England in good shape (on the pitch) for the Ashes after dominant series win over New Zealand

England wrapped up a 2-0 series victory over the Black Caps on Tuesday, bowling out the Kiwis for 220 on a rain affected day at Headingley. Alastair Cook had come under some criticism for his decision not to enforce the follow-on after England had dismissed the New Zealanders for just 174 in the first innings, but luckily for him the Yorkshire rain showers were not enough to halt England’s rampant bowling attack.

With the forecast suggesting that day five of the Test could be severely affected by rain, Cook’s decision not to re-insert McCullum’s men appeared to be a strange one. Although England only needed a draw from this match in order to win the series, the decision seemed to suggest a lack of ruthlessness. Why bat again when England’s bowlers were perfectly capable of bowling out their opponents again and sending the Kiwis to a crushing innings defeat?

Because that is what great teams do. Great teams don’t allow their opponents any opportunities to re-gain a foothold in the match. They play aggressively and look to bury their opposition, to thrash them, to play them off the park. What a statement of intent prior to the Ashes it would have been from England if they had won by an innings at Headingley.

As it turned out the rain stayed away long enough for England to complete a comprehensive victory. They did destroy the Black Caps, convincingly defeating them by 247 runs. After all the media talk, Alastair Cook’s men justified his decision.

England’s bowlers needed just 86 minutes (in two spells) to finish off the game, having laid the foundations the previous afternoon by reducing the visitors to 158-6 at stumps. Graeme Swann fully justified his selection by picking up six wickets, to give the off-spinner match figures of 10-132, whilst Broad, Anderson and Finn all got in on the act. Finn’s performance especially will have delighted the England selectors, as he supported his fellow seamers brilliantly, bowling with increased purpose and aggression. Cook must now be confident that all four of his front line bowlers are in good shape and are extremely capable of exposing the weaknesses of the inexperienced Australian batting line-up in the upcoming Ashes series.

Elsewhere, Cook himself scored a fantastic hundred, 130 off 190 balls, finally coming out on top against a seam attack that has previously caused him problems and giving himself a necessary confidence boost ahead of the Ashes. Jonathan Trott also helped himself to some runs (76) in England’s second innings after missing out in the first, and he too now finds himself in good form prior to the Australia series.

In addition, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow continued to demonstrate their remarkable talent as they accelerated the innings prior to the declaration, with Root’s outrageous reverse sweep off Neil Wagner suggesting that the young Sheffield lad is currently brimming with confidence. And why wouldn’t he be? Thus far this summer, Root has scored 889 first-class runs in just six matches, at an average of 98.77, and after topping the run chart, he was named as England’s player of the series against New Zealand. Playing in just his third Test series, Root is showing extraordinary maturity for a young man in the foetal stage of his international career and is already being talked about as a future England captain.

England are thus looking like a side who are in great shape ahead of the Champions Trophy and more importantly, this summer’s Ashes series. Their dominant re-emergence after a disappointing tour of New Zealand earlier in the year, in which they only just managed to salvage a series draw, is a particularly timely one.

However, this is England and things are never quite so simple. Nick Compton is clearly struggling for form at the top of the order and Andy Flower has suggested that the Somerset batsman must return to his county and score big runs in order to cement his place for the Ashes. There is a growing opinion that Joe Root should replace Compton at the top of the order, with former England captain Michael Vaughan being one such stout supporter of the move.

England’s usual policy is to back the players they have invited into the international set-up and they are unlikely to make changes prior to a series as important as the Ashes. Continuity has been a key ingredient of their success in recent years and to push Root up the order, when he is batting so well at number five, would surely be foolish and unnecessary so close to the Australians’ arrival. Compton is simply out of form. His back-to-back hundreds in New Zealand proved he has both the technique and the temperament to excel at international level; England must stick with him.

Yet the Compton debate seems to have caused wider issues. In conjunction with the criticism Cook received for his decision to bat again in the second Test, there appears to be a growing tension between the England camp and the media.  Jonathan Trott, captain Cook and coach Flower all came out and strongly rebuffed the suggestions that England had made the wrong decision by not enforcing following-on, and perhaps the looming Ashes series is creating a divide between the national team and the national media. There is a lot of expectation that England will not only beat the Aussie’s, but destroy them and perhaps England are beginning to feel pressurised by the weight of that expectation.

Usually winning the Ashes would be enough. This time around the country expects so much more. Thankfully England are currently producing on the pitch and come the end of the summer, it will only be the results that matter.