England facing risky selections for Adelaide

Promoting Ian Bell to first drop, recalling Tim Bresnan or handing Test debuts to Ben Stokes or Gary Ballance are all risky options for England at Adelaide.

Yet they have little choice but to gamble on at least two of those changes for the second Test.

Should England decide on a hasty recall for Bresnan after his long injury layoff there is a faint chance they may choose to blood all-rounder Stokes to protect the returning paceman on what will be a placid deck.

England are rightly concerned about their pace bowling depth.

Chris Tremlett has been roundly criticised for his lack of speed and penetration in England’s humiliating loss at Brisbane.

Meanwhile, backup quicks Steven Finn and Boyd Rankin have had sub-par tours marred by profligacy.

Both men have consistently bowled too short and routinely have been punished for this error.

Finn has taken 11 wickets at 39 and Rankin eight wickets at 36 on tour despite playing mostly against State second XI players.

This is why England so swiftly returned Bresnan to its squad.

Had they performed well in the opening Test they surely would have allowed the Yorkshireman more time to get his body right for Test cricket.

Now they are 1-0 down with the spectre of the WACA looming on the horizon England are being forced to consider a premature return for the seamer.

Adelaide is the least appropriate venue at which to recall Bresnan given the docile nature of the pitch which could see England’s bowlers required to deliver a mountain of overs.

If the English selectors decide to punt on him it will increase the likelihood they will select all-rounder Stokes to bat at six.

Given the brief three-day turnaround between the second and third Tests England will be wary of exhausting their quicks, particularly Bresnan.

With neither Jonny Bairstow nor Gary Ballance having made compelling cases for inclusion so far on the tour, England will be more tempted to play Stokes, whose deceptively quick bowling would ease the workload of the frontline pacemen.

Since suffering stress fractures in his back almost four months ago, Bresnan has bowled just 26 overs in competition.

That labour came for the England Performance Programme against the tame opposition of the Queensland second XI last week.

While he finished with tidy match figures of 4-72, he was less effective as the match wore on, going wicketless in the fourth innings as the EPP narrowly avoided a loss.

The four players he dislodged in the match had played a grand total of eight first-class games combined.

The British press reported that the England hierarchy had been buoyed by his efforts.

Bresnan tends to fly under the radar but is a pivotal player for England.

Of the 21 Test he has played, England have lost only two. In his five Tests against Australia he has snared 21 wickets at 24.

As much as his side has missed his persistent bowling, they will also be acutely aware of his value with the blade.

England’s top seven is in disarray while their tail end was vaporised by Australia’s ferocious pacemen at the Gabba.

Bresnan is a skilful, courageous batsman who is at his best against pace.

Stokes, meanwhile, would be extremely fortunate to get his first Test cap at Adelaide after an underwhelming tour on which he has taken just one wicket and scored 32 runs in two digs.

Were it not for Bresnan’s lack of match fitness and the genial Adelaide deck, Stokes would have no chance of earning a debut.

It still appears more likely he will miss out to Ballance, who is the frontrunner to play tomorrow according to press reports.

The left-handed batsman would be similarly lucky to play at Adelaide given his lack of touch down under.

His four innings on tour have produced just 67 runs with his highest score of 55 coming against the weak attack of the Cricket Australia Chairman’s XI in Alice Springs last week.

Ballance is, however, a highly-credentialed batsman at first-class level and returned scores of 148, 108 not out, 12 and 90 in his final two county matches in September.

Should he play he almost certainly will not be required to fill the void at number three left by the departure of veteran Jonathan Trott.

Bell and Joe Root are vying for that position.

Root was relocated from opening to number six for the first Test after being hounded by the Aussie quicks in the last Ashes.

By maintaining a full length to Root, who has an inadequate front-foot game, the Australian pacemen made it difficult for the 22-year-old to score.

This weakness could be exploited to a greater extent on Australia pitches which, Adelaide aside, offer far more pace and bounce than some of the subcontinental-style decks served up during the recent Ashes.

Bell, meanwhile, is known to have long coveted the first drop role.

The 31-year-old occupied that position earlier in his career but could manage only two hundreds in his 21 Tests.

Contrastingly, he has been a stellar performer in the middle order, averaging 53 from his 68 Tests batting at number five or six.

England will be loath to transplant Bell given this consistent success. He is the only reliable batsman in the English line-up at present.

Australia would be delighted to have the opportunity to get at him with the new ball, as Harris noted in the media this week.

For once, it is England whose starting line-up is more uncertain than that of Australia.