A still from ‘The Test’

Around halfway of the second episode of the latest season of The Test, drama erupts.

English batter Jonny Bairstow ducks a bouncer, the ball goes to the keeper and the batter walks out of the crease. Pretty much a normal thing that happens during a Test match, you’d think. But there’s tense music in the background, almost like you know something is going to happen.

And then it does. Bairstow walks out of the crease thinking the over was done, and wicketkeeper Carey has thrown at the stumps and is claiming a dismissal.

“Sort of within one ball yeah, it happened,” Alex Carey recalls in the docuseries.

The crowd at Lord’s Cricket Ground would go on to chant, “Same old Aussies, always cheating,” even as a disappointed Bairstow exits.

It’s the equivalent of an action-packed interval block in the movies, the kind that leaves you on a high as you make your way through to the bathroom, probably grinning all the way at how good it is.

The current season of The Test, a sports docuseries that follows the Australian men’s cricket team, throws up such excellent moments. Following the Bairstow runout, Alex Carey is made villain in the eyes of the English public, something that affects him mentally, which his teammate Steve Smith reveals in the documentary.

The Test almost resembles a movie made on war, because of the format’s nature to be over five days. Every day, every session has some sort of an event that makes it special, and that, at times, seeps into the next day as well, as a new battle ensues. Like the one revolving around the Aussie bowling and the English openers in Old Trafford that highlights what essentially Bazball is. For the uninitiated, Bazball refers to aggressive, ultra-positive way of playing Test cricket. It makes this format far more exciting that you’d think.

Flashbacks are seldom interesting in films, but in such sports documentaries, it provides context and adds to the drama. Like that of Travis Head, who doesn’t touch a bat for weeks due to his wedding and shows up big time at the World Test Championship against India. Or Nathan Lyon, off tour due to a calf injury – the events of him walking out to bat under such circumstances were dramatic – and watching the rest of the series with his wife in his drawing room back in Australia, while his teammates slog it out in England.

Directed by Sheldon Wynne and Adrian Brown, The Test also cleverly brings in the highs and lows of the game; case in point being how the Aussies, after being in the game in the last Ashes Test at the Oval, veered off course. Such sports documentaries can be made or broken by editing, and the fantastic editing team ensures that The Test is a good watch. It also has some neat quotes (Marnus Labuchange says, “Cricket is a game of small margins. You can feel like you’re on top and it can flip in a second”).

While Season 3 might not have the appeal of the first season of The Test, which focused on the image rebuilding exercise of the team after the ball-tampering scandal, it does have quite a few highs. One wishes that a video crew was sent to the Australian ODI World Cup campaign too, so that cricket fans got a peek into the journey of Pat Cummins’ winning team, which silenced Indian crowds in the final.

Nevertheless, this season of The Test makes for an engaging, thrilling watch, with a few lessons that could appeal to even non-cricket lovers.

The Test Season 3 is currently streaming on Prime Video

File picture of England fast bowler James Anderson, who announced his retirement from Test cricket
| Photo Credit: PTI

Legendary James Anderson is set for his final appearance in Test cricket as the upcoming home season for England will be the last for cricket’s most successful fast bowler, a report in U.K. media said.

Having become the first fast bowler ever to take 700 wickets in Test cricket during England’s tour of India earlier this year, legendary Australian spinner Shane Warne’s tally of 708 wickets in the format could be on Anderson’s target as he takes the field for one final run with the England team.

ALSO READ | Anderson’s success, and how the physics of swing bowling played to it

According to The Guardian, Anderson has been told by England’s Test team coach Brendon McCullum that they are looking at the future, with an eye on the Ashes 2025-26 in Australia, which means that end of the road is near for the 41-year-old.

England are set to play Tests against West Indies and Sri Lanka at home this year and one of those fixtures is at Old Trafford — Anderson’s home ground — and that game could be the last for the right-arm bowler.

The report said that McCullum flew especially from New Zealand to the U.K. to inform Anderson about his future over a round of golf.

Anderson, who has played 187 Tests for England in a storied career which began in May 2003 along with 194 ODIs and 19 T20Is, sits third in the list of all-time highest wicket-takers in Test cricket with 700 wickets, behind Warne (708) and Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan (800).

India’s Kuldeep Yadav celebrates with skipper Rohit Sharma after the wicket of England batsman Ben Duckett on the first day of the final test match at HPCA Ground in Dharamshala on March 07, 2024.
| Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy

The legendary Geoff Boycott said England batsmen’s failure to negate left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav was one of the main reasons behind the team’s thumping defeat against India in the recent Test series.

England started the five-match series with a win at Hyderabad but it went progressively worse for them and lost the rubber 1-4 as Kuldeep walked away with 19 wickets from four games.

“I was amazed how many of them could not read the wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav and by the end of the series were still no wiser. A bowler can be a mystery to you the first couple of times you have to face him.

“But at international level, batsmen should be able to find a way to work him out. Too many never looked comfortable against him and were reduced to staying back and trying to play him off the pitch,” wrote Boycott in his column in The Telegraph.

Boycott was also critical of the overtly aggressive approach of England batters in the series.

“They (English batters) were not confident of their ability to defend, especially with fielders around the bat, so they looked to attack instead. That idea is fraught with danger against quality spinners,” he detailed.

The former England opener, who scored 8114 runs in Test cricket, said, “That is why we saw some daft dismissals like Ollie Pope running down the pitch to be stumped by yards and Ben Duckett running down the pitch to Ashwin to be bowled off an underside edge.” Boycott then underlined the importance for batters to have a tight defence.

“On flat batting pitches at home and in Pakistan and New Zealand our batsmen have had great fun. Indian pitches have been a bit different. Having a good defence is part of batting.

