Australia are long odds to win the Ashes in England this year after a horror 12 months in Test cricket. But England’s consecutive hammerings in the West Indies have underlined some major weaknesses in their Test line-up.
England entered this series in the Caribbean as heavy favourites on the back of two excellent results, having won 3-0 in Sri Lanka after their 4-1 home victory over world number one team India.
Yet England remarkably have been dismissed for scores of 77, 132, 187 and 246 against a solid but unspectacular West Indies attack.
The West Indies began this home series against England having won only three of their previous 12 Tests, then thrashed the tourists by 381 runs in the first Test and then ten wickets in the second match.
While England still have a good pace unit thanks to the presence of veterans James Anderson and Stuart Broad, their batting is threadbare and reliant on lower order runs.
England have only one proven specialist batsman in Joe Root and even he is struggling, having averaged just 35 over his past 20 Tests.
Joe Root’s England are out of form. AFP PHOTO / Saeed KHAN
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Aside from Root, England have labouring specialist openers to choose from in Keaton Jennings, who has just been dropped after averaging 25 with the bat from 16 Tests, Rory Burns who averages 26 from his five matches, and 32-year-old newcomer Joe Denly who made 6 and 17 on debut this past week.
So fragile is England’s top six that they’re being forced to stack their lower order, which is resulting in bowling all-rounders like Sam Curran and Moeen Ali taking the places of specialist bowlers.
This odd balance at times works well, but at other junctures it is brutally exposed. The English cricketing press almost unanimously agree it doesn’t look like a sustainable strategy.
Included in England’s long batting line-up at present are three all-rounders in Ben Stokes, Moeen and Curran, alongside a trio of wicketkeepers in Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler and Ben Foakes.
There is plenty of talent among that lot. But England’s issue is that all six of them are best suited to batting between six and eight in the order, which leaves Root as the only proper, proven top five Test batsman in the line-up.
England have had a revolving door of poor Test openers since Andrew Strauss retired in 2012. Now that his long-time opening partner Alastair Cook has retired, too, England’s opening stocks are truly dire. These are the Test batting averages of their most recent openers – Denly (11), Burns (26), Jenning (25) and Mark Stoneman (27).
Because Root refuses to bat at first drop and the side is drenched in wicketkeepers, Jonny Bairstow is being forced to play out of position as a specialist batsman at number three.
Bairstow apparently made it clear he did not want to give up the gloves, which are now taken by Foakes. That is not surprising given Bairstow was an elite wicketkeeper batsman but has laboured badly as a specialist Test batsman. In 21 matches as a frontline batsman Bairstow has averaged just 29, compared to his fantastic average of 41 when he keeps.
A dejected Jonny Bairstow is comforted by Joe Root. (AAP Image/Darren England)
Behind Bairstow at four captain Root is going through the longest form trough of his fantastic Test career. He has scored just two tons from his past 20 Tests while averaging 35 in that time.
Down at six and seven in the English order are two more players badly out of nick with the blade in Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali.
Stokes hasn’t been able to buy a run since returning 11 months ago from his suspension for king hitting a man in a late night incident. Although the all-rounder has been in hot form with the ball in that time, taking 30 wickets at 27, he has averaged only 24 with the bat.
Moeen, meanwhile, had a horror series in the last Ashes with both bat and ball, and has now averaged just 19 with the blade across his past 25 Test innings. Oddly enough, arguably the most reliable member of England’s top seven over the past year has been Jos Buttler, a man who until then was pigeonholed as a white ball blaster.
Buttler was a speculative pick by the English selectors in May last year. So explosive was his style of limited overs batting that it seemed likely he would be inconsistent at Test level.
The opposite has been true to date, with Buttler continually chipping in with handy runs. In 22 innnings during that time he has passed 50 seven times, and also has another eight scores of between 21 and 39. His average in that period is a solid 39.
Buttler has had to bat more sensibly than he may perhaps otherwise wish to because of the continual collapses around him. England have been four down for less than 100 in 12 of their last 20 Test innings. Again and again it has been left to the middle-to-lower order to rescue them from peril. This was not possible in the Caribbean, leading to successive maulings.
Does this mean England are ripe for the picking in the Ashes? Absolutely not. Because however fragile England’s batting may be, Australia will be even more vulnerable in seaming conditions.
But recent results do suggest England are far from a commanding Test team.
Gurlivleen Grewal
Roar Pro
Has anybody tried to even see the highlights of this series, before commenting on the weakness of the English team? Both pitches have had inconsistent bounce from first day itself, both grounds were on the verge of getting sanctioned. Bowlers who are hit the deck, 6’5+, bowl with decent pace are going to cause all sorts of problem on those – England don’t have express pace or height. So yes they may not be as skilled as Rabada but the pitches did suit the Windies trio. All batting line ups would have had a tough ask there. It should be common knowledge by now that the aggressive approach of England will give such results in trying conditions. And might I add the Aussie attack on current form – the preferred trio that is are not that good either. Besides, Eng will prepare conditions that have something for the bowlers and their long batting lineup is apt for conditions where the conditions remain tricky, no matter the day, the condition of the ball. With a lineup consisting of Harris, Head, Khawaja and a couple of rookies, I would think they it will be the same old 3-1, 4-1. But it is a long time away, right after world cup, injuries, probable WC heart-break?
The Bush
Roar Guru
Batsmen really only peak at about 30, so it's perfectly normal to have a team with a few batsmen in their early to mid 30s. It seems to be from about 35 that they just fall off a cliff at any given moment (except the freak who seem to be able to keep on playing and playing) From memory Rogers actually did his part in that series - it was Clarke that really let us down (or his body let him down). Voges also let us down, but then he was still "new" despite his age. Watson only played the first test from memory?
