Dead rubbers are always hard to gauge. It was a criticism of the great Australian teams of the 1990s and early 2000s that they often underperformed in the final Test when they had already wrapped up series.
No team has played more in a single calendar year, except India in 1983. That workload was surely a factor in this surrender in Hamilton when after being routed for 143 in their first innings they were rolled for 234 just 35 minutes after lunch on the fourth day.
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Read MoreAfter brilliant wins in the opening two Tests here in Christchurch and Wellington, it’s hardly surprising the players’ motivation may have been lacking during this final week of a tour that ends so close to Christmas.
The forced retirement of James Anderson was seen as a controversial call at the start of the summer. The subsequent emergence of Gus Atkinson, who’s taken 52 Test wickets at 22.15 since his debut in Anderson’s final Test against the West Indies at Lord’s in July, and Brydon Carse, the find of the winter and leading wicket-taker in this series with 18, has fully justified that decision.
The one blot on the bowling copybook is spinner Shoaib Bashir, whose eight wickets in this series came at 51.75 and who struggled to impose himself in turning conditions during a disappointing 2-1 series defeat in Pakistan in October.
Australia’s batters will be licking their lips at the prospect of taking down Bashir next year. It’s to be hoped England have a Plan B when it comes to picking an Ashes spinner if Bashir’s summer against India turns ugly.
Bethell’s three half-centuries and an average of 52 in his first three Tests point to a talent who will be hard to leave out. He also coped well with a ferocious spell of fast-bowling on this final day in Hamilton from Will O’Rourke.
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Read MoreThe lifting delivery from O’Rourke on the final day Brook fended to first slip was perhaps a glimpse into his Ashes future next winter given this was a dismissal that evoked memories of a rampant Mitchell Johnson on England’s ill-fated 2013-14 tour of Australia.
This is the kind of hostile fast bowling England can expect from India’s Jasprit Bumrah in the summer and Australia’s Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins next winter.
This Test in Hamilton was one to forget for England. But they would be foolish to not learn the lessons from it as they head into a year that will define the legacy of coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.
They cannot be as brittle as this when they face the two best teams in the world across five Tests. The hope is the strides this collective have made over the past 12 months, including the learnings from a punishing 4-1 defeat in India at the start of 2024, will allow Bazball to perform with more consistency because at their best this England team are a match for anybody.
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