Young England shrug off old baggage

There was a time when any year that included an Ashes victory could not be hailed anything other than a resounding success in English cricket. And it remains true that, in England at least, no series - not ODI or T20 or Test - inspires the support or interest the Ashes does.

But the days when England could judge themselves against such narrow parameters have gone. So while Ashes success was as sweet as ever, particularly given the thrashing they received in Australia 18 months or so earlier, it could not mask the shambles of their World Cup campaign or the fact that the Ashes was the only one of four Test series they contested that they were able to win.

The World Cup may come to be remembered as a watershed moment in English cricket. Not only did it lead to the sacking of the coach, Peter Moores, and the managing director of the England teams, Paul Downton, but it led to a review into the structure of domestic cricket that may yet bring significant change.

Just as significantly, it led to a dramatic change in the approach and style of the England team. Out went the cagey, attritional England and in came a bold, vibrant and largely youthful one.

This approach and this inexperience led to inconsistency in results, especially in Test cricket. So there was frustration when Ben Stokes pulled to the man on the fence in Grenada and frustration when Stokes, Mark Wood (twice) Steven Finn (twice) and even Stuart Broad appeared to have taken wickets, only for the TV umpires to notice that they had overstepped. In Abu Dhabi, at least, it might have cost them a Test.

But it also led to some of the most joyful cricket England have played in many years. To see them thrash the three highest totals in their ODI history (including their first in excess of 400) during a dizzying fortnight in June was to see a side reinvented and emboldened. Equally, to see Stokes react to adversity against New Zealand at Lord's by producing the fastest Test century the ground had ever seen, or Moeen Ali counterattack down the order as he did throughout the Ashes, was to see them play a style of cricket that was so fresh, so fun and so typically un-English that much could be forgiven in the learning process. It is meant to be entertainment, after all. It hasn't always felt that way in recent times.

Much of the credit for this transformation was attributed to Trevor Bayliss. But the process of change had started before his arrival ahead of the Ashes. It was under Paul Farbrace, with whom Bayliss had worked during their time with Sri Lanka, that the talk around the England camp changed from "scrapping and fighting" to "having fun and showing your skills." If the changes sounded subtle, the difference in playing style was drastic.

They extended beyond the pitch, too. For 2015 was the year that the England team re-engaged with the general public. No selfie was refused, no autograph unsigned. Aloofness was exchanged for likeability. After a couple of years when snarling and infighting characterised England cricket, 2015 was the year the smile returned to the face of the England team.

The most dramatic improvement came in the white-ball formats. Following an embarrassing World Cup campaign, after which several senior players (Ian Bell, James Anderson and Stuart Broad) were dropped, England embraced the need for change and reinvented themselves as an ultra-aggressive side. ODI series wins against New Zealand and Pakistan followed; Australia won 3-2. Still, from where they had been in March, that represented significant improvement. Records set during the year included their fastest individual ODI century (46 balls by Jos Buttler against Pakistan), their highest ODI total (408 for 9 v New Zealand) and their highest ODI total batting second to win (350 for 3 v New Zealand). They were unrecognisable from the rabble that fell at the first hurdle in the World Cup.

How much progress they had made in Test cricket remained debatable. Of the four Test series they completed, they won one, drew two and lost one: that's five Test wins and six losses (up to Christmas), including one in Barbados to a West Indies side that was disrespectfully (and unhelpfully) dubbed "mediocre" by the new ECB chairman, Colin Graves, just ahead of the series. A ranking of fifth seemed fair.

They were hamstrung through the year by fragility in the top order. At one stage, the third wicket had fallen for 52 or fewer in eight out of 14 innings from the start of the year. Two of the top three who started the year in the Caribbean, Jonathan Trott and Gary Ballance, had gone by the time England reached The Oval. Adam Lyth, Trott's replacement, also failed. By the time England got to South Africa, Alastair Cook was on to his eighth opening partner since Andrew Strauss retired in 2012, and Buttler, seen as one of the foundation stones of the new side a few months earlier, had made way for Jonny Bairstow in the Test side.

