After England defeated New Zealand by 267 runs in the pink-ball Test at Mount Maunganui last week, Marcus Trescothick, the visitors' batting coach, revealed that there are more bits involved in the attacking methods used by the batters ever since coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes took over.
Young bater Harry Brook led the charge for England with 143 runs off 122 deliveries, through scores of 81 and 54 in both innings, as the visitors got their tenth victory in 11 Test matches and continued their aggressive brand of cricket.
"There is a bit more method to the madness. It's not just about you know, Let's go gung-ho and just be ultra-aggressive.' The mantra is (to) try and point pressure on bowlers and try and find opportunities that we can move the game forward," said Trescothick to SENZ Mornings radio show.
Before McCullum was hired as head coach of the England Test team in May last year, the side had slumped to their lowest point in the format with nine defeats across 2021, including being thrashed in the Ashes in Australia and losing in West Indies.
Trescothick feels England's new outlook was ignited by McCullum's appointment but has been accepted graciously by all players and support staff. "It kind of started with Brendon coming in and sort of looking to evolve the approach of the team.
And then you've got the skipper in Ben Stokes also looking to try and do things slightly differently to give the team a different angle and a different way of playing the game."
"I think encouraging them to be more aggressive and to be a bit more free, which then allows us as coaches to then follow through with that ethos and keep pushing the guys towards the danger if you like and keep pushing them to try and find different approaches, find a different way of playing this game."
"We had a period of time beforehand where it didn't go so well but we needed to move the game forward so it's kind of breeding itself now. The guys have had success doing it and they're finding and looking at opportunities where they can go out and be a bit more aggressive and the proof has been in the pudding.
We've won 10 out of 11 games on the bounce and it's like, this is pretty good at what we're trying to do." Ahead 1-0 in the two-match series, England will hope to claim another clean sweep when the second Test against New Zealand starts on Friday at the Basin Reserve in Wellington.