Reasons to be cheerful?

So as we predicted yesterday, England finally broke the habit of a lifetime and came back to win the series against New Zealand 2-1.

But what does this mean for the team and what does it bode for a tough summer ahead of the Aussies visit next year? Well it’s a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand winning any series is welcome and England haven’t won away since Sri Lanka three years ago. Coming from 1-0 behind to turn around a three-Test series is no also mean feat, so on the surface at least, there’s plenty to be positive about.

But - and just like Nigella’s - it’s a big ‘but’, the Kiwis are probably the weakest Test playing nation outside Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, so there’s no reason to crack open the bubbly quite yet.

Yet, there are reasons to be cheerful especially in the bowling department. Ryan Sidebottom’s emerged as the real leader of the bowling pack and Stuart Broad looks like he could become an all-rounder of genuine potential. Nice to see Monty back in the wickets too (eventually), but the jury is still out on Harmy and Anderson, while Hoggy will have to put in some work to earn his place back.

Now the batsmen. Well Collingwood and Bell emerge with real credit and it was good to see KP back in some kind of form back after his comparative recent lull, but for the rest of the willow-wielders it’s case unproven. The top three of Cook, Vaughan and especially Strauss still have plenty of work to do before the Aussies start looking over their shoulders. The return fixture can't come soon enough and England will need to hand the Black Caps a comprehensive thrashing on home soil to carry some momentum through to South Africa during this long, hot summer.