The cricket calendar's structure might seem a bit ridiculous; a sort of speed-dating event for the top executives and chairs of the full-member nations, held every four years by the International Cricket Council. The ICC, more of an events company than a governing body, doesn't get involved directly. Its officials reportedly have to leave the room before the bigwigs start networking at the tables, while operations staff input the fixtures into their spreadsheets. The men's future tours programme emerged from one of these secretive meetings in 2022, and even then, England's winter of 2024-25 appeared somewhat unimaginative. Test tours of Pakistan and New Zealand were scheduled for the second winter in two years, the latter for the third time in five. Despite this, England's entire four-year block featured no Tests in Sri Lanka or the West Indies, and the gap between Tests in South Africa, a favorite among their traveling supporters, was set to be seven years when they return in late 2026.
Given the numerous moving parts—alliances and schisms, a free-for-all process, and the World Test Championship (WTC)—hoping for a sensible, evenly spread schedule was probably optimistic. Even with the repetition, and England being out of the running for next year's WTC final at Lord's, this winter remains intriguing. The 2-1 loss in Pakistan in October, where they won 3-0 two years ago, shook the good ship Bazball, making the three-Test series starting in Christchurch on Thursday feel pretty important. Under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, captain and head coach, England have seen an upturn in fortunes compared to the bleak 18 months that preceded them. Twenty wins and 11 defeats from 32 Tests is the second-best ratio behind Australia during this period, and their pedal-to-the-metal cricket, which has seen wild fluctuations in fortune, has been compelling to watch.
However, they have won seven and lost seven in the past 12 months and have not won an away series since Pakistan in late 2022. The drawn home Ashes in 2023 was an opportunity missed, while New Zealand's recent 3-0 triumph in India has made England's 4-1 defeat there look a bit worse. Complaints about their style grew louder in Pakistan; a sense that they are wedded to all-out aggression and inflexible when the pitch is not flat. Even with McCullum's contract extended to 2027 and soon to incorporate the white-ball teams, next year—with India at home and an away Ashes series—will likely define how the project is viewed overall. To that end, England could use a strong showing against the team they know better than most (and who could make that WTC final with a clean sweep). This will be the seventh time they have met for Test cricket in the past 10 years. Not that England's familiarity with New Zealand has helped, having not won a series here since 2008; the tour when Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad forged their record-breaking partnership to claim a 2-1 win from 1-0 down.
The post-Anderson and Broad attack cleared the last remnants of jet-lag in postcard-perfect Queenstown on Saturday, with Chris Woakes (three for 25), Gus Atkinson (three for 15), and Brydon Carse (four for 48) starting a two-day warm-up match by rolling an inexperienced Prime Minister's XI for 136. They seem the most likely seamers for the first Test—Matt Potts and Olly Stone are the others on tour—with Shoaib Bashir likely to be the first-choice spinner, given Jack Leach was running drinks. In reply, England made 249 all out, with Zak Crawley (94) looking particularly good. England were a bit loose after reaching 170 for two, but it was more practice out in the middle than a match per se. As prop planes landed on the neighboring airstrip, Stokes preferred to watch from the sidelines after doing his work before play began.
Fitness was not the reason for sitting it out—he simply does not rate warm-up cricket—but his ability to play a full role as an all-rounder will again be key to England's balance. After very little form on his return from a hamstring injury in Pakistan and a strangely passive match tactically during the deciding Test in Rawalpindi—something perhaps explained in part by the stress of his family's traumatic burglary back home—Stokes will be doubly keen to make an impact. Another is Jordan Cox, who, with Jamie Smith absent for parental leave, is set for a Test debut behind the stumps next week. Fresh from the recent Caribbean white-ball tour—and, like Smith, not the first-choice wicketkeeper for his county, Essex—the 24-year-old's first outing behind the stumps for 15 months was tidy, but he was out for 11 attempting a wild hoick. The intensity will be far greater at Hagley Oval, even if it will hardly be Galatasaray away.
Indeed, 18 months on from their last encounter—the one-run win for New Zealand in Wellington that meant the series ended 1-1—another hard-fought but friendly affair looks on the cards; the kind that will probably lead their bigwigs to make another beeline for each other when the speed-dating tables next come out.
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