Jonny Bairstow made flesh the brave new England era of Stokes and McCullum

England may have won the second Test against New Zealand and with it the series but that will seem almost incidental to a match that defied cricketing gravity.

From Jonny Bairstow’s 77-ball hundred on the final afternoon to the free entry that ensured a full house on an epic last day at Trent Bridge, the old rules of Test cricket were torn up and cast asunder.

Under that orthodoxy, teams posting 553 in their first innings, as New Zealand did, should not lose. Nor should teams chase down 299 in 72 overs on a last-day pitch as England did (they actually managed it in 50), their task compounded by a rare Joe Root failure.

But under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, devotees of an ultra-aggressive approach to sport, this team has found belief in itself and in playing a high-octane brand of cricket which will produce thrills but also spills. So buckle up for a ride which is likely to be as exciting as it is bumpy.

It is how Eoin Morgan got England’s white-ball teams to play their cricket these past six years with conspicuous success, including winning a World Cup.

Whether the philosophy and methods can simply be transplanted into the red-ball team remains to be seen. Test cricket is more complex and requires consistency across a wide spectrum of conditions to get you to the top.

What isn’t in doubt is McCullum is the common denominator; Morgan having been heavily influenced by him when the pair played together for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.

Talk of a bold, new approach is one thing but it was made flesh by Bairstow at Trent Bridge on Tuesday. For many of those present, some perhaps seeing Test cricket for the first time, nothing again is likely to match the blitzkrieg they witnessed immediately after tea. It was brutal and exhilarating, the ghoulish one-sidedness bringing not a jot of sympathy for the New Zealand bowlers from a delirious crowd.

There has been destructive batting before in Tests but surely none which has crushed opponents, still with a good chance of winning themselves, so brutally and with such speed. To go from hopeful to helpless so quickly was chilling.

It was also self-inflicted, to a degree. England were four wickets down and still needing 160 off 38 overs when New Zealand turned to their version of Bodyline, which entailed peppering Bairstow and captain Ben Stokes with short-pitched bowling from Matt Henry and Trent Boult.

Instead of wickets, fours and sixes flowed as Bairstow, in particular, kept clearing the shorter of the leg-side boundaries.

In just four overs 59 runs were conceded, which as cunning plans go puts it right up there with one of Baldrick’s more hare-brained schemes. Even worse, it got Bairstow and Stokes’ dander up so much that when New Zealand reverted back to line and length bowling, and re-introduced off-spinner Michael Bracewell, the boundaries kept flowing for England with remorseless regularity.

Many will credit Bairstow’s hard-hitting approach to his prowess in white-ball cricket and yet it somehow seems more thrilling and more illicit when done in a Test.

More memorable too, and while I have no clear memory of Bairstow’s T20 and 50-over triumphs, I won’t forget Trent Bridge, and not just because he missed, by two balls, the chance to beat Gilbert Jessop’s 120-year old record for the fastest Test century by an England player (76 balls).

Some records did fall such as the highest aggregate runs for a Test, the 1,675 made a testament to the excellent pitch produced by the Trent Bridge groundsman Steve Birks.

Nottinghamshire CCC also judged the mood well by allowing free entry for the final day though one wonders about future complaints from those who pay full price for a duller day’s play.

If the win was a team effort the grand finale belonged to Bairstow. Since his debut in 2012, he has been messed about by the Test team, batting in numerous positions between three and seven and having the wicketkeeping gloves handed to him then taken away.

So you’d think he’d jump at the chance to champion the influence of the new coach and captain.

But when asked, he tempered his enthusiasm by saying previous Test captain Joe Root had got a bad deal leading the side during the Covid pandemic when bubble life was at its most restrictive.

Such loyalty is typical of Bairstow but if we rewind a year and recall the debacle at Lord’s where England, under Root, made no attempt to chase 273 in 73 overs set by New Zealand on the last day, you can see the ground has shifted.

Given that match was not part of the Test Championship, and therefore jeopardy free, it was something of a scandal when the team played out the draw. With an outlook like that, and following more lame performances in the interim, it can be no surprise captain, coach and team director have all been replaced.

This team seems determined to do things differently and three things uttered by Stokes confirm that. The first was the utter disdain with which he treated the question, when first appointed captain, of whether his England side should become more resilient by learning to play for draws, such as the one Nasser Hussain took over at the turn of the millennium. ‘Play for draws,’ he said, dismissing the very notion from his presence, ‘no way.’

The second was the instruction he issued to Bairstow on the final day of the Test just gone, when New Zealand began to bowl bouncers after tea: ‘Don’t you dare hit the ball down. Put it in the stands.’ And the third was his promise that his team would ‘run into the danger instead of backing away from it’.

As manifestos go it is more Dan Dare than MCC manual and does not make England the complete team, at least not yet as they need a better spinner and a 90mph fast bowler. But their captain and coach realise that shortcomings can sometimes be overcome by bold, entertaining cricket and that, to the excitement of England supporters everywhere, is what they have so far delivered.

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