Clarity of purpose at critical junctures delivered both of England’s World Cup victories. Can the same be said of the Ashes?
England is a big fan of semi-finals.
England is a big fan of semi-finals. Their biggest one-day and T20 performances in the last five years – and possibly ever – have come in semi-finals: an eight-wicket thrashing of Australia at Edgbaston in 2019, and a ten-wicket destruction of India in Adelaide last November.
They are now at the equivalent point of an Ashes series, with two wins remaining. Although the format is different, with different coloured balls and outfits, seven players of England’s XI at Emirates Old Trafford this week have participated in at least one of those two semi-final routs, and two of them – Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes – have played in both.
These scenarios appear to focus the brains and harden the resolve of England’s players. Their most recent semi-final loss – to New Zealand in the 2021 T20 World Cup in Dubai – came after a breeze through the group stage, which concluded in a defeat to South Africa in a game that was practically a dead rubber.
The scenario was significantly different from both World Cup victories. In both competitions, unexpected results early in the group rounds put them on the verge of elimination, requiring them to win four consecutive games. They decided to double down on their attacking strategy in both tournaments. The clarity brought out the best in both competitions.
A rare squad gathering at Edgbaston in 2019 spurred players to express openly their fear of defeat and elimination before of their first must-win game against India. As Woakes described in his book White Hot, England decided that “if we were going to lose, we were going to go down swinging.” Stokes was the first to speak up that day, having been urged by Young over coffee the day before.
And, in 2022, Jos Buttler delivered a similar warning during a training session at Allan Border Field in Brisbane, just days before England’s first must-win game, this time against New Zealand. “If anything, let’s always be on the positive side,” he advised his teammates. “We’re not going to come away from the next few games thinking, ‘I wish I took it on a little more.'”
Such moments are frequently accorded additional significance retroactively, as inflection points in narrative arcs. But it was that clarity that Stokes alluded to at Lord’s, following a defeat that left England two-nil down with three games remaining: “It’s actually very exciting to know that the way we’re playing our cricket couldn’t be more perfect for the situation we find ourselves in.”
England’s ultra-attacking batting style was scrutinized in their defeat at Lord’s, with the assumption that they would rein it in at Headingley. Instead, they doubled down, scoring at 4.79 runs per over in the third Test, their fastest rate in the series thus far.
Woakes came into the game and played a key role in the victory, and he recognized the connections with the World Cup victories. “It maps it out for you, doesn’t it?” he asked. “There are no ifs, buts, or maybes: you have no choice but to win.” That probably works well for this team, as it has for the white-ball team in similar scenarios.
“Hopefully, the experiences of a few players will be beneficial to them.” Everyone understands that we must go out there and attempt to win: Ben is a great believer in not drawing Test matches. It does lay out and set the stage for us to go out there and win – and we’re in Manchester, so I’m sure there will be rain at some point.”
Stokes has hinted that the weather forecast, which is awful all week but especially at the weekend, may influence England’s strategy, emphasizing the team’s drive to force a result. This is where the Ashes Test varies from a World Cup semi-final: only one team must win.
“A draw will suffice for them,” Stokes added. Pat Cummins reiterated that Australia’s “first preference is always to try to win,” referencing the two-all draw in the 2019 series. “As the game progresses, you might start figuring out how risky you want to be,” he admits.
“It makes everything we’ve been doing that much more relevant,” Stokes added. “Shying away from the task at hand would not bring out the best in us as a team in terms of the personnel that we have at the moment.” Knowing we have to win this one definitely fits us even better.”
England’s remarkable success in fourth-innings run-chases under this administration has demonstrated that they thrive on clarity, reducing the sport’s most enigmatic format to something straightforward. If they treat this Test as if it were an Ashes semi-final, previous history says it will be worth watching.
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