England had two major goals for 2017. Firstly, to win the Champions Trophy on home soil at the start of the summer and secondly to retain the Ashes in Australia this winter. They achieved neither and despite some notable high points including a good Test series win against South Africa and some fine limited-overs play, their overall report card is one of failure.
2017 - YEAR IN REVIEW
Failure at big stages, controversies highlight England's B- year
After a promising start to his Test captaincy, Joe Root experienced the agony of an Ashes loss © Getty
Adding to those missed targets is the Ben Stokes affair following his involvement in an incident outside a Bristol nightclub in September. After three years of rebuilding the relationship between the national team and its supporters, one which had broken down significantly during the Ashes whitewash of 2013/14 and the subsequent fallout, the team's reputation has once again taken a battering.
If results on the pitch had been better, the Stokes incident and those involving Jonny Bairstow (the 'headbutt' greeting) and Ben Duckett (pint of beer over the head) on the Ashes tour may have passed without much notice. But England lost two of seven Tests during their home summer and lost the Ashes before Christmas. Their Test cricket has gone nowhere and the limited-overs team, while improving, failed when it mattered. England are probably in a worse place at the end of the year than they were at the beginning.
Timeline
In the pursuit of their first global 50-over tournament success, the ECB schedulers had exclusively packed the first five months of the year with white-ball matches to help Eoin Morgan's team prepare. They started with three-match ODI and T20I series in India in January and February which loomed as a tough task given their troubles in the Test series before Christmas.
England lost both series 2-1 but all the matches were competitive except the final T20 game. England's run scoring in the ODI matches - making 350, 366 and 321 - continued their impressive development with the bat in white-ball cricket, although their bowlers struggled to contain the brilliant Indian batsmen, conceding 1,053 runs in the three 50-over matches. Against a fine, experienced limited-overs team in their own conditions, though, England did reasonably well.
After the final match of the crushing 4-0 series loss in India before Christmas, Alastair Cook looked spent. It was therefore no surprise that he resigned the captaincy after four and a half years shortly after the squad returned home and it was also no surprise that his successor was Joe Root, England's best batsman and someone earmarked for the role from a young age. The ECB could have plumped for James Anderson or Stuart Broad but they chose a player from the new generation.
Young, energetic and seen as a positive and expressive character, Root was chosen to lead the team to play exciting and positive cricket. The decision was met with widespread support from current and past players, although former England offspinner Graeme Swann was one who publicly worried what the leadership role may do to Root's form with the bat. By the end of the year, that was a question which had become more relevant.
After a short break back in the UK, Morgan took his squad to West Indies for three ODIs and came away with a comfortable clean sweep. The captain scored a fine hundred in the first match and Joe Root and Chris Woakes shared an unbeaten 102 run partnership for the seventh wicket in the second to secure a four wicket win. Root and Alex Hales both scored hundreds in the final match which England won by the huge margin of 186 runs.
The series was probably too one-sided for England's liking as preparation for the Champions Trophy and the pitches were slow and turgid. England's bowlers performed far better than they had in India, bowling out Windies in all three matches, although the quality of the opposition and the less batsmen-friendly nature of the pitches played a role. Liam Plunkett took ten wickets which was the start of a wonderful year for the experienced pacer.
A few weeks later, England hosted Ireland for the first time in early May with ODI matches at Bristol and Lord's. Historic though they were, the Irish team were horribly outclassed by England even without Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes who the ECB allowed to remain at the IPL. In Bristol, Ireland were bowled out for just 126 and although they did better at Lord's, England still won with ease. Like the series in the Caribbean, these two matches were of limited value.
Series win against South Africa and an omen for what was to come
After comfortable victories over Windies and Ireland, a three-match series against South Africa, ranked number one in the world at the time, was just the preparation England needed ahead of the Champions Trophy. The home side won the series 2-1 including a thriller at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton by just two runs after Ben Stokes had made a belligerent hundred in the first innings.
In an omen for what was to befall them in the Champions Trophy, though, the final match at Lord's showed that England don't always adjust their crash, bang, wallop approach well when pitches are tricky for batting. They were bowled out for just 153 - at one stage they were 20-6 - through a combination of excellent swing and seam bowling in helpful conditions and some average batting. After the match, Morgan put it down to a blip but it would not be the only time his side failed to adapt to conditions during the summer.
Despite some good performances, Eoin Morgan-led England failed to go the distance in the Champions Trophy ©Getty
England began the Champions Trophy with three victories in the group stages against Bangladesh at the Oval, New Zealand in Cardiff and Australia at Edgbaston. Things had gone to plan. Despite an early injury to Chris Woakes, Mark Wood was at his destructive best with the ball and only Jason Roy of the top six had not made a half-century in the group matches. England had not really broken much of a sweat and were red hot favourites to win the semi-final.
In the match at Cardiff, however, Eoin Morgan's men were undone by the combination of a sluggish, used pitch and some wonderful skilful and varied bowling from Pakistan led by Hasan Ali. England were bowled out for just 211 after being 80-1. The home team failed to adjust to the conditions or the challenges posed by their opponents just as they hadn't at Lord's against South Africa earlier in the summer. Pakistan won by eight wickets and deservedly went on to win the competition a few days later, while England's wait for a first global 50-over tournament victory continues.
