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England look set to make a risky selection for the Ashes, with veteran batsman Jonathan Trott a strong chance to stare down Australia’s aggressive pace unit in a new role: opening for England.
After stepping down before the second Test of the last Ashes because of mental health problems, Trott has fought his way back into the England setup and is favoured to open with Alastair Cook in the first Test against the West Indies starting on Monday.
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Trott made his Test career as a first-drop batsman, but England are gambling that the 33-year-old can form a sturdy alliance with his skipper at the top of the order.
Given that their alternative opener, Adam Lyth, has never played a Test, England would be loath to blood him against New Zealand or Australia – their opponents this European summer. So if Trott plays this week, as expected, he would have to be a massive failure in the West Indies for England to make yet another change to their opening partnership ahead of the Ashes.
The second opening position has been a major weakness for England since the retirement of Andrew Strauss two-and-a-half years ago. Since then, Nick Compton, Joe Root, Michael Carberry and Australian Sam Robson have all tried and failed to fill that void.
When Robson was jettisoned after being exposed for too often fishing at balls outside off stump, Yorkshireman Lyth appeared his most likely replacement. Although he looks as old as Strauss, at 27 Lyth has youth in his favour.
The left-handed opener was included in England’s 16-man Test squad for their three-Test tour of the West Indies this month. But so was Trott, and the more experienced man got first crack at pairing with Cook in England’s first warm-up game. The old stagers added 158 for the first wicket, albeit against a woefully weak St Kitts Invitational XI last week.
After Trott’s steady knock of 72 in that match, most of the UK press have suggested he is very likely to open with Cook.
Given the manner in which he broke down during England’s 5-0 thrashing in Australia, handing Trott a recall is a risky move by England. It’s also a defensive one.
In both of the last two Ashes, England’s top order were continually shackled by the Australian pacemen. In the 2013 series it was only the ineptitude of the Australian top six that allowed England’s batsmen not to be punished for their laboured efforts.
A major part of this problem was that their top-order batsmen were very one-paced – and that pace was glacial.
Joe Root scored at the extraordinarily low strike rate of 37 from his nine Tests across those series. Cook and Carberry’s strike rates of 40 were similarly awful, while Trott, at a tick over 50, was the best of a bad bunch.
Together, England’s top order scored at about 2.5 runs per over during this back-to-back series. In an era when the best sides typically score at 3.5 rpo-plus, unless conditions are in favour of the bowlers, such a limited rate of scoring is a severe hindrance.
England’s top order never put the pressure back on the Australian bowlers. They rarely attempted to assert their authority, rarely hit boundaries, and rarely even ran aggressively to ensure the strike was turned over. As a result, Australian captain Michael Clarke was able to set extremely aggressive fields and his quicks held the ascendancy more often than not.
When Australia secured the second new ball after 80 overs, often England barely had more than 200 on the board, as opposed to the 260 to 300 which is commonplace for other sides. That put huge pressure on their middle order.
England desperately need someone in their top three, preferably partnering Cook, who can play with some controlled aggression.
Now, Lyth is no David Warner or Virender Sehwag, but he is a known as a more free-flowing batsman than Trott. He also has no scars inflicted by the marauding Australian quicks. Lyth would have been the positive, attacking selection, and three Tests on flat decks against the weak West Indian attack would have been the perfect soft landing for him.
Instead, England have picked a player in Trott who not only is a defence-first batsman but who has been manhandled by Australia’s two leading bowlers, Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris.
In England, Trott was flummoxed by the ceaseless accuracy of Harris, who continually caught him on the crease. Trott fell four times in four Tests to the Australian at an average of just 12 runs per dismissal.
Where Harris’ dissection of Trott was clinical, Johnson’s was a veritable bloodbath. Unable to counter Johnson’s bodyline tactics, Trott meekly surrendered his wickets.
The disturbing background to this one-sided battle emerged when Trott left the tour due to mental health problems. He had a decent stint away from cricket and, fortunately, appears to have recovered. Certainly this is what he has told his teammates and coaches.
Putting aside his health issues, the pressure on Trott would be immense. Trying to adapt to a new role as opener in the overwhelming glare of an Ashes series against two bowlers who have haunted him would be a colossal task.
The Australians will be in Trott’s ear constantly, although hopefully reminding him of his struggles with the bat the past two series rather than making any references to his mental state. It is going to be a fierce examination of Trott’s skill, technique and character.
Cricket fans all over the world will be rooting for him, although I’d imagine quite a few English followers will be wondering why their selectors didn’t make the more assertive move of promoting Lyth.
England made a habit of playing safety-first Test cricket over the past five years, and they had a lot of success in the process. But that was due to the wonderful quality and depth of talent they possessed rather than the shrewdness of their cautious approach.
They no longer have the same ability in their ranks. Gone is their greatest Test batsman of the modern era, Kevin Pietersen, their second-most successful spinner of all time in Graeme Swann, and one of their all-time great wicketkeeper-batsmen in Matt Prior.
Meanwhile, Cook, Trott and swing bowler James Anderson are not the supreme players they were three years back.
England came to Australia two summers ago with a defensive mindset. Their rigid approach was brutally exposed by the bullishness, relentlessness and inventiveness of the Australians.
Australia will be delighted if England play with similar excessive caution in the upcoming series. Selecting Trott to open with Cook would suggest that is likely.