Stephen Fleming is right - England should embrace World Test Championship

As the summer slips into autumn and the Pakistan Test series fades from memory, so England’s position in the World Test Championship stands as a reminder of the vagaries in fortunes over the past two years. They are placed sixth, and have next to no hope of making the final in 2027, the fourth occasion they will have watched from the sidelines.

Outside of the marquee Test series, such as the Ashes, international cricket offers three main prizes: World Cups for 50-over and T20 cricket, and the World Test Championship (WTC). It is the latter that has so far evaded England, and that failure has been accompanied by a lukewarm attitude, among players and the general public, towards a concept that culminates, every two years, on our doorstep.

For a country that prides itself on its passion for Test cricket, this reluctance to embrace it has been curious. In the three editions so far, England have finished fourth, fourth and fifth, hurt especially by over-rate deductions, which cost them a whopping 22 points in the last cycle (they have been deducted 14 points in the present cycle). Lord’s put on a grand show for the final last time, but it was Australia and South Africa, the ultimate winners, who contested it.

Ben Stokes called the competition “confusing” and said he rarely looked at the table during his time as captain. The chairman of the ECB, Richard Thompson, said the structure “does not work in the way it should” and called for a “fairer, better competition”. This attitude is also partly informed by a pragmatic acceptance that the finances of the English game depend more on the marquee Test series than ICC income.

It’s not that they don’t treat Test cricket seriously — far from it — but the WTC has been framed as a potential and natural consequence of winning games or series (as an adjunct, in other words, to the schedule, rather than a specific aim). It has been the flaws in the competition’s design, rather than the opportunity it presents, that have aroused as much interest.

One understands their reservations. It is flawed and confusing: not everyone plays everyone else; some teams get an easier ride because of scheduling; the percentage-points system is hard to understand and over rates penalise countries who play in seamer-dominated conditions. But if Test cricket is to survive and thrive, the WTC, in some form or other, feels essential to it.

So it was good to hear Stephen Fleming, in his first press conference as England’s Test coach last weekend, state unequivocally that getting to No1 in the world and winning the WTC is an ambition, alongside the Ashes and other major series, and that the hitherto ambivalent attitude needs to change.

He said: “It’s high [on the agenda]; it’s aspirational. England can do much better than that. And even the attitude around the over rate, I think, comes down to identity and style of play. If that’s one of the pinnacle trophies in world cricket, why would we not be trying to get it along with every other marquee event that comes our way?

“I don’t say that lightly and there is a lot of hard work to do and players must be balanced around that, but it’s aspirational and that’s why I’m here. The opportunity is real and there is a huge amount of work to do.”

Fleming, perhaps, comes to this from a Kiwi perspective. England, Australia and India play lengthy Test series and their supporters and players remain drawn to the five-day game. For them, Test cricket would thrive with or without the WTC. That is not necessarily the case in other countries, and for New Zealand’s players winning a WTC final was a tremendous opportunity and a career highlight. Fleming probably recognises how important the competition is to the global health of Test cricket.

Quite how he intends to frame this ambition with the playing group when they meet up before the tour to South Africa in December remains to be seen, but there is a historical analogy upon which to draw. Andy Flower, in 2009, did exactly the same with his team, utilising the expertise of the resident geek Nathan Leamon, the numbers man, to lay out exactly what England needed to do to get to No1 in the world.

On dethroning India from the No1 spot two years later, Stuart Broad recalled being left “in a bit of a daze” after the presentation from Leamon. “It seemed so far away, the permutations so difficult to achieve. Nathan sat us down for what must have been an hour and I left the room thinking, ‘We are going to have to win not just virtually every series, but every Test to get to No1.’ And now here we are, little more than 2½ years later and we are top of the world.”

Between them Flower and Leamon planted a seed, which eventually flowered into something memorable, while creating common cause among the players and giving them a clear summit to aim for. Likewise, Fleming’s initial enthusiasm for the WTC is encouraging — at the very least it should sharpen minds around the over rate — and, for the start of the next cycle in mid-2027, will hopefully fire a similar ambition among his players.

Warwickshire title win would be just reward for one of cricket’s hardest workers

It doesn’t feel as though it has been a vintage year in the County Championship, with no truly outstanding team. As the final round of games begins on Thursday, one win separates the leaders and clear favourites Warwickshire, who have won six matches, from the fifth-placed team, Yorkshire, who have won five.

That said, the competition has delivered its share of drama again, as it always seems to. Warwickshire’s opponents in their final game are Leicestershire, whose supporters are still smarting from their hefty points deduction for a poor pitch and a One-Day Cup final loss to Middlesex on Sunday. Second-placed Somerset, often the bridesmaid, look as though they may face that fate again.

If Warwickshire do get home, it will be a triumph for a player who is regarded as among the hardest workers and most dedicated cricketers in the game. No seamer in Division One has bowled more overs this year than Ethan Bamber and, by my reckoning, only one spinner, Liam Patterson-White, of Nottinghamshire, has bowled more than Bamber’s 409 overs. Bamber is the leading English-qualified bowler, having taken 60 wickets so far.

A theology graduate and son of parents who are actors, Bamber, 27, is not your typical fast bowler and he has been open in the past about his struggles with anxiety. He moved from Middlesex two years ago to fulfil his ambitions and now stands on the brink of a first championship.

“I’ve never won anything; I’ve never been close to winning anything,” he said on the eve of the final match. It would be just reward for his efforts if that were to change this weekend.

Click here to read article