Rain stopped play Down Under

After being thrashed in consecutive Ashes series Down Under – England could hardly complain that the combined 9-0 scoreline from the 10 Tests 2013/14 and 2017/18 series was unfair – England resolved to ensure they were better prepared for this series. An advanced party of players not involved in the T20 World Cup was sent to Australia, with the Lions accompanying the main squad to provide the competitive cricket that the motley array of warm-up matches that Cricket Australia had arranged four years ago had conspicuously failed to do. The strategy aimed to learn from Australia’s retention of the Ashes in 2019, but has been decimated by the weather.

Yet perhaps England, as under-prepared as they are, can draw solace from New Zealand’s exploits in the first Test in India. New Zealand didn’t even have any intra-squad warm-up matches before the opening Test, with the schedule so saturated that Test specialists were required to train during the morning of matches before the T20 side.

‘In the Covid era things have changed quite a lot’

But in Kanpur New Zealand were able to overcome this handicap, salvaging a draw. They were indebted to three fine performances from players who had not played any cricket, with red or white ball, on the tour: Tom Latham scored 95 and 52, Will Young scored 89 and Kyle Jamieson took six wickets in the match. In the process they suggested that preparation for modern players can’t be measured in competitive cricket alone, and that players can overcome inadequate build-up to a tour through mental strength and drawing on previous experiences of playing in a country. 

Certainly, this is Buttler’s view. “In this day and age, lots of us go between formats quite often,” he said. “In the Covid era things have changed quite a lot as well, with quarantine rules making certain things a little bit trickier.

“I do think it’s something that you just have to deal with as a modern player, to be able to walk into situations without having full preparation. No team should be using that as excuses, you can still turn up on that first day and play a really good Test match.”