Joe Root declared he has "never had more fun playing professional cricket" after England's terrific red-ball form continued with a 2-1 series victory over South Africa.
Having recorded memorable triumphs over New Zealand and India since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over as the side's captain and coach partnership, England enjoyed further success as they sealed a nine-wicket victory over the Proteas at The Oval on Monday.
England have now claimed four consecutive series wins over South Africa, and have won six of their seven Tests under the new regime.
They have also earned widespread praise for their adventurous style under McCullum – dubbed 'Bazball' – and Root has been impressed by their rapid progress.
"It's been absolute class," the former skipper said. "It's been great to be part of, so much fun to play the way we have played, and to win six out of seven is a reflection of the quality with which we've played.
"It makes the winter and beyond look very exciting for this team. To know there's still more potential and areas we can improve is the most exciting part of it.
"We're definitely not the finished article, but to see the strides we've made in such a short space of time has been a breath of fresh air.
"I'm buzzing about it, to be honest, looking forward to the next series already!
"I've never had more fun playing professional cricket. Honestly, it is hard to put into words. You turn up every day, and you're very excited about what's going to happen. It's the unknown.
"It's quite a strange feeling to have played 120-odd games, still to have that feeling when you turn up every day.
"It's a really good place to be. It keeps you very hungry and motivated. You can bounce off the energy of everybody else who is in the same mindset."
Root then compared England's development to that of the country's one-day side, who won the 2019 World Cup following a change in style under the captaincy of Eoin Morgan.
"Some of the things we'd never seen before in Test cricket happened in a short space of time. It's nice to know what we're capable of," he added.
"It almost feels like - I hate drawing the comparison, but there is a small feeling of what it was like when we started to make those really big scores in the white-ball team.
"That's the exciting thing - what is the limit, how far can we go?
"You look at what that team has achieved over a period of time. I know it is early days and a lot of different elements to Test cricket, compared to the white-ball format, but it is very exciting that there is the same sort of vibe around, in my mind anyway."
Josh Tongue impresses and Ben Duckett shows pedigree – 5 England things
England started this eagerly-anticipated Ashes summer with a 10-wicket victory over Ireland in three days at Lord’s.
Ollie Pope’s 205 and a second Test century for Ben Duckett saw England declare on 524 for four and despite a spirited third-day display with the bat by Ireland, they were all out for 362 to set an easy target of 11 following their below-par 172 on day one.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look at how much we learned from this one-off Test.
Josh gets Tongues wagging
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Josh Tongue passed his Ashes audition with five for 66 in Ireland’s second innings to put his name on the honours board and leave an impression on his captain. Ben Stokes revealed ahead of the four-day fixture that Tongue was selected due to his extra pace and he hit 91mph during an impressive first spell. Tongue, who came close to retiring from cricket during a 15-month absence from the game due to a nerve problem in his shoulder, eased between an enforcer role and pitching it up as England’s third seamer. With 11 County Championship wickets to his name, including a certain Steve Smith, he is now a genuine option for the Ashes after being included in the squad for the first two Tests.
Duckett set for a bucket full?
An England bucket hat featured regularly throughout this Test but fittingly it was Duckett who plugged the new must-buy item of the summer on England’s official Twitter account. Duckett wore the hat after his masterful 182 that saw him set a new record for the quickest Test 150 at Lord’s, beating Don Bradman’s effort in the 1930 Ashes series. Since his December recall, Duckett has scored 50 or more six times in six Tests. He cut, drove and flicked off his pads for boundaries all around the wicket to back up the 177 he hit for Nottinghamshire at Lord’s in April. After finally being given the chance to play his natural red-ball game in international cricket, the 28-year-old looks set for a key Ashes role.
Has Bazball peaked?
England rattled along at six runs an over on their way to 524 before they declared after tea on day two. Duckett and Pope scored 174 in the morning, but that was bettered in the afternoon with 178 runs plundered before captain Stokes ended the run-fest after 82.4 overs. If Harry Brook, Jonny Bairstow and the England skipper himself had batted for a significant amount of time, who knows what records could have fallen? While it was another excellent batting display for England, the asterisk on it will be Ireland’s one-paced attack. There is no doubt England’s achievement of scoring 500 on day one in Rawalpindi was a better feat and Pat Cummins and co will not provide so many freebies come June 16 at Edgbaston.
Under-cooked? That’s old skool!
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Stokes acknowledged after England’s 10-wicket victory that he knew when he declared after tea on day two that he would face questions over failing to let Brook, Bairstow and himself get time in the middle before the Ashes opener. It felt justified, especially for someone like Yorkshire batter Brook who enjoyed a phenomenal winter and even hit a maiden century in the Indian Premier League in April, only to be dropped after a string of ducks. But Stokes does not prescribe to that opinion and laughed off the “old skool” view his players need “game practice” given the volume of cricket they play. Maybe a fair point!
Prestige a Little lost
Josh Little’s name dominated the build-up from an Ireland perspective after the seamer was “rested” ahead of his nation’s 50-over World Cup qualification tournament later this month following his IPL exploits. Among a catalogue of reasons behind the decision, Cricket Ireland’s Richard Holdsworth worryingly admitted the Lord’s Test was a “special occasion but not a pinnacle event.” The rewards for Ireland qualifying for the World Cup are great but Little’s absence hurt a bowling attack lacking variation. With his stock high in franchise circles, Little may never play Test cricket.
