NASSER HUSSAIN: Going harder with the bat is not the answer to England’s problems, a cultural overhaul is required to fix this mess – and why it’s a weak excuse for Harry Brook to say he’s learning on his feet

Back in 1999 when I was appointed England captain, we had hit rock bottom in the Test rankings after underperforming for a very long time.

Duncan Fletcher, the new coach, turned to me and said: ‘You’re not the best side in the world, but you shouldn’t be the worst side, either.’

Now England have slipped down to seventh in the one-day rankings, I would be repeating Duncan’s words to them.

As their now ex-captain Jos Buttler said there’s a lot of talent in that dressing room, so why have they slipped so low?

Back then, we needed a bit of a kick up the backside; we needed consistency in selection; central contracts to come in to allow us to rest our fast bowlers; to make playing for England more important than just turning out for your county.

The details are slightly different this time, but similar cultural change is required.

Primarily what’s needed is a very strong relationship between captain and coach. Myself and Duncan had never met before, but clicked immediately. He told me he wanted my loyalty and that meant never contradicting each other in front of people. Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes are always on the same page with England’s current Test team.

However, I do think whoever comes in as England’s new limited-overs captain has a right to ask a lot of questions behind closed doors.

How will England going to play 50-over cricket going forward? Is it just seen as an extension of 20-over cricket? Because every time England are bowled out – across any format – I just hear: ‘We didn’t go hard enough.’

As a captain, I’d be having a word with McCullum, making the point that cannot always be the answer. Sometimes, you just need to be smarter. Afghanistan were 37 for three, took stock and ended up getting 325 on the board against England – a score they could defend. England were 37 for three against South Africa on Saturday, continued to go hard – and were bowled out for 179. 

I would drag Phil Salt, Liam Livingstone and Harry Brook across and tell them that talent is about winning games, not playing the best shot of the day.

Salt plays every innings like it’s a Twenty20 match. Livingstone talks about taking responsibility when he’s batted a bit higher up the order, but lower down always plays as if it’s the last four overs. On Saturday, Brook was batting with England’s finest player in Joe Root and needed to take the innings deep.

Brook could learn from Root in this regard, someone who looked at his game and took out high risk elements like the reverse scoop and played situations.

I like Brook but it’s a bit of a weak excuse for him to say: I’m learning on my feet. Well, learn a bit quicker. It’s not that difficult to comprehend that you’ve got 30 more overs to bat. Adapt your scoring tempo according to what the scoreboard tells you.

Any international batter should be able to do this and although I accept that up-and-coming English cricketers do need access to a better 50-over competition to prepare for future ICC tournaments, these current England players have been around a long time.

It’s not that difficult to work out. You just have to bat a little bit longer, soak up pressure, realise there’s an ebb and flow to the game.

How much domestic 50-over cricket did some of the best players in the world play? How much did David Warner play when he got into Australia’s side? He got in on a diet of Twenty20. How much did Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma play? How much did Jos Buttler play?

The legacy of Rob Key, England’s director of cricket, and McCullum will be determined by what happens this year, including a home series against India and the Ashes – it is one that they have been planning for 12 months.

Equally, in the back of their mind has to be a Twenty20 World Cup next February in India and Sri Lanka and they need to identify the right captain to start a new journey in white-ball cricket.

They also need to work out who they are going to pick. I believe in consistency of selection, but this England regime seems reluctant to go back, as if picking someone they have previously dropped is an admission they got it wrong.

But it’s not about saving face, it’s about winning. Equally, it’s about refining how you play when things don’t work. It’s not just about going harder with the bat and bowling with extreme pace. The game is a bit more subtle than that.

Psychologically, it is difficult when you are on a losing streak, but the major thing we did when our Test team bottomed out was pick on character.

There was some mental scarring in the dressing room and when we were 20 for two against Australia, people were thinking, ‘here we go again’.

Needing change, in came Marcus Trescothick and Michael Vaughan, to align with people already in the side. Michael Atherton and Alec Stewart were two completely different characters, but gave absolutely everything in every game of cricket, realising the importance of playing for England.

We needed to take role models like them with us and for me that is why Root has to keep on playing as much as possible.

When he was batting in the second game against Afghanistan, he wasn’t batting for himself, nor the team, he was batting for his mate Buttler, trying to save his job.

Root has been there before, and when he sat down at the end, head in hands, it was almost to say ‘sorry, I let you down.’ when actually he’d done nothing of the sort. He very rarely, if ever, does.

There is an abundance of talent with him, but it’s his character that England could learn from.