Gilbert Enoka with All Blacks coaches Steve Hansen and Graham Henry. Photo / Photosport
Brendon McCullum has turned to the “mental skills coach” who created the All Blacks’ famous no dickheads policy as he looks to give England a harder edge amid a tetchy test series against India.
Gilbert Enoka has worked for New Zealand rugby for close to two decades, as well as doing consultancy work with Chelsea FC, and is credited with implementing the “no dickheads” culture that underpinned the All Blacks two World Cup wins in 2011 and 2015.
He has been hired by his compatriot McCullum, with whom he worked with the Black Caps, to harden an England team who are in the midst of a legacy-defining period that sees them face India then Australia in two five-match series.
Enoka has been working behind the scenes with McCullum’s team this summer – since a camp in London before the Zimbabwe test in May – and addressed the players before training at Old Trafford. He will remain on site with the team until the end of the week.
England lead the series with India 2-1, and have confirmed their XI for the fourth test, with Liam Dawson – who was described by Harry Brook as a “wily old fox” – returning for his first test in eight years in place of the injured Shoaib Bashir.
Chris Woakes was retained ahead of Gus Atkinson, who was deemed to not have enough overs under his belt after a hamstring injury. Atkinson has only played club cricket since suffering the injury two months ago, and Woakes’s fine record (averaging 37 with the bat and 17 with the ball) won him a spot at Old Trafford, where the outfield is expected to be heavy.
Despite early hopes that he could play, Mark Wood will not be fit for next week’s fifth test, meaning England are desperate to have Atkinson back at the Oval. But with Surrey also not prepared to take a risk on Atkinson’s fitness for their crunch championship match at Scarborough, England’s 2024 player of the year will look to prove his fitness in a county second-team game against Somerset, starting on Tuesday. Josh Tongue, meanwhile, will play the final two days of Nottinghamshire’s championship match against Hampshire.
India will need to make at least one change of their own, with Nitish Kumar Reddy ruled out of the tour with a knee injury. With Akash Deep struggling with a groin issue, a debut for seamer Anshul Kamboj seems likely.
Whoever takes the field, further spice is likely after a fractious Lord’s test. Harry Brook, the England batsman, said a row between Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and India’s fielders on the third evening at Lord’s had inspired the hosts to “go hard” at India.
“It was good fun,” he said. “We watched the Indians go hard at Creeps [Crawley] and Ducky [Duckett]. We had a conversation, we thought it was the perfect opportunity to not be the nice guys that we have been in the past three years, to go out there and put them under more pressure than what they have probably had before.
“We watched two of our guys out there on their own, going back at the Indians after they were going at them. We just thought ‘we’re not standing for that’ as a group of 11 players.
“We weren’t being personal, we weren’t being nasty, we were just putting them under more pressure. I brought it up the night before the last day. Baz [McCullum] said the other day ‘we’re too nice, I think tomorrow is a perfect opportunity to really get stuck into them’. We were doing it within the spirit of the game. We weren’t going out there effing and jeffing at them, and being nasty people. We were just going about it in the right manner.”
Brook said it makes a “big difference” having Jofra Archer in England’s attack. Archer returned after four years out of Test cricket with five wickets at Lord’s, and Brook said being asked to take a long sleeve off had inspired the paceman.
“I think he always bowls a little bit quicker when he is angry,” smiled Brook. “One of the players told him to take his arm sleeve off at some point. The next ball was like 94mph … We have probably got a bit of a job this week to try and get him angry at some point and try and blow them away.”