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New Year is a time for resolutions and for taking stock of where you are and where you would like to be.
While the Ashes are gone and the fighting talk of November now dissolved in tears and apologies, it is probably safe to say that the powers that be were hopefully wishing for better things in 2026.
Here’s our view of what we think make up the top seven things on England‘s 2026 wishlist.
1. Less breakable quicks
England arrived in Australia with a bowling attack that was reportedly the fastest unit since the dawn of measurement. Slowly but surely that unit has disintegrated.
Fast bowlers are notoriously breakable athletes but to see Mark Wood, Jofra Archer and Gus Atkinson all home before the end of the series is less than ideal. Part of winning consistently is about playing regularly and building combinations.
If you look at the great teams from the last couple of decades they all featured settled bowling attacks who worked well together. Think McGrath, Gillespie and Warne or Donald, Pollock and Ntini – we could go on.
England haven’t had that for some time, and while they have solid depth in bowling resources, they are far from a settled unit.
2. Permission to clone Joe Root
Joe Root isn’t just the world’s best Test batsman; he is also a very good team player and a man who is constantly working on his game and striving to be better. He was already the ICC’s number one ranked Test batsman when he arrived in Australia.
To most people he had nothing to prove. But he wanted, or needed, to prove to himself that the one glaring omission from his CV was erased on this tour – his lack of a Test ton Down Under.
There was plenty of noise about his ability to perform in Australia and in the pressure cauldron of The Ashes, but Root paid no heed to any of it.
While others were debating the relative strengths of this England team with those of the past or mouthing off about how weak Australia were, Root kept his head down and practiced and visualized.
He hit an undefeated 138 in Brisbane to get the monkey off his back before following it up with a superb 160 in Sydney. If England had a few more players like Root in their mix, they would be a much better side than they are at present.
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3. A solution to brain-fades
Speaking of Joe Root, one of the things that makes him such an enduring and quality Test performer is his ability to get in the zone and stay there.
While some players have been prone to playing shots that would be considered injudicious in a game of village T20 cricket, Root has waited for the bad balls to find the fence, while keeping things ticking along through smart running and sensible placement of his shots.
In short, he has been less literal in his interpretation of what being aggressive means.
He hasn’t scored slowly and he has dominated. What some of his colleagues need to understand is that brain-fades are fuel for the Australian fire; every stupid shot sends a message that they are in with a chance and that’s not a message you want to be sending in a Test match.
4. A T20 World Cup title
England haven’t just been poor in Test cricket in recent times, they have also struggled with the white ball. Brendon McCullum oversees the short-format teams as well and his work there is more nascent than with the Test side.
It wasn’t long ago that England were the T20 World Champions, but those heady days do feel a little way off given their slide down the ICC rankings. They are now ranked third behind India and Australia.
T20 is a place where anything can happen it is a much less predictable arena than Test cricket. What England cricket desperately needs now is a shot in the arm – some heroes to look up to.
The obvious place to find these people is in the T20 arena where they have the player resources to make a serious challenge in India and Sri Lanka.
5. A workable version of ‘Bazball’
‘Bazball’ is not a bad philosophy, but it is rather one dimensional – or at least the way England chose to implement it in the first three Tests was.
So much noise has been made around the supposedly revolutionary philosophy that was going to change the face of Test cricket that England would obviously love to see it produce results.
But it has failed to trouble the number one ranked Test side in the Ashes, and it wasn’t enough to secure a series win against the fourth ranked India less than six months ago.
It is probably safe to say that in its current guise it won’t stand up to the scrutiny it will be exposed to by World Test Champions South Africa. England will be wishing desperately that they are able to reinvent the much-touted style so that it works better than it has to date.
6. One of those memory erasers from Men in Black
To be fair, who wouldn’t want one of those memory erasing devices from Men in Black. But there will be a lot of England players who would fancy one of them about now.
They arrived in Australia with so much bluster and such misplaced cockiness that in hindsight it was really embarrassing. You need to earn the right to mouth off, and England simply haven’t.
Australia on the other hand, have. England didn’t just disrespect their opponents they also dissed many of their former stars who cautioned against their style and their lack of substance.
Commentators are paid to commentate and to give opinions while players are paid to play cricket.
If England had focussed a bit more on preparing and playing cricket and a bit less on mouthing off in the media, things may not have ended any differently – but at least they wouldn’t have looked like such pillocks.
If one of those MIB devices could delete memories of what was said in the build up to the Ashes, a lot of England’s players and management who would be keen to use.
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The post 6 new year wishes England would love to see materialise in 2026 appeared first on Cricket365.
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