“That doesn’t mean you have to bat defensively but it is usually wise to play yourself in, get used to the pitch and the bowling before you try to stamp your authority on the game,” he added.

Even though young England spinners Tom Hartley (22) and Shoaib Bashir (17) took wickets, Boycott said they were too green behind the ears to make a sustained impact against a quality side like India.

“It was a big gamble to select three novice spinners. Inexperienced kids were never going to out-bowl experienced Indian spinners in India. England were lucky that Virat Kohli was unavailable for all the series and KL Rahul only played one Test,” he wrote.

England coach Brendon McCullum reacts after diving for a ball during a nets session at Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium on March 06, 2024 in Dharamsala.
| Photo Credit: Gareth Copley

England head coach Brendon McCullum said they will have to do some deep thinking about their approach after being “exposed” in the final four matches in India but is convinced their first series defeat under his watch will make them a better side.

The five-test series was billed as the biggest test of England’s swashbuckling approach to test cricket, which is built around an aggressive, fearless brand of batting.

Their bid to hand Rohit Sharma’s side their first test series defeat on home soil since 2012 got off to the perfect start with a thrilling win in Hyderabad, where Ollie Pope played arguably the best knock by a touring batter in India.

But that was not as good as it got for the tourists as India won the next four to prevail 4-1 and deflate the ‘Bazball’ hype.

“Sometimes you can get away with things, but when you’re exposed in the way we have been in the back end of this series in particular, it does require some pretty deep thinking and some adjustment to make sure we’re staying true to what we believe in,” McCullum told BBC Sport.

“If anything we got more timid as the series went on and that was because of the pressure that was applied to us by the Indian line-up.”

England’s batting was a major disappointment and they sorely missed Harry Brook, who withdrew from the series due to personal reasons.

McCullum said England would be a better side when they host West Indies for a three-test series in July, followed by another home series against Sri Lanka.

“A lot of good will come out of this tour. I’m 100% positive about that,” he added.

“We will be a better cricket team for the experience, although it hurts a lot at the moment.”

Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir were England’s top wicket-takers and both impressed in their debut series, which could put Jack Leach under pressure as the team’s preferred spinner.

“Jack will understand that himself,” McCullum said of the left-arm spinner, who missed the last four tests against India with a knee injury.

“It’s a good place to be when you’ve got depth and different types of options. We’ve got to embrace that and there will be some challenging selections throughout the summer.”

England’s Jos Buttler walks off the field as Indian players celebrate his wicket during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 match between India and England in Lucknow on October 29, 2023
| Photo Credit: PTI

Sometimes an early defeat in a World Cup can be a blessing. It rids the team of complacency, it focuses attention on weaknesses that might have been covered up by victory, it re-motivates the players, it shines a light on team selection since non-performers have no place to hide. Australia, who began with two defeats at this World Cup now look like one of the favourites.

It can go the other way too. Champions England are at the bottom of the table two-thirds of the way down the league. This puts their qualification for the 2025 Champions Trophy in jeopardy. Only the first seven teams will make the grade — the criterion was one of the best-kept secrets when the World Cup began. Perhaps nothing succeeds like failure.

India have won all their matches convincingly at this stage, making them strong candidates to join Australia (2003 and 2007) as the teams to go through undefeated in this century. Perhaps television is right: there is only one team in this World Cup. For some, however, that team might be Afghanistan who have now beaten three former champions convincingly.

Before India won the World Cup in 1983, they lost to Australia and the West Indies. In 2011, another year of triumph, India lost to South Africa before getting it together.

Discovering alternatives

Successful teams learn from defeat and disappointment lessons that are not readily available in victory and contentment. The injury to Hardik Pandya threw India for a bit, but in playing Mohammed Shami and Suryakumar Yadav, they have discovered alternatives they might not have otherwise. When Pandya returns, both these players are likely to remain. Pandya will probably replace a batsman, something which might not have been the obvious move earlier.

If England is a shining example for its approach to Test cricket, their One-Day International approach is a warning. The lack of flexibility, the reluctance to drop heroes of four years earlier, the inability to stick to a plan have all played their role in this.

Skipper Jason Buttler looks like he wants to wear an invisibility cloak at the mandatory post-match interviews. You almost feel sorry for the team — Australia’s captain seemed to be hiding his disappointment at England’s plight behind a brave smile!

Similar predicament

If India win the World Cup, they will face the same problems England are facing now, four years after their triumph. The temptation to hang on to a once-victorious team now four years older and giving the impression that turning up to play is all that matters is likely to affect India in 2027 if they don’t learn from England’s problems.

Till recently, the mantra of a defeated captain was: “Let’s forget this bad performance and move on.” Defeated captains at this World Cup don’t want to forget. “This hurts,” said Buttler after the defeat against Afghanistan, adding “I think you’ve got to let these defeats hurt. There’s no point in just trying to move on very quickly. Let it hurt for a bit, let’s reflect….”

It was a sentiment echoed by Temba Bavuma who said after his side lost to the Netherlands that South Africa should “feel the emotion of today.” He clarified: “You’ve got to let the emotion seep in. Don’t think there is any point in trying to forget what’s happened. It is going to hurt, it should hurt.”

Objectively speaking, it was necessary for England to have performed this badly to ensure things change. India had the same issue in 2007 when they lost to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and bowed out in tears. Four years later, under a new captain and without many of their seniors (Sachin Tendulkar was an exception), they won the tournament.

Even the best team in the world needs only one off-day in the knockout to ruin their plans. For India in 2003, that day was in the final. In the last two tournaments in 2015 and 2019, that day was in the semifinals. Teams can peak too early, but sometimes they can get caught up in the hype about momentum too. There is no such thing as momentum in sport. Every match is a fresh start.

There are lessons in defeat and victory, but you have to learn the right ones.