England vs New Zealand: What have we learned about this England side?

Charles Reynolds looks back on the 1-1 series

Alastair Cook pictures on the fourth day of the Test (GETTY IMAGES)

Farewell then New Zealand, two Tests was never really enough. But the summer must rumble on and England’s attention, five ODIs aside, inevitably turns to the Ashes.

This has been a thrilling series, New Zealand’s swashbuckling style asking new questions of England’s developing team – some answered better than others.

But what have we learned about this England side, and what must they improve before the Ashes circus rolls into town?

Having won so many plaudits after their thrilling victory at Lord’s, defeat at Headingley is undeniably a setback for Alastair Cook’s side, all the more galling given it is the second series in a row that they have failed to close out after going 1-0 up.

However inconsistency is to be expected from what is predominantly a young side, with a core group of players still finding their feet, relatively speaking, in international cricket.

There are however more pressing concerns to be addressed for Paul Farbrace and incoming new coach Trevor Bayliss.

Perhaps the greatest of these is England’s spin bowling as Moeen Ali has now endured his second successive disappointing series with the ball. Arguably rushed back from injury for the Tests in the Caribbean, he has struggled to find the control that brought him so much success against India last summer and in current form looks a juicy target for Australia’s batsmen.

His omission from England’s upcoming ODI squad is undoubtedly a good thing, giving him time to return to county cricket and search for that consistency, as without him firing the spin cupboard looks alarmingly bare.

While nowhere near to the same extent, it is not just in the spin department that England may struggle with the ball. The seam attack, not only asks too much of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, but can look worryingly impotent when they are both not at their best.

Mark Wood looks like an excellent find but, with a history of injuries, requires careful management, and while Ben Stokes is developing into a much better Test match with ever-increasing experience, he can be a little raw at times.

With the bat England also appear to have a couple of problems to address. Gary Ballance, who enjoyed such a fantastic start to his Test match career, has struck a bad patch of form and has some work to do to rediscover his touch before the arrival of the Australians – something his exclusion from the ODI squad will allow him to do.

More concerning however is the form of Ian Bell, not just restricted to the last two series, but rather the last two seasons. Despite the odd moment of success with the bat, Bell has only managed to pass 30 five times in his last 25 innings. Rather than kick on from his stellar Ashes series in 2013, he has instead regressed and seems a shadow of the player he is capable of being.

While Cook’s dramatic return to form is extremely pleasing, questions remain about his captaincy in the field, and while he will never be a master tactician, his marshalling of England’s bowling to New Zealand’s tailenders in particular in this series was pretty woeful.

Another slight concern in to arise from this series was England’s catching, particularly in the slips, where a host of chances were squandered, something that can be ill-afforded against any side but particularly Australia. There is nothing to suggest however that this is not something England can fix in time for the Ashes.

Whether or not England can sort out the rest of their problems in the next five weeks remains to be seen, but what seems certain is that they will struggle to truly test Australia unless they do.