Root's first assignment as Test captain was a four-Test series against a South Africa team shorn of Dale Steyn and AB de Villiers. The first match at Lord's resulted in a comfortable victory thanks to ten wickets for Moeen Ali and a huge first innings hundred for Root but the tables were turned in the second Test at Trent Bridge as South Africa won by 340 runs. England were bowled out twice in less than 100 overs of batting and former captain Michael Vaughan said they lacked the respect for Test match batsmanship.
That was met with a strong response from Stokes who suggested England didn't deserve the criticism but England's inconsistency has been a theme of their cricket over the past three years. As if to emphasise the point, they then beat South Africa by 239 runs and 177 runs at the Oval and Old Trafford respectively which included Test debuts for Tom Westley, Dawid Malan and Toby Roland-Jones in the third Test. The visitors may have been disappointing but this was a decent start to Root's time in charge.
Against an inexperienced and meek West Indian team, the three-match series at the end of the summer could have been rather forgettable but there were a number of highlights. The first Test was England's first day-night match but the game was so one-sided that it finished in three days after 19 West Indian wickets fell on the final day. The weather was also unkind so it lacked the sort of spectacle that other matches of this type have produced.
In the next Test at Headingley, Windies, derided after Edgbaston as one of the worst teams to tour England, responded magnificently with a fine win after Root had declared on the fourth evening, chasing 322 in the final day with Shai Hope making his second century of the match. In the next Test, which England won comfortably to seal a 2-1 series victory, James Anderson took his 500th Test wicket, becoming just the third seam bowler in the history of the game to reach that landmark.
Much has been written about the incident outside a Bristol nightclub during the five match ODI series against Windies which resulted in Ben Stokes' arrest on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm. The all-rounder has not yet been charged as the Criminal Prosecution Service is still looking at the case but the incident, which also involved Alex Hales, meant the ECB decided Stokes would not be considered for England selection until the police had resolved the matter.
At the time, it was unclear whether he would have any involvement in the Ashes and as it has turned out, Stokes has had none. Instead, he played domestic cricket in New Zealand in the hope that the case would not be referred to the CPS but once it was, it was clear he would miss the whole Ashes tour. It may not have changed the result but Stokes, one of the world's best players, would have made a huge difference for England.
The incident has also raised questions about Stokes' professionalism given he is known to have been out late, drinking during the Test against South Africa at Old Trafford in July for which he was subsequently warned by England's management and his own agent. Stokes is a quite brilliant talent but he is in danger of wasting it and ECB need to give him support. He will no doubt be hurting for putting himself and his team-mates in this position.
Ben Stokes absence dominated the headlines in the lead-up to the Ashes ©Getty
The Ashes tour started badly with the Stokes situation a constant distraction in the early weeks of the tour and it went from bad to worse as England surrendered the first three Tests without much of a whimper in the face of a pace barrage from a trio of Australian quicks. Although England competed at times, Australia were far better at seizing their opportunities and in Steven Smith, they have one of the great modern day batsmen. After 604 runs, including hundreds at the Gabba and MCG and a double-century in Perth, England still haven't found a way of getting him out.
To make matters worse, England's senior players including Root failed to effectively contribute until the fourth Test and further off-field incidents involving Jonny Bairstow and Ben Duckett, although extremely trivial in nature, added to the siege the squad have been under on and off the pitch. There were some positives though with Malan's maiden Test hundred and the encouraging displays of Craig Overton but although England secured a draw at the MCG to avoid a whitewash, another failure overseas will no doubt prompt questions about England's development system, coaching and selection.
At 35, Anderson has had one of his best years, taking 55 wickets at 17.58 including his 500th Test wicket against Windies in September. Although conditions were helpful for bowlers during the home summer, Anderson has once again showed what a master he is when the ball moves off the straight and his control has been nothing short of brilliant conceding less than 2.5 runs an over. He says he wants to carry on but the end of his career is nearing. England should cherish him while they still can.
Although he scored six half-centuries in 2017, Roy's poor form in the early part of the home summer with the bat saw him dropped for the Champions Trophy semi-final against Pakistan. In eight innings before that match, Roy's highest score was 20 and he made double figures just twice. He was replaced by Jonny Bairstow who made two hundreds against Windies in September. Roy may have to wait a while for another chance.
After a difficult start to his Test career, Malan's maiden hundred in Perth plus two more half-centuries in the Ashes series have shown he has the ability and mental fortitude to succeed at Test level. England's batting order has been inconsistent and over reliant on Cook and Root for a number of years now but the left-hander looks to be a real find.
Next year should be an important one for England's limited overs team who need to continue their recent improvement as they begin preparations for the World Cup, to be held in England, in 2019. They face India, Australia and New Zealand during the next year which should provide them with a good gauge as to where their 50-over cricket lies.
In the Test arena, England need to take some steps forward, particularly on their away tours to New Zealand in March and then Sri Lanka next winter. Root has a nucleus of a decent team but there are some problems - lack of variety and pace in the bowling attack, absence of a top-class spinner, failure to convert fifties to hundreds - which need to be solved if England are to progress.
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