England limped out of a chastening Ashes winter and tried to draw a line under it with victory over New Zealand at Lord's, though that win came in a chaotic two-day contest on a pitch so poor that it was almost impossible to judge whether the side had genuinely turned a corner.
Any sense of renewal was short-lived. Old problems resurfaced in the shape of drink-related incidents away from the field and reckless strokeplay on it. A weakened England team were thrashed at The Oval, then beaten again at Trent Bridge, a result that handed them a rare home Test series defeat.
Ben Stokes decided enough was enough as captain, oddly choosing to announce it midway through a bowling spell in Nottingham before, ever the entertainer, immediately claiming a wicket. Head coach Brendon McCullum was moved on soon after. The Bazball project, as it had been known, was over.
What follows is version two of the reset - a fresh captain who is also a familiar face, with Joe Root stepping back into a job he first held between 2017 and 2022 - alongside a new long-term coach. That appointment will not take full effect immediately, though, with Stephen Fleming not expected to be fully embedded until England's tour of South Africa this winter. In the meantime, Marcus Trescothick takes interim charge for the series against Pakistan, which begins on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports.
Whatever people thought of Bazball, there was never much doubt about how England intended to play. With both Stokes and McCullum gone - the former stepping away from international cricket, the latter moving into the white-ball head coach role - it will be fascinating to see how Root's second spell in charge takes shape stylistically.
How will England look to play under Root?
Speaking to Sky Sports' Michael Atherton, Root pushed back against being characterised as a
negative captain
after he was reminded of the widely criticised decision not to properly pursue a chase of 273 against New Zealand at Lord's during his first tenure in 2021 - a match remembered for Dom Sibley grinding out 60 from 207 deliveries.
Root spoke warmly of what Bazball had done in
taking the fear away
from the dressing room, saying he had relished being part of it and intends to carry that spirit forward. But he also wants to bring greater situational awareness to the role.
Stokes, in one of his earliest interviews as captain four years ago, insisted he would never set a team up to play for a draw. Root, by contrast, told Atherton that his England side would recognise when accepting a draw was the sensible course. A touch more nuance appears to be arriving.
That is precisely what many England followers have been hoping for. Bazball was never a mistake in itself - far from it, given how it dragged the side out of the malaise created by a long run of poor results and stifling Covid bubbles. But it was also never fully sustainable in its purest form.
Root's task is to keep the best elements of that approach, stamp his own identity on it, and construct a side capable of winning consistently. If England bat with the same instincts Root shows at the crease, they are unlikely to go far wrong. Nobody has ever accused him of timidity with the bat - commentators regularly note him ticking along serenely on 30 from 30 balls - yet he also knows precisely when to shift gears to secure a result.
Time for England to start winning again
Winning has become a rare commodity for England in Test cricket. The collapse against New Zealand at Trent Bridge in June left them having lost seven and won only two of their last 10 matches, both victories coming in tight two-day finishes.
Wins were similarly scarce during the closing stages of Root's first spell as captain, with just a single victory across 17 matches before he stood down in April 2022 - though that period was shaped heavily by the demands of Covid protocols and frequent absences among his best players.
Root may never possess Stokes' instinctive feel for captaincy - his short-ball tactics against New Zealand at The Oval earlier this summer, deployed while standing in for Stokes and branded
brainless
by Atherton, were a clear misstep. Even so, he remains England's most successful Test captain in history with 27 wins, one more than Michael Vaughan and three clear of both Stokes and Sir Alastair Cook.
Root has also suggested that experience has taught him which battles are worth fighting as captain, and that he must be careful not to overuse a key asset like Jofra Archer, something he has conceded he got wrong in the past. There is a lingering worry that captaincy duties might blunt his own scoring, but that did not happen during the Covid years when the pressure on him was arguably greater, so there is little reason to expect it now.
Root was never the flashiest option to lead the side again - Sky Sports' Mark Butcher went as far as calling the decision
retrograde
which says little for England's succession planning. Yet with Harry Brook's nightclub incident from late last year still relatively fresh in the memory, and Jacob Bethell both inexperienced in Tests and currently sidelined by injury, Root's return makes practical sense.
Stokes retirement leaves a big void to fill
Root brings previous experience of the job and the unreserved respect of his team-mates, but what he cannot replicate is Stokes himself. Filling his place in the XI is one matter - Dan Lawrence takes on that role against Pakistan, with Sam Curran or Rehan Ahmed possible options down the line. Replacing his presence, his all-round influence and his knack for rescuing England from seemingly lost causes is another matter entirely.
Even accepting he may not be the force he once was, England are unquestionably weaker for his absence. There remains a suspicion - whether grounded in fact or simply wishful thinking given the story it would make - that Stokes could yet return for the Ashes next summer, a series England have not won since 2015. Stokes maintains he will not, though few would be shocked if he changed his mind.
For now, the focus has to move beyond Stokes and beyond the Ashes. England need victories again, starting with Pakistan. The new era begins - hopefully shorn of the old habits.
Background: a softer touch off the field
Root's early moves as captain have already drawn scrutiny. According to Nasser Hussain's assessment of Root's decision to scrap England's team curfew ahead of the Pakistan series, the move was praised as a sign of maturity, even as questions persist over whether Root possesses Stokes' natural tactical instincts as captain.
That change followed confirmation of the wider leadership reshuffle, with England's appointment of Stephen Fleming as Test coach alongside Root's return as captain announced on 30 July 2026, with Trescothick installed as interim head coach specifically for the Pakistan fixtures.
Stokes himself has not stayed entirely quiet on the changes. In a wide-ranging podcast interview, Stokes questioned England's decision to overlook Harry Brook for the captaincy and discussed the team's relationship with alcohol, adding another layer to the debate over England's leadership direction.
According to Reuters, Root confirmed there will be no team curfew imposed for the Pakistan Tests, a notable departure in off-field standards under the new leadership and one directly linked to the discipline concerns that emerged during the New Zealand series. Root, now 35, was England's all-time leading Test run-scorer at the point of his reappointment, according to the BBC.
What happens next
The first Test against Pakistan gets under way at Headingley on 19 August 2026, according to Sky Sports. The series continues with the second Test at Lord's from 27 August and concludes with the third at Edgbaston starting 9 September 2026, both fixtures confirmed by the same Sky Sports report.
Fleming is expected to take up his role as Test head coach in full only once England travel to South Africa in December 2026, as reported by The Guardian. Reports also suggest the ECB is expected to keep Root in the captaincy through the 2027 Ashes, according to India Today, giving him a long runway to shape this new phase of England's Test side.
Coverage of day one between England and Pakistan at Headingley begins live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 10.15am on Wednesday, with the first ball scheduled for 11am. The match can also be streamed contract-free via NOW.
