Sometimes I feel this England team can't take two steps forward without doing something that makes me think they've gone backwards. So much progress has been made, so many reasons for optimism provided before a year that is likely to define them. But then they end it with a display that forces me to wonder whether they have it in them to become the best in the world, to win the World Test Championship, to be more than just entertainers.
This is a team that has shown they can dominate, and that they can also self-destruct. McCullum has renewed England in 2024 but also shown ruthless side. Overall it has been a hugely positive winter. It started with an amazing victory in the first Test in Pakistan, and though they lost the next two games in unusual, hostile conditions they came roaring back in New Zealand, playing some terrific cricket.
Ben Stokes says he hates the word ruthless, but I am puzzled by him attaching a negative connotation to a word that is synonymous with all the greatest teams in the history of sport. No team relishes facing talented and ruthless opponents. Well, England have the talent, but not the attitude.
The truth is you don't mess about with form: once you have it you want to keep it as long as you can. So go and win 3-0, lay down a marker. But that is not what happened. At the end of day one New Zealand were 315 for nine.
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