Yet to prove himself as anything more than an average captain, Joe Root has most assuredly not been granted the most reliable of test squads with which to work.Ironically, however, the two one day squads (in which he features) both look in far better shape.
Certainly, England are unlikely to be able to plunder the two squads from the shorter forms of the game as the majority of batsmen therein are simply incapable of making the move to the toughest of all forms of cricket.
England have had a very long antipodean winter and have lost five tests out of seven with just two draws as minor consolation. Yesterday, they came within an ace of taking the second test against New Zealand but were unable to capitalise on their advantage as time ran out.
A miserable tour which still leaves a number of questions over Root as captain.
Let us consider the current team. Alastair Cook - perhaps the greatest England opener since Geoff Boycott (and with a better average) now looks past it. The dedication, class and concentration are now distant memories.
England have long been seeking an adequate partner for him but the time has come to jettison Cook himself and look, not for one dependable open bat - but two!
This is thoroughly scary. Where can England find two men prepared to get their heads down and grind out huge scores?
I have no idea.
Certainly, Stoneman's string of good starts and yet, few big scores, has hardly cemented his place in the side. I can see no other county batsman worthy of anything more than a stop-gap position. This is a huge problem for the selectors.
In the middle order, Mo' Ali has proved dubious with the bat over the last year and his spin bowling, which made him a possible all-rounder, has let both him and England down.
Vince has been offered many chances but still seems no more than a fringe member of the squad who falls, far too often, in 'the corridor of uncertainty'.
Rashid, our leg-spinner - now bowling as well as at any time in his career - has opted out of the longer form of the game, very possibly because England failed to take him on the Ashes tour for reasons unexplained!
Jack Leach bowled well enough in NZ but is not the deadly spinner which England so desperately lacks - and has done since the enforced retirement of Swann - whose immaculate off-spin now seems to have become no more than a wistful memory. If Leach were good enough, England would definitely have cruised to victory in Christchurch, yesterday. Hopefully, he will develop.
Jimmy Anderson - England's top wicket taker of all time remains a superb bowler but surely Father Time is going to catch up with him very shortly and Stuart Broad is not all that much younger.
England have got by without a truly fast bowler for many years at the same time as so many other nations have seemingly got production lines for turning them out! But as this pair of medium quicks cannot be all that far from retirement, one or more must surely be found - and soon!
Overton and Roland-Jones look decent enough and are young enough to develop into good, test standard, medium quicks - but will they?
Certainly, Wood is not living up to my high expectations of him as probably England's quickest bowler. His injury record also fails to inspire confidence.
If we take Broad, and Anderson out of the equation - just how many out and out certainties are there for the England Eleven of the future?
Root, Bairstow and Stokes are the only ones which come to mind but hopefully Malan will build on this last year and make the grade. Just seven short out of eleven. I repeat, 'scary'!
So many gaps; so much weakness; so few test players coming through the system.
It is sad that England are getting it so very right in the 50 and 20 over formats but with players who simply fall sort of the quality needed to be test class.
With our weakest test team in decades, it make me wonder what damage the shorter form might have done to cricket in its highest form. In particular, batsmen are not learning how to build an innings: bowlers are not being encouraged to learn the virtues of line and length.
