Hard to see any way forward for the English Test side.Anderson,Broad,Root and Stokes will be gone over the next few years and who will replace them?Archer if he regains fitness will probably only play white ball cricket,it’s highly unlikely we will suddenly find a world class spinner,and there are no batsmen of the required quality in or around the current squad.
Australia,India and New Zealand will be the dominant Test sides,and will be division 2 alongside South Africa,West Indies and Sri Lanka.
The ECB have prioritised white ball cricket,so accept the consequence.All credit to the likes of New Zealand who somehow manage to perform well at both formats,with far smaller resources.
Maybe time to find a couple more Pietersens or Lambs to help us out.
Today was a very sad sight for traditional English cricket fans.