Here's An Idea: England's long game
Whether planned or unplanned, England is playing a long game, and it is beautiful to watch.
"In everything you do, you’re either playing a short term or long term game."
"Jonny Bairstow might get 150 in this game, but he's been told: 'No, you're going to be resting for the first two Tests in India,'" Mike Atherton revealed in January 2021 during England's tour of Sri Lanka.
Atherton was explaining England's rotation policy which is not based on how well a player fares in certain conditions, but rather, based on workload. For instance, Bairstow is one of England's better players of spin, but because of their pre-arranged rotation schedule, he had to miss England's first two Tests in India, along with other multi-format players.
Even though it comes with its costs, the rotation policy is going a long way in maintaining the players' mental wellbeing. The conditions and demands of bio-secure bubbles can be extremely taxing on players, so taxing that it is difficult to find any silver linings in them. Therefore, England's rotation policy is a proactive approach to combating the stress they come with.
"We’ve decided to rest and rotate, we’ve decided we need to look after the players. And I do believe we have to be proactive in looking after them, rather than wait until there’s a problem," Chris Silverwood said in January, appealing for fans to understand the rationale behind the policy.
The Long Game
These are the short-term gains from England’s rotation policy: avoiding fatigue, burnout, stress and thus keeping them fresh for longer. This means that they are able to consistently perform at their best. However, with these gains come the little costs that accompany the inability to field your strongest XI at any particular moment. They reduce their chances of winning as they lack the best line-up they could field.
However, if you add the short-term gains and the long-term benefits, it is all worth it. You see, in addition to the obvious short-term benefits, the ECB is also playing the long game.
The long game isn’t particularly notable. It doesn’t draw a lot of attention because it doesn’t offer any spectacular results immediately. In fact, you might even call it boring. It is no different from pounding a rock, most times you don’t notice tiny advantages until you see the big gaps in the outcome.
“When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before. “- Jacob Riis
By playing the long game, by sticking with their rotation policy, England is willing to be less efficient in the short term but more effective in the long term. This is because, as things stand, they are building a team with incredible depth. Instead of relying on the same group of players all the time, they are giving valuable international experience to players that would have had to wait on the sidelines for a long time. Waiting for the incumbent in a position to get injured or something like that.
As Dale Steyn remarked, they are building an army of incredible cricketers.
Below is a list of England’s possible teams across formats. The list was created by Podcaster Cricket Badger using selected players across all formats. These are players within the rotation policy.
England is undertaking a succession process in a subtle way. Most teams make such bold moves of planning for the future when they have to, and as things stand, England does not have to. They have a Test team that has players with mettle and can pull off the seemingly impossible. Not only that, but their limited-overs teams are enjoying their best form.
If anything, the new players coming in could not have come in at a better time. They enter the dressing-room when there is a strong culture and distinct identity. They are not just sharing training sessions and the dressing-room with experienced players, they are also competing with them against top competition, getting guidance when the confidence is high. Because of this, their learning process is faster and in the best environment, making any transition in the future seamless.
Solving A Problem Before It Happens
By playing the long game, England is solving a problem before it happens, a problem that will come in the future. Succession and transition are the two things that need to be undertaken by teams at some point because all teams have a finite lifespan. But, as we all know this not something that gets much fanfare. As humans, we are more inclined to see the impact of and praise problem-solvers. We scarcely notice the people who ensure that those problems are avoided.
As we know, transitions are not easy, they come with difficulty (sometimes great difficulty) and sometimes teams fail to recover from them. Look at the great West Indies team of the 1970s and 1980s, they failed to make the leap into the future in time. The result was that they failed to carry on their exceptional play in Test cricket, and was relegated to oblivion within the format. It is only now that we see a renaissance of sorts happening.
In the present, let me borrow a football example. Any Liverpool fan will tell you that their team is currently not performing at their best because of injuries to key players. Their bench players are just not as good as the First XI. There is a bit of a gap.
In hindsight, these are problems that could have been avoided through better planning, better preparation for the future. They could have been avoided if the club had built squad depth.
Learning From England
With their rotation policy, England is showing the way when it comes to how to not only navigate the current conditions but also prepare for the future and build what Nassim Taleb would call 'antifragile teams.'
"Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty. Yet, in spite of the ubiquity of the phenomenon, there is no word for the exact opposite of fragile. Let us call it antifragile. Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness. The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better..." - Nassim Taleb
South Africa has struggled with players' workload management, a recent case being that of Kagiso Rabada in the past few years. After the retirements of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and other top seamers from Test cricket, coaches and selectors have needed Rabada in their line ups. His experience and skill is what held the bowling attack together. In the end, they overused him.
All of this can be avoided by being intentional about developing squad depth.
Right now, there is a transition process happening, and it presents an opportunity for not only coming up with a First XI that SA can depend on but for a team with great depth, through a model that almost mimics England's. It doesn't have to be identical, but it needs to be as intentional. Done right, SA will build a team that can seamlessly switch players and still perform at their best.
I read somewhere, someone saying great teams have great depth, and I agree with them. If Proteas are to be a great squad, they need to have a squad with depth. A squad that will easily navigate shocks like injuries, excessive workloads and retirements. After all, as Euripides asked, “How can you think yourself a great man when the first accident that comes along can wipe you out completely?"
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