England’s Test rebuild under captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum has raised many questions at home and abroad, with the leadership team’s insistence on youth and elders like James Anderson and Jonny Bairstow.
Among the many decisions was the choice to move Ollie Pope down the order and bring in the relatively unknown Jacob Bethel at no. 3 position.
The 21-year-old batsman, who has never played a first-class match above number four, was immediately named number one in the England team, and all eyes were raised. 3 batters.
In the first Test against New Zealand in Wellington, Bethel revived confidence as the team won the series by a mammoth 323-run win with a half-century and 96 runs.
Stokes said it proved why he and McCullum were keen to bring him in so early. “I know a little bit was made of Beth’s batting because of her inexperience and lack of first-class cricket batting at the top of the order,” he told Reuters.
“But you know, me and (coach Brendon McCullum) don’t think so. You’ve got a young guy with so much potential and so much talent, why not let him get out there and expose himself to the toughest situations in cricket? If he’s not batting in the top three Well, he didn’t slap 50-odd (in Christchurch), which definitely gave me the confidence to go out there and play the way he did in our second innings.”
“I was disappointed not to get the three points,” Stokes added. “I walked in and I said to him, ‘It’s only four runs, right?’ And his response was, ‘Yeah, but if I’d brought it through the covers it would have blown’… He’s proven a lot to a lot of people and why we rate him so highly.