'Don't make Coldplay comparison - England should aim for winning mentality'

Dealing with the fallout from an England loss is not for the faint-hearted.

Ever since Brendon McCullum took over more than two years ago, every Test reverse has been portrayed as a mortal blow to the Bazball ideology, ammunition to the section of England followers waiting for the whole project to fall on its backside.

To be clear, England are a much better team than they were when McCullum assumed control (admittedly, they could have put Mr Blobby in charge and done better than one win in 17), but they are not the finished article. It is possible to simultaneously be a supporter of their methods and also disappointed, frustrated, even angry when they let themselves down.

The eight-wicket hammering at the hands of Sri Lanka is not England’s most painful in the McCullum era – I’m looking at you, Lord’s Ashes Test of 2023 – though it is comfortably their worst performance.

Given the opposition, strong positions England got themselves into, and the chance of a rare 100% home summer, to be beaten in less than three full days of cricket is borderline unforgivable.

Accusations of complacency and arrogance are strong, especially without explicit knowledge of what is going on behind closed doors, but it is tough to argue England haven’t at least been extremely careless.

Context is key. The evolution England have gone through has been both necessary and successful. A single defeat in six is hardly a crisis and one wonders what sort of introspection Australia went through when they suffered a similarly poor loss at the hands of West Indies at the Gabba earlier this year. Not too much.

There was a temptation to give England a pass. With the series won, so what if they lost the final Test of a low-pressure summer?

Then Joe Root said this: “Coldplay can’t be number one every week.”

Apart from being an insight into Root’s taste in music – he was always unlikely to be a System of a Down man – it also reveals much about England’s psyche.

Why shouldn’t they, in these conditions and against this Sri Lanka team, win every week?

England have been transformed since McCullum arrived. Having the ability to play with freedom, confidence and conviction, safe in the knowledge you can brush off a failure, can be an immense strength.

On the other hand, ruthlessness – stand-in captain Ollie Pope referred to a lack of it after the Oval defeat – feels like a key ingredient England must find. They have been open about their planning for the next Ashes, so they can look to the build-up of Michael Vaughan’s team when they beat the great Australia side of 2005. A year earlier, Vaughan’s England went 7-0 across the home summer.

To see where England can learn for the future, we can look to their recent past.

Only the second defeat they suffered under McCullum came early last year in Wellington, where they needlessly enforced the follow-on against New Zealand and eventually were beaten in an all-time great Test match by one run.

There was an intoxication over England’s entertainment that masked the wasteful nature of the loss. It bled into the home Ashes, not helped by a week playing golf before the first Test. By the time England came to their senses, they were 2-0 down and reliant on the Manchester weather in their quest to regain the urn. We know the rest.

The England side that lost to Sri Lanka is almost entirely different from the Wonder of Wellington. Only three players survive, albeit with injured captain Ben Stokes and opener Zak Crawley to return.

It will be fascinating to see how England respond. For new faces like Shoaib Bashir, Gus Atkinson and Jamie Smith, a trio that have had successful first home summers as Test cricketers, this defeat should really sting. A lesson from Mother Cricket might be the best thing that could have happened to England.

We won’t have long to find out. The first Test in Pakistan begins in less than a month. England are planning to name a squad by the end of the week, once confusion over the venues is sorted.

It largely picks itself. Dan Lawrence has probably played himself out of the squad, especially with Jordan Cox able to act as back-up batter and keeper. Jack Leach should return as second spinner. The pace-bowling ranks are depleted, so it might be a case of those still standing getting a place on the plane. There will be a decision to make on Chris Woakes, attack-leader at home, but with a poor record abroad.

England are judged by their success in the biggest series against India and Australia, neither of whom they have beaten since 2018. They play both sides back-to-back across 2025 and into 2026. Until then, we won’t really know how good England are.

Beforehand they have seven Tests against Pakistan, New Zealand and Zimbabwe to find the ruthlessness that separates the very good teams from the great ones.

To return to Root’s Coldplay reference, Chris Martin - a big cricket fan - belts out these lines on Viva La Vida: “One minute, I held the key, next the walls were closed on me, and I discovered that my castles stand, upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand.”

England hold the key to their own success, but this loss shows the foundations can be shaky. They have less than a year to make them rock-solid for the Bazball reckoning.