Satisfying summer for aggressive, attacking England cricketers

Three months ago England’s cricketers were down in the dumps.

After winning only one of their previous 17 Tests, they went into this summer’s fixtures against New Zealand, India and South Africa with a sense of trepidation.

The fact they emerged this week having won six of the seven Tests played is little short of remarkable.

More importantly, they achieved this playing positive, entertaining cricket which England fans had rarely witnessed in recent years.

Clinching the series against South Africa after little more than two days’ play was the icing on the cake.

New captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum deserve all the plaudits for instilling a new-found confidence amongst the players, despite McCullum saying: “I didn’t do a lot.”

No matter how unpromising the situation was, they held the belief that victory was possible. And with the exception of one loss…