Ben Duckett leads the way with record hundred as England turn screw on Ireland
Ben Duckett marked his first Test innings on home soil with a chanceless and record-breaking 150 to help England reach lunch on day two on 325 for one with total control of the one-off Test with Ireland.
Duckett had closed the opening day on 60 not out but raced through to his milestone with a succession of drives to bring up his second red-ball century for his country from 106 deliveries.
In his 10th Test since his debut in Bangladesh in 2016, opener Duckett showed why he is the perfect fit for Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes’ aggressive ‘Bazball’ style to reach his 150 off the same amount of balls and in the process beat Australian great Don Bradman’s record for the quickest 150 at Lord’s.
Duckett walked off at lunch unbeaten on 161 with a strike rate of 100.62 alongside Ollie Pope, who had not been at his fluent best but played his part with 97 not out in an unbroken 216-run partnership for the second wicket and will eye his own place on the Lord’s honours board in the afternoon session.
Day one of this Ashes summer started “almost perfectly” in the words of Stuart Broad, whose five-wicket haul helped bowl Ireland out quickly after tea and saw England almost into a lead by the close.
England barely needed 15 minutes to move beyond the tourists’ total on the second day with Duckett, who had been watchful following Zak Crawley’s dismissal on Thursday night, again in fine touch.
Duckett cut the first ball of the day to the boundary and a drive straight down the ground off Graham Hume nudged England into a lead after 29.2 overs, 27 fewer than it had taken red-ball novices Ireland to reach 172.
Another drive saw Duckett move into the eighties and within sight of a second century at Lord’s this season after he hit 177 here for Nottinghamshire in April.
With Mark Adair struggling with his line and length, Duckett raced onto 99 with a cover drive and flick off his pads down to the fine leg boundary in a 35th over that brought up the hundred partnership with Pope.
The next over produced further milestones with Duckett able to celebrate three figures after he nudged into the leg side for a single to short midwicket.
Duckett held his arms aloft after he made it to a hundred from 106 deliveries, having hit 14 boundaries in a chanceless innings where the only hint of danger occurred when he raced down the wicket for a quick single before he equally rapidly turned back off Adair’s second over of the day.
With Duckett’s name on the Lord’s honours board, Pope set about joining him and reached fifty in the same over.
Pope had looked at his effortless best at the end of day one, hitting five fours to close on 29 not out off 35 balls, but was more frenetic during the first hour with the occasional play and miss married with the odd boundary down to third man that did not always look completely controlled.
Despite that, England were still rattling along at more than six runs an over with Ireland lacking the X-factor of rested seamer Josh Little following his Indian Premier League exploits.
Off-spinner Andrew McBrine and debutant Fionn Hand were tasked with stemming the flow of runs after the drinks break and while they momentarily did, Pope survived a review for lbw to close in on his own century.
The session belonged to Duckett though, who started to bring out the sweep shot and two off Hand helped him beat Bradman’s previous record of 150 off 163 deliveries during the 1930 Ashes.
Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne ‘as hungry as ever’ to score runs
Marnus Labuschagne is hungry to score runs ahead of Australia’s World Test Championship final against India and this summer’s Ashes series.
Australia’s packed summer schedule begins next week against India before they face England in a bid to retain the Ashes.
And Labuschagne admitted he is mentally ready for the upcoming challenges, having become a mainstay at number three in Australia’s batting line-up.
“Mentally, I am as hungry as ever to score runs and I want us to win the series,” Labuschagne said.
“I’m a more consistent player in the side so in terms of the feeling it’s more about preparation where in 2019 I felt like I had to prove to people that I was good enough.”
Labuschagne looked back at Australia’s 4-0 series win over England in 2022 and called for a similar outcome when the sides renew their rivalry later this month.
And the Glamorgan player shed light on how his side will prepare in the days and weeks ahead, with a short turnaround between games against India and England.
He added: “I’m not going to get into a verbal battle but it’s a series and Australia dominated that series (4-0 in 2022) and that’s about as much said and our job is to perform no matter of the circumstances and we did that, so hopefully we can continue to do that this series.
“We’ve played a lot of their (India’s) main seamers two months ago so in terms of seeing them and knowing their actions, we’re pretty clear on that.
“The reality is that I’ve played against (England’s) Ollie Robinson, Josh Tongue and Matt Potts this year, I’ve played against all those guys, I know what they bowl so it’s just about preparing well and understanding what they’re going to do.
“Jimmy (Anderson), Broady (Stuart Broad) and Ollie Rob (Robinson) are probably going to come in but it’s a matter of mentally preparing for each one, there’s similarities between each bowler even though they play for different teams.”
England will be without key bowler Jofra Archer who has been ruled out of the Ashes with an elbow injury.
Labuschagne talked up the fast bowler and admitted England are at a disadvantage without him.
“I always want to play against the best players,” Labuschagne said. “Any England team that doesn’t have Archer in it isn’t as strong so that’s always a benefit from a playing-against perspective. You always want to see the best players on the park and that’s what is good for Test cricket.”
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