India, June 29 -- England's victory in the first match of their home series against India will be a massive confidence boost, particularly for the younger members of the team. The Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, and the Ashes to follow later this year, are a big challenge for a team which has chopped and changed plenty, but the performances of players such as young wicketkeeper Jamie Smith will be a big cause for optimism for English fans.

Smith hit the winning runs at Headingley to make it 1-0 in England's favour, playing a couple of mature innings lower down the order to serve his team extremely well. Very much a subscriber of the demands that Bazball asks of its players, Smith credited this outlook of the team as the reason why they were a...