Dugout News: New leaders and new mindset for England Cricket

The winless run of nine tests and record of 1 win in 17 is over and England is off the bottom of the World Test Championship table. Despite the old batting woes of England, the Stokes-McCullum era began with a sail of win towards win. Some notable changes that looked in the players' mindsets were:

Stokes-McCullum: Aggressive Approach

While former skipper Joe Root was calm on the field, Ben stokes has always been known for his aggressive approach, always running on the front foot in any competition. Many loved his on-field dynamic process, and thus the move to make him captain was made in the hope of bringing a change that the England team desperately needed.

The fundamental changes that reflected upon the new era were the comeback of James Anderson and Stuart Broad as the duo together scalped half the wickets. Matt Potts emerged as an excellent debutant, giving England another seam-bowler to cherish. Stokes handled both the debutants Potts and Matt Parkinson with utmost grace and utilised them fully. Ben Foakes' composure with bat and gloves was also very welcoming. 

Even Stokes could embellish some concerns England had as he stood with Joe Root as support for the last partnership to win the game. However, for England to make a comeback in Test cricket, it is imperative that they need work on Batting. The right kind of batters who can hold the innings for longer is essential in Test cricket, which is losing nowadays. If this factor is worked upon, he can change the scenarios for the England team. 

Apart from Ben Stokes as an aggressive approach to keeping captain, England's new coach Brendon McCullum is also believed to be attacking in policy, especially when setting the field. Too early to comment, though, if what we witnessed in the recently concluded match was a part of good fielding or a wider-up tic under McCullum, who adds up so much stock in attitude in the field. The setting helped the team grab some early wickets and reaped the rewards.

Joe Root is better as a batsman after leaving the captain role

Already a calm and composed person, now off the burden of captaincy can be a massive boon to the team. Joe Root has captained England in 64 test matches spanning over five years. The team showed poor results and was continuously under remarks after losing Ashes by 4-0 and 1-0 series loss in the Caribbean. In fact, in that duration, it affected the performance of Joe Root as a batter who could single-handedly revive innings for his team. And now, in the first test match under Stokes' captaincy, we could see the comfort with which Root was able to hit. Stokes' winning era began with Joe Root's unbeaten 115 to lead the team to win and complete 10,000 test runs.