all before the fun stops. McCullum and Stokes - in that order - will have questions to answer if a promising tour unravels at the earliest opportunity. Likewise managing director Rob Key, who made the overarching decision to do things differently three years ago after generations of under-performance overseas, most notably in Australia.

All three have made their own mistakes. But even those have been motivated by doing right by the players. The lack of preparation ahead of the series, technical issues littered throughout it, the bluster and even the four-day trip to Noosa will be thrown at them. And they will wear them accordingly.

But the players need to stand up and take the initiative. Seize the moment here before them in Adelaide. Because for all the missteps over the past three years, these players have been looked after and afforded a great privilege they are in danger of wasting. And they don't just owe it to Stokes and McCullum to turn in a win in Adelaide, but every other English Test cricketer, past and future, who have never and will never have it so good.