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Brendon McCullum begins his tenure as England’s all-format head coach on Wednesday as his side go up against India in the first of five T20s in Kolkata.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the talking points of the tour, which also comprises three ODIs as a warm-up for next month’s Champions Trophy in Pakistan.
Bazball expands to white ball
Under the McCullum-Ben Stokes axis, England have won 22 of 35 Tests having triumphed just once in their previous 17. Pivotal to the transformation has been a more relaxed environment, with McCullum emboldening his players to push the envelop largely free from fear of consequences. He has been brought on board for England’s white-ball sides after they relinquished both World Cup crowns in the last 18 months. And the early signs are the former New Zealand captain will bring the same style to the T20 and ODI teams as he is “desperate for us to play a really watchable brand of cricket”.
Pace, pace, pace
England have discarded their medium-fast bowlers and brought along half a dozen out-and-out quicks, with Mark Wood and Jofra Archer the headline acts. Wood will make his return at Eden Gardens having been sidelined since August with an elbow injury and Archer continues his carefully-managed comeback. Brydon Carse, Jamie Overton, Saqib Mahmood and Gus Atkinson are also all capable of bowling in the high 80-mph range, and McCullum has backed them to send down “absolute rockets” and “blow teams away”.
Bethell on the up
Jacob Bethell has enjoyed a stunning start to his international career, impressing on the white-ball tour of the Caribbean in November when England were missing several regulars then registering three Test fifties in New Zealand before Christmas. The 21-year-old might already be an England regular in all three formats. An eight-match tour of India represents another stern examination as he will have attention thrust on him, the like of which he has never experienced. England captain Jos Buttler thinks he is up for the challenge, saying: “He has a good head on his shoulders and has the game for it.”
Deputy Harry
With Moeen Ali retiring from international duty after last year’s T20 World Cup, England have belatedly alighted on Harry Brook as Buttler’s vice-captain. The Yorkshireman stood in for Buttler during a 3-2 ODI series defeat to Australia at the back end of last summer. And, according to Buttler, Brook “was as positive a captain as I’ve ever seen”. With Buttler and McCullum signalling their intentions to be as aggressive as possible, Brook seems the ideal choice as lieutenant.
India up in arms
Whisper it but, from afar, it seems all is not well in the India camp. A new decree from the Board of Control for Cricket in India aims to clamp down on the time players spend with their families on tour. The decision was made hot on the heels of India losing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia for the first time in a decade, having been beaten 3-1 Down Under. The world T20 champions are not at full strength for this series with Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant absent while Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have retired from T20s. But Mohammed Shami is set to return after more than a year out injured.