The Bush
Roar Guru
I think you're line was pretty fair Ronan - Holder's good and would make RSA or Aus line-up, but after that only Roach would be pushing to make either side (he'd make India's though, assuming they needed three quicks). They're bowling well and playing at home, but I still don't think you could describe their line up as anything more than solid.
Mark
Guest
Broad 8-15 in the first innings of that match. Australia all out 60.
Brian
Guest
Yes and the reason they were playing is now obvious with the lack of batsman coming through. Rogers, Haddin, Watson and Clarke were the best we had at the time because Marsh, Paine, Khawaja, Burns were deemed not good enough. Well guess what we have now. Clarke's back was a major issue. He went fom the top echelon of world's batsman to retirement awfully quickly.
Matt H
Roar Guru
The only thing that was correct in that post was oh Jimmy, Jimmy. If Jimmy can maintain the rage for another few months that in itself makes England favourites. I'm pretty sure you'd take our openers over yours, and maybe Travis Head, but it's really comparing who is the least worst.
Matt H
Roar Guru
"solid but unspectacular West Indies attack". Well if you look at their attack compared to ours, according to the ICC rankings (and just add up the ratings points for the top three bowlers) they have a total of 2,240 (rankings of 6,10 and 12) and we have 2,325 (2,13 and 15) (I've used Starc, Hazlewood, Cummins). That's a difference of around 4% and is all due to Cummins. Their fourth bowler Joseph is inexperienced and well down the list compared to Lyon. But having three bowlers in the top 12 ranked in the world is better than you think. Let's look at averages. Using all for bowlers this time (as Joseph's inexperience doesn't affect his average like it does the ICC rankings). the 'average of the averages' for Australia is 27.4 at a strike rate of 54.7. for the West Indies it's 29 and 56.8. Not quite up to our 'world's best attack', but pretty close.
David a Pom
Guest
Haha. While England have been penalised for their complacency in the WI, at home they are certainly the most formidable unit in the world. As for Australia, the bowling might go OK but the batting will be downright pathetic - for all England's recent batting troubles, no Aussie batsmen (ex-Smith/Warner) would make the England team. And one more thing...oh jimmy jimmy
Tanmoy Kar
Guest
You have forgotten about Stuart Broadway, who is more dangerous than Anderson now-a-days.
Tanmoy Kar
Guest
It's true that England do not have an ideal Test batting line-up, hence they are struggling at West Indies. They have struggled in Australia earlier. Only they have won against a very weak Sri Lankan side. But they are quite good at their own backyard, Indians have understood recently. So it will not be easy for the Australian side in the coming Ashes Series.
jamesb
Roar Guru
When you look at the Australia's Ashes squad it was a pretty old one. Rogers, Clarke and Voges were pretty much heading towards the end. Rogers was very mindful about getting hit on the helmet while Clarke had his ongoing back issues. Here were the players in the squad that were on the wrong side of 30 in 2015. Clarke 34 Haddin 37 Johnson 33 Voges 35 Watson 34 Ahmed 33 Rogers 37 Harris 35, but withdrew from injury before the series began It's one thing to have a player aged 30 or 31. But the above players were well into their thirties at the time.
George
Guest
And yet England easily won the Test match that Anderson missed last Ashes tour.
AREH
Roar Guru
Heck Rogers at 41 could just about open the batting in this Ashes series and score well. Patterson is the one test newbie in particular who I see with a circumspect, patient game to bat for long periods and succeed in English conditions.
RobPeters
Roar Rookie
Test cricket is not about being "spectacular" it is bowling line and length or digging in and playing a slow, unattractive innings. It can be ugly and slow; it is the nature of the beast: a war of attrition, not a firefight. If you want "spectacular" watch ODI or t20 cricket.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Fair criticism Jason, it wasn't intended as a put-down I just wouldn't rate the Windies attack on the same level as the SA attack (the best going), or the Indian and Australian Test attacks. The Windies pace attack compares well with the Aussie or Indian pace units but what tips the balance is they don't have a spinner anywhere near as good as Ashwin/Lyon/Jadeja/Maharaj.
Brian
Guest
Their top 3 is horrible. They will probably punt on Jason Roy to open given their lack of options. Having said England will probably only need 300. Was it 2015 they won with Root making runs and Moeen's lower order contributions. That was when Australia had Rogers, Voges & Clarke as well as Warner and Smith.
jameswm
Roar Guru
Yep - patience, skill and play late against Anderson, and milk the rest. Good strategy. I said elsewhere that Chris Rogers should be mentoring them about how to play in English conditions.
Jason
Guest
"against a solid but unspectacular West Indies attack." Agree with the article overall but this is pretty harsh on a set of fast bowlers who all rank top 12 in the world.
Paul
Roar Guru
Ronan, I hope the selectors and Test players spend hours watching the tapes of the Tests England played, first of all against India at home, then against the West Indies. Our quicks need to adjust their lines more towards off stump, so they make the batsmen play at more balls and our batsmen need to get forward and learn to leave the ball better. I think this will be a bowlers series, so the team who's attack gets on top will win the Ashes, which makes it so important our batsmen get a good run against the Duke ball in the final few Shield games and in England.
VivGilchrist
Roar Rookie
The English ploy for a while now is to bat deep. This in theory should weaken the bowling but such is Anderson’s skill with the Duke in English conditions it makes them a challenge at home for the Aussies. If Australia can have the patience and skill to see him off I can’t help but feel the Ashes will go to the Aussie’s. There whole plan falls apart without Anderson.