England’s next 12 months will go a long way to defining Peter Moores

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/jan/07/england-schedule-peter-moores-test

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England will be stretched to the limit during this next 12 months, physically and mentally, and across formats. Test matches come thick and fast from the spring onwards, 17 of them in little more than nine months, which, if you think about it, amounts to roughly a third of Sir Don Bradman’s career. On top of that there are the usual rounds of ODIs and the occasional T20 international.

The year starts with the Tri-Series in Australia, for which the team are currently embarking with the prospect that many of the players and management may not return home until after the first week in May. That would be the case should they reach the World Cup final and be compelled to go straight to the Caribbean for the three-Test tour. Unlikely, granted, but a real possibility nonetheless in a format that allows a steady gain in momentum – and certainly more so than a month ago.

There has to be a tax break in this somewhere and by the time the final Test of four against South Africa is done a year on we shall have a better picture of where England stand in the scheme of things. Much can happen in a year, either way, as we have found out.

Collectively and individually this is a watershed for many involved in England cricket, not only the players. The bombshell that was dropped on Alastair Cook before Christmas was absolutely the right decision, not only in the interest of the team but his own. It also demonstrated, albeit belatedly, that no one has an unchallenged right to be in a team if they do not contribute, a strong message that occasionally must be sent out and some forget.

This needs to be the year in which Cook rediscovers the fundamentals of batting that have taken him to the fringe of being the most prolific England batsman of all, before, that is, it all became a little too complicated in pursuit of other goals. Simplicity was key for him, without the time constraints of limited-overs cricket. Right from the moment he stepped from the plane in Nagpur, hotfoot from Antigua, and marked his Test debut with the first of his 25 hundreds, it was obvious that by playing within narrow parameters, in fact the only parameters he had, he had the knowledge of how to score runs, not flamboyantly but with ruthless efficiency.

There was a simplicity to it and with that came an inevitability. He is barely 30 years old and in his prime as an athlete. He will score runs again, bloody-minded many of them no doubt – “answering his critics” as we like to say in this business – but he has to start against West Indies, on the slow pitches against a moderate attack. Score heavily in Antigua, Grenada and Barbados and confidence will flood back, all of which he will need to face the top-class pace attacks of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, as well as the demands of Pakistan bowlers on the dustbowls of the UAE.

It is time, too, for the England team collectively to progress beyond the youthful stage that comes with rebuilding and play mature cricket. All teams tend to be cyclical and in the past decade, first under Duncan Fletcher and then Andy Flower, England assembled two of the finest in their history.

It really is not that simple to rebuild a team, in all its facets, as one might trade in an old car for a new one. Unfortunately, we live in an age of instant gratification, where patience is no longer considered a virtue.

People demand instant results, an unrealistic expectation that pervades all team sports. This season there have been 33 changes of management in the Football League, a number that may well have increased by the time this is read. Unless there is proper understanding, long-term planning, as opposed to short-term papering over cracks, is not considered an option. However, a team that suffered as badly as did England a year ago in Australia cannot simply dust itself off and get on with things as if nothing happened. Good things have already evolved, though: Gary Ballance, Joe Root, Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler have distinguished themselves in key positions in the Test team, and where previous players appeared irreplaceable.

This is the time then to appreciate that Peter Moores will have a definite vision of how he sees the team evolving. He did not take over a team at the top of its game but one at rock bottom, and he has been building up from that.

Fletcher had a plan and so, too, Flower, each subsequently articulated in Steve James’ award-winning book, The Plan. So, too, did Moores first time round. However, while acknowledging that this is a team still in its infancy as a unit, there will be a need to show that Moores’ cricketers play the game with purpose and confidence even in adversity. In the final year of Flower’s tenure, the progress of the team plateaued: for Moores now the graph needs to be an upward one and this year will go a long way to defining whether his second tenure is going to be successful.

That the omens are surely good for a belated fix has to be better than no fix at all. The removal of Cook from his one-day shackles – for that is what it had become – was a time coming but immediately the team has a more urgent look to it, and there are some destructive players capable of winning one-off matches, which is what the World Cup boils down to ultimately.

Simultaneously, the Tests that follow will be tough but well within the scope of this team, provided Cook comes back rejuvenated to underpin it. A strong and competitive New Zealand side will challenge them but can be beaten. So, too, Australia later in the summer – if the England bowlers are on top of their game.

And beyond that? Hard to say. New Zealand have shown that Pakistan can be vulnerable, even in their own conditions. South Africa may provide the biggest challenge but in a year’s time, whatever the outcome, the England team will have young cricketers case-hardened in the most fiery furnace they are likely to encounter in their career. That can only be to the good.