Just a few weeks ago Mark Ramprakash admits he was "so demoralised" by the state of the England team. Now, as the summer draws to a close, the former England batsman says he is heading into the winter full of optimism — and believes the side is better placed to take on South Africa than at any point this year.

Writing in his column for the Guardian, Ramprakash charted an extraordinary turnaround. At the low point, England's red-ball programme was in chaos: Brendon McCullum had just been sacked as Test coach, his replacement Stephen Fleming was still weeks away from taking up the role, and Test captain Ben Stokes — whose skillset as a high-class batter who bowls at an elite standard was so important to the team's balance — had abruptly retired. The squad, Ramprakash wrote, "seemed ill-disciplined and better at manufacturing scandals than victories".

"The England team was a mess, a shambles. The management was terrible," Ramprakash wrote. "And now here I am, heading into the winter full of optimism."

Rebounding from the Lord's night-out madness

The turbulence spilled over after a promising win over New Zealand at Lord's, when the "madness" that followed Ben Stokes' and Gus Atkinson's night out dominated the headlines. The Kiwis, Ramprakash noted, actually played extremely well in the first red-ball series of the summer and exhibited many of the attributes England talk about adopting — resilience, adaptability, doing the basics really well.

But against Pakistan, England produced what he called "a more grownup style of play", leaning on a group of four pace bowlers who were all different in their own ways and excellent as a combination. The second half of the summer brought a series of outstanding Test and white-ball performances, and Ramprakash believes England have "rebounded and refined" from the summer's early madness.

Fleming and Root: a more satisfying, lasting identity

Central to the renewed optimism is the coaching change. The removal of McCullum as red-ball coach "felt necessary", Ramprakash argues, and the appointment of Fleming as his replacement "seems astute". Although it took a while for the former New Zealand captain to arrive, he appears to have had "a series of really good conversations with people in the game", and Ramprakash believes he and Joe Root will forge a really good partnership.

When Fleming faced the media last week, the word "identity" came up repeatedly — as it so often does in modern sport. Ramprakash, who joined Middlesex in 1987 when they had just won six trophies in six years and later played in the successful Surrey side of the early 2000s, pointed out that neither of those elite dressing rooms ever spoke of identity. But he was struck by the Brighton head coach Fabian Hürzeler's remarks after his team beat Arsenal in the Premier League — about how you can make a big impact from changing small habits, making players accountable to each other and giving them a say so they are invested in how the team plays.

"Modern sportspeople thrive off being given more clarity than anybody provided me with in my career, on being given that sense of identity," Ramprakash wrote.

In his view, McCullum arrived with an idea of what identity meant to him and for a while it helped England thrive, but judging from the public messaging it was "always a bit one-dimensional". Fleming, by contrast, wants players to relax and play with freedom while combining that with smart cricket and adaptability; he wants to focus on leadership and strategy; and he has set the ambition of taking England to No 1 in the world and winning the World Test Championship. "As a lover of Test cricket and all it brings, how it challenges you as a player and as an individual, I was very pleased with what I heard," Ramprakash wrote.

A stronger coaching bench — and a Brett Lee comparison for Sonny Baker

England end the summer with a much stronger, more multifaceted coaching team than the one they began it with. Kevin Pietersen has come in to help prepare, challenge and mentor the white-ball players, and Ramprakash finds the potential of his relationship with Harry Brook in particular "very exciting". McCullum, meanwhile, seems to be in his element in white-ball cricket, where England have enjoyed some marvellous results in the shorter formats.

Ramprakash was especially taken by England's one-day series against Sri Lanka, and by Sonny Baker in particular. Taking the new ball at the Oval, Baker looked to have changed the angle of his run-up and got the ball to swing away late at 89mph. "He reminded me a little bit of Brett Lee and that is high praise," Ramprakash wrote, recalling that earlier in his county career the quick had looked "a bit two-lengths", with everything either short or full and not a huge amount of craft. That, he says, has certainly changed: "Success as a fast bowler ultimately comes down to skill and making the ball move laterally, and that is why I have found some of his recent performances sensational."

Competition for places — and lingering questions

There was also evidence in the Sri Lanka series and the Tests against Pakistan of real competition for places, something that had been missing when players enjoyed "incredibly long runs in the side irrespective of their results". With Jordan Cox, who has shown great temperament, character and technique and delivered outstanding performances in Test and one-day cricket, and Tom Banton delivering as they are, "nobody can rest on their laurels". England's four seamers shone against Pakistan, but Ramprakash insists that if Baker keeps improving, "he has to come into the mix".

Concerns remain, particularly around the Test side's best spinner and, probably, its best opening partnership. But with South Africa — always tough and competitive — awaiting in the next Test series, and a sensible, consistent approach promised for next summer, Ramprakash believes the direction of travel is unmistakable. "From where we were just a couple of months ago, that has to be something worth celebrating," he wrote.