England must look into the mirror after unfortunate Baz-bawl antics

You wonder, with the benefit of time, if some England players regret the conclusion of the fourth Test at Old Trafford.

Some will accept that, had they been out there so close to centuries, they, too, would have liked the opportunity to get them. Ben Stokes, having earlier celebrated a 14th Test century in the same match that clearly meant a lot to him, may accept the extra runs Washington Sundar picked off at the start of the final hour did matter.

Hearing Washington dedicate his maiden Test hundred to his family will have also struck a chord. One of Brendon McCullum's key messages to his players from the start of his tenure has been to remember this sport can give a lot back. Parents and partners are invited into huddles for maiden caps, and the dressing room after matches. Those moments vindicate the sacrifices you and your loved ones have made. Washington, 12 caps spread thinly over the last four-and-a-half years, got just that.

Above all else, you wonder if England regret how they came across. Because a team who have by-and-large played their cricket with a sense of joy looked petulant, threatening to take their ball home, cursing that this was no longer fun or on their terms.

The clips of Stokes and Harry Brook offering phantom handshakes have been meme-ed to the Nth degree. And by the time they awoke on Monday morning, they will have no doubt caught wind of the Australian angle which, beyond misunderstanding what a "moral victory" means, were right in their assessments. England got this very wrong.

This is not about Australia, of course. Nor, really, is it about India. This is about an England team who, through their actions, are now deeper in familiar waters.

The "Anyone But England" movement never goes away. But for many of the squad, they will never have experienced it to this scale. Their Instagram comments are now overflowing with barbs, and they'll cop a bit from the stands this week. All five days are sold out for the finale at the Oval. A London Test and a traditional Thursday start will mean a strong Indian presence.

But what of their own fans? England will point to an impressive record in the Bazball era (25 wins out of 40) and what came before it (one win in 17) and feel there has been little, if any reason to lose faith. And the fact they are 2-1 up in this series.

But the missteps during 2023's home Ashes and 2024's tour of India, mixed in with misguided public utterings, has seen home negativity seep into the system. This onfield display is likely to exacerbate that.

British sport is an intriguing space. Vibrant, proud, thriving and riddled with contradictions.

Athletes and teams should be confident but not arrogant. We crave entertainers but deride flashiness. Paid well? Yeah, fine. Spending it? Oh no. Enjoy themselves outside of the serious bits? Hey, they're just like us. At times to excess, just like us? Well that's too far. You're getting paid a lot to do this, you know… show some class. But not too much.

The least contradictory of the contradictory things in this ecosystem is winning and being likeable. Now that is the tough bit. The Lionesses are experiencing that right now following their Euro 2025 success. The England men's football team have come tantalisingly close to that last year. Otherwise, it is a near-impossible space to break into.

That the 20th anniversary of the 2005 Ashes is taking up as many column inches as it is alongside a high-profile India series reflects that this was the last time cricket occupied this sweet spot. The scale of that feat was raised by the everyman quality of many of the protagonists. By contrast, England's greatest Test side of the 2010s - arguably of all time - who succeeded in Australia on their way to No.1 in the world, are still viewed by some as an arrogant, unrelatable bunch, a sentiment reinforced by how they fell apart.

The current iteration started when England were a terrible combination of Nineties bad and easily ignorable. And central to the step-up of results was a group of players enjoying themselves so much they drew people in.

That 2022 summer they were bossing fourth innings chases and piling into kebab shops in the early hours. Even on the opening day of the 2023 Ashes, the atmosphere they whipped up was so fevourish that when they declared on day one at Edgbaston - a decision that gets worse with each passing day - people were hugging in the Hollies Stand.

Even in the second Test against India a few weeks ago, faced with an unlikely target of 608, England fans rose to their feet on the penultimate evening as a boozy yet pure rendition of "stand up if you still believe" echoed around Edgbaston. That kind of blind, ride-or-die faith towards an England Test side is almost unheard of.

It is no coincidence McCullum started this summer urging the importance of getting fans onside. "I feel as if they felt a sense of belonging to that type of group," he said in May of the first half of his tenure.

"The ability to play on the biggest stage and under the brightest lights and the pressure is one thing," he added. "But also the ability to show some humility and not feel out of touch with the general population is something that I'd like to see us improve on."

Perhaps Sunday showed the impulsive public blurts littered over the last few years are ingrained. A Test after saying they thought they were too nice, they have come across as out-of-touch.

Barring that evening, the series had been fairly genial. Even in the aftermath of a word-filled finale at Lord's, the consolations to Mohammed Siraj at Lord's after he defended Shoaib Bashir onto his leg stump were genuine.

In the fourth Test, Brydon Carse made a beeline for Rishabh Pant after his valiant 54 with a broken toe, fist-bumping the keeper-batter for his courage. Shubman Gill, after being struck by a rising length delivery from Stokes on the final day in Manchester, had to wave away a few concerned fielders. Stokes and Root ignored the India captain's assertion that he was fine before the physio arrived.

Even Akash Deep, who was not playing, found himself quite literally sandwiched by Ben Duckett and Harry Brook on Sunday. The duo, who together make up five of Akash Deep's 11 wickets in this series, jokingly put their arms around the Indian quick as he was trying to leave the field after delivering drinks. All involved were laughing, aside from the umpires who had spent the match shooing off 12th men to keep the game moving along.

Ironically, Brook, two days out from the fourth Test, gave a considered answer to a question about whether he had noticed some Indian batters slowing down when approaching a century.

"Indian players get a lot of scrutiny," said Brook, empathetically. "They don't know when their next game is. I don't know whether that has an impact towards how they play when they get close to milestones. We try and play for each other, we try and play for match-winning moments and we try and make a difference in the game."

None of this excuses England's behavior. Nor does it make a difference to how they will be viewed. Like it or not, their cards have been re-marked.

The reaction over the last 48 hours will lead to a more guarded approach for the final Test, and through to the winter. England's management will likely batten down the hatches for media engagements, wary of saying or doing anything that could add further fuel to the Ashes fire they will walk into in November.

England have worked hard to lead India 2-1 heading into the final Test of the summer, and even harder to reach this point in their life cycle. A first series win over India and first in a five-match series in seven years remains in their control. Unlike the ability to fix the reputational damage from those 20 misguided minutes.