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England's series victory can't hide batting problems

England's Joe Root failed to fire at The Oval. (AFP Photo / Saeed Khan)
Roar Rookie
8th August, 2017
43

England have secured a 3-1 victory over South Africa at home. Great result, right? Well, sort of.

While England will be delighted with their first series win over the Proteas on home soil since Darren Gough famously bowled them to victory at Headingley in 1998, questions still remain, especially in their top five.

Keaton Jennings’ international career must be put on hold. Even his most ardent supporters cannot expect him to be included in England’s squad for their next Test match, the day-nighter against the West Indies at Edgbaston in ten days’ time.

Jennings scored 127 runs at 15.87 in the series, a battling 48 at the Oval his only score of note, and even then he was dropped on six and nearly played on twice early in his innings.

England had much hope for Jennings. His record over the past few years batting at Chester-le-Street, one of the most difficult tracks on the county circuit, has been excellent. He’s also scored consistently for the Lions, who he also captained successfully on a few occasions, while also skippering Durham’s one-day side for the past couple of years, as well as the North against the South in the one-day series in the UAE in March.

There was clearly some hope that Jennings’ leadership qualities are such that he could have been groomed for the England captaincy.

Four Tests later, and England are back into their familiar routine of having to search for a new partner for Alastair Cook.

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Cook has now had 11 opening partners since the retirement of Andrew Strauss (12 including a one-off when Jos Buttler was thrown in to score quickly), and none of them have been able to make an impact past their first half-a-dozen matches wearing the three lions.

England must now decide on whether they go back to a past failure, such as Alex Hales or Sam Robson, in the hope they have learnt more about their game while back at their respective counties, or go for yet another new face in Mark Stoneman.

Stoneman is as deserving of a Test spot as anyone, currently averaging nearly 60 in his 13 innings thus far in county cricket. He would be the obvious choice, a like-for-like left-hander to come in for the out-of-nick Jennings.

However, with three home Tests against a vastly under-par West Indies coming up, just how much will England be able to find out about his Test credentials before they set off for Australia in November? If he were to fail in that series, he’s certainly not up to facing the Aussie quicks, but if he scores big against the Windies, it would be difficult to call him a Test match player simply because of the standard of opposition.

He can’t win. Therefore, either way, England will travel to the Ashes with no confidence in Cook’s opening partner. Again.

Tom Westley, aside from a solid 59 on debut during the Oval’s 100th Test match last weekend, has failed to impress since. He will keep his place in the side for the West Indies series, and rightly so, however the sheer fact that he will not be tested at the level the Proteas seamers operate at until the Ashes means that there is no guarantee he will be a long-term success either.

His technique needs to evolve. Whether he has the ability to keep leaving balls outside the off stump all day will surely be tested fully by the Australian pacemen. There is nothing wrong with being a leg-side batsman, however stepping up to the top level requires significant patience to survive. Bowlers will continue to bowl outside his off stump in an attempt to coax him into a false shot, and no doubt the Aussie fielders will do their best to tempt him as well.

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It won’t be easy, but with the right application Westley could be a mainstay at number three. Frankly, it appears England have no other options from county cricket to come in at first drop, so they’ll be desperate for Westley to succeed or else the calls for Joe Root to step up will surface yet again – something the captain clearly wants to avoid.

England's Joe Root celebrates his century during play on Day 3 of the second Ashes Test at Lords. AFP PHOTO / CARL COURT

AFP PHOTO / CARL COURT

The final spot still up for the grabs is Dawid Malan’s. While he is likely to be given another shot at making the number five position his own against the West Indies, scores of 1, 10, 18 and 6 in his first two Tests means there is much to do before the critics will be silenced.

Most worrying is that, with three West Indies Test matches coming up before those three suspect players have to face the Aussie seam attack on a flat Brisbane track with a hostile crowd, do England actually have time to find out what they need to know about their players to be confident of picking their best team for that crucial first Ashes Test?

Whatever happens later in August, as it stands England’s batting order looks increasingly fallible. If Root, Cook, Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow score heavily, it is still a possibility England will be a match for their hosts.

But if they have to rely on their less-established players, it could well be a repeat of four years ago.

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