There were notable successes. Joe Root, who set a new record for the most international runs in a year by an England player, cemented his reputation as one of the world's finest young batsmen in all formats of the game, while the development of Stokes as an allrounder capable of winning a game with bat (as he showed at Lord's) or ball (as he showed at Trent Bridge) helped provide the side with a balance they had lacked for years. He may well be the fulcrum of this team for a decade.

Broad and Anderson, helped by the addition of the extra seamer to the attack, produced some of the most consistent bowling of their careers, with Broad unfortunate to miss out on the Man-of-the-Series award for the Ashes (it went to Root, instead) and Anderson producing a masterclass of control and skill in the UAE without the rewards he deserved. Finn also produced an encouraging return to form at Edgbaston, bowling with a pace we had seen before and a swing we had not, to suggest his darkest days may be behind him.

England's struggles against the turning ball came back to haunt them in the UAE. While Moeen contributed with his all-round package, the job of lead spinner remained a significant challenge for him and led to another period of introspection within the English game as it became clear that more had to be done to encourage spin bowlers in domestic cricket. Eventually the decision was made to tinker with the playing regulations concerning the toss in county cricket in the hope that it would lead to less seam-friendly surfaces.

The result in the UAE brought them back to earth, but with a young team playing attractive cricket, there is a greater sense of optimism within England cricket than there has been for two or three years.

High point
It's rare that everything comes together as well as it did for England at Trent Bridge. Broad produced one of the most dramatic spells (8 for 15) in Ashes history, Root underlined his class with a century that shut the door on Australia, and Stokes took a wonder catch to dismiss Adam Voges that drew a shocked look from Broad that was copied in playgrounds and clubs across the land before compensating for the absence of Anderson with a super spell of swing bowling in the second innings. For all to combine in a three-day innings victory that secured England the Ashes was one thing, but that two of the architects, Stokes and Root, were 24-year-olds with their careers in front of them, was even more encouraging.

Low point
There is nothing particularly unusual about England sinking without trace at the World Cup. Going back to their defeat in the final of the 1992 tournament, they have won only five matches in six such events against one of the other teams from the top eight of the Test rankings. They were knocked out of the previous global tournament - the World T20 in 2014 - after defeat by Netherlands.

They are not unfamiliar with ignominy. But by any standards the margin of the loss they suffered against New Zealand - with 226 balls remaining - was embarrassing, while defeats against Australia (by 111 runs), Sri Lanka (nine wickets) and Bangladesh (by 15 runs) were little better. The conclusion was unavoidable: England had sunk so far off the pace in ODI cricket that they belonged with Scotland, Afghanistan and the UAE, the teams eliminated in the first round of the tournament.

Fading star
When Ian Bell was omitted from the squad for the tour of South Africa it raised the genuine possibility - probability, even - that his international career might be over. He lost his ODI place first. After an undistinguished World Cup - the average of 52.40 was boosted by half-centuries against Scotland, Afghanistan and Bangladesh - in which he was unable to set the positive tone required, he made way for younger, more aggressive batsmen and subsequently announced his retirement from the format.

He kept his Test place until the end of the series in the UAE, which brought one half-century in six innings. He could not claim the selectors had been especially unreasonable: there were no centuries in his last 23 Test innings - a period that includes a run of seven scores of 0 or 1 in 10 innings - and, during the Ashes, he had been preferred to the younger Ballance. Dropped slip catches were also becoming uncharacteristically common. There is still time for Bell, only 33, to extend his record of five Ashes series victories (no England player has achieved more) and add to those 22 Test centuries and 7727 Test runs. And, if he never plays again, he can look back on a distinguished career in which he scored more ODI runs than any England player. Yet, for all that, a sense lingers that he had the talent to achieve even more.

What 2016 holds
Despite their recent record in global limited-overs tournaments, England go into the World T20 with cautious optimism. While some concerns linger over their bowling, they now have a dynamic young batting line-up that has won six T20I games in succession and is undefeated since May 2014. In Test cricket, they will be hopeful of defeating Sri Lanka and Pakistan in home conditions - though Sri Lanka won the series in England in 2014 - but two tough tours to Asia towards the end of the year (the first to Bangladesh, the second to India) threaten to expose their fragility in both playing and delivering spin.