Defeat at Trent Bridge could be a blessing in disguise after farcical fortnight

A 2-1 series defeat on the back of a 4-1 drubbing in Australia might be enough to convince even the most ardent devotees of the need for a change.

The alternative is what? A continuation of the off-field problems, PR disasters, mixed messaging, uneasy relationships between those in charge and, most importantly, poor results after six defeats in the last eight Tests? Not much of an alternative as things stand.

Of course, everything in the garden may yet turn out to be gloriously rosy (incidentally, don’t forget to water your plants in this enervating heat).

England might win at Trent Bridge with a hundred from Ben Stokes followed by 10 wickets in the match, with the other 10 taken by Gus Atkinson before everyone hotfoots it into town (remember to be back by 11.59pm, lads).

Pakistan might be swept aside later in the summer - starting with the first Test at Headingley from August 19 - as momentum builds towards next summer’s Ashes.

Meanwhile, across the pond, England’s footballers might go on to win the World Cup in New Jersey on July 19. This heat can do funny things to journalists, never mind plants.

But the perception is that the England cricket regime is not working anymore, not properly connected - despite protests to the contrary - and not fit for purpose.

There has been talk of a civil war behind the scenes between Stokes and the England and Wales Cricket Board, suggestions that senior officials were briefing against him in recent days, suggestions of internal trouble at t’mill.

Stokes unquestionably acted crassly with his late-night drinking, putting the ECB in an invidious position it could have well done without, while Rob Key, the managing director, and Brendon McCullum, the head coach, have both said some pretty strange things in recent press conferences.

None stranger, or more startling, than McCullum’s admission regarding the breached curfew that “there may not have been a hard blueprint” in place - in other words, a clearly defined time when everyone had to leave the bar.

In that respect, you really couldn’t make it up.

Given that attention to detail, or lack of, was a constant theme during the Ashes, that reflects terribly on McCollum and Key, doing nothing to quell the image of a slipshod leadership.

Indeed, the curfew revelation has served to take much of the heat off Stokes and Atkinson, despite their insensitivity in staying out late, given the context of an Ashes tour blighted by problems – not least those involving Yorkshire’s Harry Brook, the handling of which was particularly costly.

Stokes, predictably, gave little away in his captain’s press conference at Trent Bridge on Wednesday, reiterating McCullum’s assertion that they are good friends and there is nothing to see here in terms of their relationship.

He declined to reveal if he had considered resigning as captain in the wake of the nightclub episode and said he had been frustrated by the disciplinary process but gave no specific details.

Stokes diverted a number of difficult questions down paths so prosaic that even his own eyes appeared to glaze over as he parroted that he was just focusing on the cricket and the Test match ahead.

Anyone expecting a bodies-thrown-under-the-bus performance was left demanding a refund, but at least England were “singing from the same hymn sheet” this time.

So, what next?

Stokes is still a fine player and the best captain on paper, although very much now at the end of his career, a force on the wane.

McCullum looks and sounds like a man whose authority has been slowly stripped away, while Key looks and sounds like a square peg in a round hole - or maybe a round peg in a square hole.

Still not a peek from the two Richards, of course, Thompson and Gould, the ECB’s chair and chief executive respectively, who are steering the ship (hey, look out, chaps, there’s another iceberg ahead…).

As ever, results on the field are the be-all and end-all, and they have not been good for some time now.

Are England’s players improving under McCullum? Is this regime making the most of the talent within the game? Does Stokes want to continue as captain going forward? He declined to clarify that in Nottingham. Moreover, do we really need the sort of drama that has dogged English cricket this farcical fortnight? One would suggest not.

Indeed, one would argue that the problems of the Ashes were so great, and in many cases so obvious, that the so-called “reset” had to be impeccable.

Instead, it has been utterly inept, surviving just a few hours beyond the first Test of the summer.

Who knows, perhaps the Kiwis will put the kibosh on it once and for all.