England’s new ‘bad boy’ persona against India leaves us with one question

Amid their enthralling Test series with India, Cameron Ponsonby delves into England’s new fiery personality that has been so clear to see

It is a confusing time to be an England player.

The year started with head coach Brendon McCullum speaking about the need for his players to show more “humility”. Then, before the Lord’s Test, McCullum instructed his players that they had been guilty of being too nice. And then it emerged that while balancing McCullum’s desires for England to be humbly unpleasant, they had also hired Gilbert Enoka, the mental performance coach credited with the All Blacks famous ‘no d***heads’ policy.

So, in conclusion, don’t be a d***head, but don’t be nice, and do be humble when sledging your opponent.

It’s a confusing time to be an England player (Getty Images for Surrey CCC)

Cut to the final throes of day five at Old Trafford and as Harry Brook was caught on the stump mic imploring Washington Sundar to, “f**king hell Washy, get on with it”, and then mock extending his hand to offer a draw when Ravindra Jadeja reached his century, the whole thing irked, but tracked. Is the new fiery England one just for now, or is it here to stay?

“No regrets,” Ben Stokes summarised before the fifth Test, even after he and England had had a few days to cool off. “I think it's one of those where if you’ve been in the field for 250 overs, you’d have a bit more understanding towards both sides.

“We’re over it. And I think India are over it too.”

First thing’s first. Hypocrisy is a human right. God forbid anyone checked for consistency in your every move. England are performing in a high-pressure environment at the culmination of a three-year project which will define legacies for many. Slip-ups are inevitable.

And while England have got rougher around the edges in personality, they have become more refined in their cricket. Their innings at Lord’s was the second slowest of the Bazball era. Which, rather than a contradiction of their previous lunacy, was an acknowledgement of the stakes going up. Bazball was a creation of Ben Stokes to unlock the potential of a failing batting unit. In Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Ben Duckett and, at that point, Jonny Bairstow, they had a talented, but timid batting line-up fearful of failure. The point was to push the boat out, prove to them what’s possible, and then rein it back in. Ben Stokes’ batting itself is the perfect example. At the start, he was a maniac. In matches, he charged at seamers at every opportunity and in training he would look to hit as many boundaries as possible. The purpose was to prove to his troops that nothing was too extreme. Cut to a week ago, and Stokes’ century came off a measured 164 balls.

But the Old Trafford fallout was unpleasant. England have prided themselves on being the entertainers and playing cricket with a smile on their face, but instead they finished the Test mocking a bloke who had outplayed them for the day. At one stage earlier in the match, Brook removed his chewing gum and lobbed it at the spidercam that whizzes above the ground. It was all just a bit weird. Your mate who doesn’t smoke pulling out a cigarette at the pub. This isn’t you. What are you doing?

Harry Brook’s behaviour at Old Trafford was all just a bit weird (Martin Rickett/PA Wire)

The question is whether we’re likely to see more, or less, of such behaviour as we head into the Ashes. The spark for this series came when Crawley and Duckett dragged out a single over at the end of the day three at Lord’s across seven minutes, with the resulting to-and-fro raucous theatre. All 11 Indians piling into England, and in return, England, when it was their turn to field, decided to give it back.

“I've had a lot of compliments," Brook said afterwards. "Everybody said it was awesome to watch and it looked like there was 11 versus two when we were fielding. It was good fun, I have to admit.”

That trajectory continued to Old Trafford in a series that has flipped between the vitriolic and the collegiate. Barbs have been thrown in either direction. But friendships are present between the two sides. Joe Root and Yashisav Jaiswal are close from their time at Rajasthan Royals, where Jaiswal was known as ‘Joe-swal’ given how much he stuck to the England legend’s side. Furthermore, when England won at Lord’s, the condolences extended at the close to the pantomime villain of the series, Mohammed Siraj, were genuine.

Joe Root’s fiery burst back at Prasidh Krishna on day to at The Oval was out of character (Getty Images)

England raising the temperature on the field has been a deliberate ploy; whether they feel it's one that suits them or not will decide whether it continues. On day two at The Oval, Ben Duckett’s muted reaction to Akash Deep bizarrely putting his arm round his shoulder after dismissing him suggested a taming of emotions, but Root’s fiery, and out of character, burst back at Prasidh Krishna in response to a sledge suggested otherwise.

For the most part, fans didn’t like the carry on at Old Trafford. It was chest puffed out behaviour when the contest was dead. But when it was Crawley vs India at Lord’s and the contest was live – it was loved. Like everything in life, it was all about timing.

The reaction has been an insight into the media pressures that await. If the telling off in the English press has been a disappointed slap on the wrist, the reaction in Australia has been giddy. Cross-paper coverage of England confirming their place as the bad boys of world cricket. They don’t like us; and we don’t like them. Tempers, even three months ahead of time, are fraying.

It was loved when Zak Crawley puffed his chest out at Lord’s (PA Wire)

“When you’re playing Test cricket,” said Brydon Carse earlier this series, on the topic of sledging, “with the crowd and the pressure and the emotion, and how much everyone wants to win the game, I think it's great.

“There's always obviously a line, and you don't want to cross that line. But when you're out on that field, and there's 10 other blokes all fighting your corner, it's pretty cool.”

Over the last three years England have been fun, they have been different, and now they’re dabbling with being nasty. And that could be nice.