LEEDS: England captain Ben Stokes has insisted there will be no let-up from his side when they face India just days after whitewashing Test world champions New Zealand.
A first series under the new leadership duo of Stokes and red-ball head coach Brendon McCullum, a former New Zealand captain, ended with an emphatic seven-wicket win in Leeds on Monday that sealed a 3-0 triumph over the Black Caps.
For the third time in as many matches, England made light of a potentially tricky run chase, with Jonny Bairstow ending a pursuit of 296 by smashing a six on his Headingley home ground.
England, however, have just a few days to savour their success before facing India at Edgbaston in a match starting Friday.
The fifth Test was rescheduled after the fixture was postponed last September following a Covid outbreak in the India camp.
India are currently 2-1 up in a five-match series following a 157-run win at the Oval but are now set to face a revitalised England side likely to feature only four survivors at most from that match – Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Bairstow and James Anderson – later this week.
“Regardless of the opposition, we’re still going to have the same mindset,” Stokes told reporters after stumps in Leeds on Monday.
The dynamic all-rounder, on a mental health break from cricket at the time of the fourth Test against India, added: “Obviously, it’s going to be a completely different… different opposition, with their attack and players as well.
“We’ll be concentrating on what we’ve done well over these last three games and look to continue that against India on Friday.”
England had won just once in 17 Tests prior to the New Zealand series, albeit many of those matches were played under mentally-draining coronavirus restrictions that no longer apply.
‘New mentality’
But the shackles have been lifted in an exhilarating start to life under McCullum, one of the most attacking players of his generation.
“I knew that everyone would buy into the new mentality me and Brendon set out, but I didn’t think it would go this well to be honest,” said kindred spirit Stokes.
In the space of just over a week, Bairstow struck two remarkable Test hundreds, his 136 in a run chase at Trent Bridge was followed by an astounding 162 which rescued England from the depths of 55-6 in the first innings at Headingley.
Monday witnessed more blazing hitting from Bairstow, who struck England’s second-quickest Test fifty of all time, off just 30 balls, on his way to an unbeaten 71.
Former England captain Joe Root played second fiddle while making 86 not out as he shared an unbroken stand of 111 with his Yorkshire team-mate.
Root was named England’s player of the series after scoring 396 runs at an average of 99, in a continuation of the form that has taken him top of the Test batting rankings.
McCullum, however, has had a more immediate impact upon Bairstow.
“I’ve never heard a bloke get 130-odd off 90 balls like he did at Trent Bridge and then ask his head coach how to go out and play,” said Stokes.
“Baz McCullum basically just said, ‘Go and get your Sudoku book, sit next to me and shut up. Whatever you did last week, go out and do it again.’
“With Jonny, it’s just about making sure he knows what he’s in the team to do.”
Bairstow seals England clean sweep of New Zealand
But omitting frontline spinner Ajaz Patel – who in December became only the third bowler in Test history to take all 10 wickets in an innings, against India in his birthplace of Mumbai – for the last two matches of this series proved costly, with off-break bowler Michael Bracewell thrashed for 109 runs in 15.2 overs during England’s run-chase at Headingley.
“We opted for the balance of the side to go with three seamers,” said New Zealand captain Kane Williamson. “We were curious to whether it would turn but it’s just one of those things.”