Cook identifies England's "real big change" that doesn't "take the highlights"

19 February 2023 , 11:01

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Former England captain Sir Alastair Cook and current skipper Ben Stokes (Image: Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

Although England's more positive and aggressive approach with the bat has been crucial to their success under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, former captain Sir Alastair Cook believes their ability to take 20 wickets, particularly away from home, is the "real big change".

Since Stokes and McCullum took charge last summer, England have bowled out their opponents in all 21 innings, with South Africa not needing to bat a second time in England's sole defeat by an innings and 12 runs at Lord's last August.

And Cook has been hugely impressed by the way England have bowled and the fact that, after securing a 276 run win over New Zealand in Mount Maunganui, they have now taken 20 wickets in four consecutive Tests away from home.

Reflecting on England's latest victory, Cook said that while "the batting takes the highlights", the success of the bowlers is the "real big change" that Stokes and McCullum have orchestrated.

"320 in the first innings of any Test match isn't a match winning score, but it almost had more runs added to it because of how quickly they scored so they could then bowl [with the new ball under lights]," he told BT Sport.

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"If they had just creeped to 320 and then [bowled] an hour into day two then New Zealand would have had four hours of nice batting and a softer, older pink ball under lights isn't as effective. The rate of scoring allowed that.

Cook has been impressed by England's ability to take 20 wickets, particularly away from home (Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images)

"The batting takes the highlights, we all like to talk about Harry Brook whacking it, but the real big change in this side is the ability to take 20 wickets abroad, something we have really struggled with over the last 10 years or so.

"They have done it four times in a row, including in Pakistan where it was incredibly flat, so that is the real different change." And Stokes paid tribute to his bowling attack after victory in Mount Maunganui, reiterating that his philosophy is to focus on taking wickets without worrying about conceding runs.

"I am pretty blessed to be in charge of this bowling group at the moment," he said. "The idea is to take 10 wickets and that is what we are trying to do - taking the scoreboard away in any situation. As long as we are taking 10 wickets, it doesn't really matter how many runs we go for. We have an ethos with the bat but also with the ball."

Matthew Cooper