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Can Alastair Cook’s captaincy get any worse? Now Chris Rogers has secured his spot, how many more Tests can Australia squeeze out of him? Who should replace Jonny Bairstow as England’s wicketkeeper?
These were among the questions to emerge from the final day’s play in the Boxing Day Test as Australia once again humiliated England with a resounding eight-wicket victory to take a 4-0 lead in the series.
Can Alastair Cook’s captaincy get any worse?
In 57 first-class matches, English batsman Joe Root has snared just 14 wickets at an average of 57 with his rank part time off spin.
Yet skipper Alastair Cook this morning deemed him the superior option to frontline spinner Monty Panesar, a man with 643 first-class scalps to his name.
Root was introduced to the attack after just six overs today, with Australia 0-53 and openers David Warner and Chris Rogers both feeling their way into proceedings.
It was more than an hour later when Panesar was finally, belatedly, given his first trundle.
The left-arm tweaker was on a hiding to nothing.
Australia were on the march, having added 54 runs in the previous 12 overs.
Chris Rogers was 70 not out and looking more fluent than at any time this summer, while Shane Watson had played himself in.
Perhaps most cruelly for Panesar, England had only 113 runs to play with.
Not surprisingly, he did not look assured in his first spell.
It is hard to exude confidence when your skipper has just shown the entire world he does not believe in you.
Rogers and Watson exploited this situation, milking 17 runs from his first three overs to go to lunch in a commanding position.
Cook’s decision to employ Root instead of Panesar baffled the English Sky Sports commentators.
When asked what he thought of the ‘tactic’, former England captain Andrew Strauss was momentarily lost for words before labelling it “strange”.
Strauss has typically been very kind on Cook’s meek, reactive and unimaginative on-field captaincy the past two Ashes series.
But it seemed even he had had enough of it.
Now Chris Rogers has secured his spot, how many Tests can Australia squeeze out of him?
The veteran opener arrived at his home ground for the Boxing Day Test with uncertainty surrounding his place in the side.
Over the course of the first three Tests he had battled for any semblance of flow in his strokeplay.
His average of 26 in the series looked even worse in conjunction with his dawdling strike rate of 39.
In the first innings here he scrapped his way to a scratchy but invaluable innings of 61.
That would have relieved some of the pressure. It certainly showed in his second dig.
Rogers outpaced his cavalier opening partner David Warner and then Watson too, playing a full range of strokes to hand Australia much-needed impetus in their run chase.
The manner in which he bellowed ‘yes’ upon piercing cover to bring up his ton was an indication of the mixture of relief and elation he no doubt experienced.
It was his first match-winning innings for Australia, having played dozens of such knocks at State and county level during his illustrious first-class career.
Rogers is now assured of being part of the Australian side which will travel to South Africa in February looking to cause another upset.
When Australia made the shock decision to select Rogers at age 35 for the last Ashes series, the selectors would have hoped he could make it as far as the three-Test tour of South Africa.
His vast experience and relative comfort against quality fast bowling will be invaluable against Test cricket’s best pace attack.
Gifted youngsters Jordan Silk, Nic Maddinson and Joe Burns are all making runs at the top of the order in the Sheffield Shield.
But all three would benefit from another 10-15 first-class games – earned via the second half of the Shield season and, hopefully, winter county stints – before coming into contention next summer.
If Rogers can hold the fort until then, he will have done his job.
Who should replace Jonny Bairstow behind the stumps for England?
England appeared to have hedged their bets with Jonny Bairstow.
After playing as a specialist batsman in his first 11 Tests, he was dumped from the side during the last Ashes.
When he was picked for the tour of Australia, it was unclear whether England viewed him as a potential number six or as the backup keeper to Matt Prior.
The English selectors would not have envisaged the depths to which Prior’s form would plummet.
They were left with little choice but to dump the veteran gloveman and hand his spot to Bairstow.
When Prior was in doubt for the first Test at the Gabba due to a niggle, former England skipper Michael Vaughan was forthcoming in his scepticism about Bairstow’s ability with the gloves.
Vaughan said Bairstow was “not in the top five ‘keepers in England”.
“Bairstow’s involvement as a specialist batsman in the England set-up has limited his appearances for Yorkshire and he remains something of a work in progress behind the stumps,” Vaughan said at the time.
“He has the perfect tutor in England wicketkeeping coach Bruce French, but for him to keep wicket in an Ashes Test with such a small amount of experience would be a big ask.”
Vaughan’s fears have been realised in this Test as it has become obvious that Bairstow is out of his depth as a first-choice gloveman.
He was responsible for the squandering of two crucial chances today.
The first opportunity – an edge from Chris Rogers which Bairstow watched pass him by – ended up costing England 97 runs as Rogers charged to a ton.
The Yorkshireman handed Rogers a second reprieve when he was on 82, shelling a more difficult, diving attempt at a catch.
Having just dumped Prior, it seems unlikely England would immediately return him to the side.
Who then, should be given the crack at keeping for England?
Jos Buttler and Craig Kieswetter are the players being most frequently mentioned.
Both are swashbuckling batsmen whose ability with the blade seems to outstrip their skill behind the stumps.
The South African Kieswetter has played 71 limited overs matches for England, enjoying reasonable success.
The 23-year-old Buttler has usurped Kieswetter in England’s ODI and T20 line-ups thanks largely to his destructive strokeplay.
It is difficult to say which player is the best Test keeping option for England.
But either of them must surely be better than Bairstow.