The past few weeks must have been horribly painful for diehard English cricket fans.
They would have been over the moon with their team’s progress up to and including the thumping they inflicted on India in the first Test in Chennai. Sadly though, that was the last moment of joy for Joe Root’s team and their supporters.
No doubt the England coach, Chris Silverwood, Root and the army of support staff will be dissecting that tour and preparing some sort of report card on how the team’s progressing. As an outsider, this is how things are going.
In terms of rotation and selections, England have had a plan for some time, based on the ultimate goal of having a fit, in-form squad ready to win the Ashes in Australia. To achieve that, they’ve allowed a host of players to step out of the Test team.
Has that worked? The real answer won’t be known until after the Ashes tour, but England have suffered in India.
Jos Buttler played in the first Test and went home. Jonny Bairstow played in Sri Lanka, went home for two Tests, then scored three ducks in four innings. Moeen Ali, who picked up eight wickets in the second Test and a brilliant cameo of 43, went home, when he was the pick of the England spinners at that stage.
This policy may have also impacted on selections. England got it badly wrong when they chose three quicks and only one spinner in the third Test and again in the last Test, when choosing only one specialist quick and a spinner who was badly out of form.
In fairness, England will know exactly who they want to play both at home in the return series and later on in Australia, but even then, the coach is saying there will be more players spelled during the England summer and it’s entirely likely more rotations could happen during the Ashes.
(Photo by Philip Brown/Getty Images)
There’s also the small matter of the IPL, which will impact on Test selections. Apparently those players contracted to play in India will be allowed to miss Tests against New Zealand?
With batting depth, it seemed England had found the right combinations, given the results they achieved against the West Indies, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and even India in that first Test.
The reality came through in the next three games. The talent’s there, but are the current crop good enough to make enough runs to win an Ashes series?
Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley, Dan Lawrence and Ollie Pope have all shown glimpses of the talent they possess. The real issue is about batting long.
Root talked about issues with the county system, where the four-day season is split into two parts. The first eight games are played before the end of May and the last four games are played in September, with white-ball cricket dominating the main part of summer. Sound familiar?
His concern is the pitches are seamer-friendly, which makes it extremely tough for batsmen to really build an innings. He even referred to the sort of pitches Sheffield Shield games are played on as good examples of surfaces that help players bat for long periods.
It will be interesting to see how the England batsmen come up mentally after this recent series. The guys previously mentioned badly need more than one confidence-building innings prior to the Ashes. They also need more consistent production from Ben Stokes if he’s going to bat at number five.
(Photo by Surjeet Yadav/Getty Images)
There’s no doubt England have plenty of fast bowling talent. There were two bowling positives from India. Olly Stone really looked the part. He’s apparently only played five first-class games in the past few years, but certainly looked sharp and could be a real handful in Australia.
It was also good to see Ben Stokes bowling for extended periods. England will revert to the usual three seamers and a spinner for their Test summer and the Ashes, but having Stokes available to help out the attack with ten or 15 overs is very good news.
The jury’s out on whether Jack Leach is going to be effective in Australia and which other spinner will be part of the touring squad. Leach took 18 wickets at 28, which are okay numbers, but he went at more than three an over in conditions he’s certainly not going to see in Australia.
Dom Bess’ confidence is down and we all know how Moeen Ali went last time he toured, so where does that leave the England spin attack?
A bright note has to be the wicketkeeping of Ben Foakes. I’ve said in other pieces that this guy is the real deal with the gloves and he was outstanding in India. This is one selection issue that England will be happy to have – does Buttler come back automatically or do they stick with the better gloveman?
Overall, it seems whatever gains England made in the past nine months of Test cricket have not yet turned this team into a strong all-round unit. There are still the obvious batting frailties outside of Root and Stokes, and the spin attack also needs some sorting.
England have taken on a serious Test workload and they might well need all of these games to sort out who will come to Australia in November.
England pretty much rubbish at the moment, and the Cricket world rejoices. Their selection policy is as 'Barmy' as their Army of supporters that treck down under for tours to Australia and New Zealand. But I am loathe to write them off. I thought New Zealand were going to draw if not beat Australia in the Test Series a couple years ago - they had world class players throughout their line up, and performed abysmally, Psyched out perhaps? Who knows. However, England will be up for the fight and despite being a weaker Test nation than NZ at the moment, I would not be surprised if they pull something out of the bag. But I will acknowledge with a ageing bowling line up, and really only one world class batsman in Root - the odds are stacked against them to win a test, let alone the series down under.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Big Ears McGuinn
Paul
Roar Guru
who would you leave out?
U
Roar Rookie
I’d play both guys.
Tigerbill44
Roar Guru
One way or the other the Poms need to get their top 3 to perform consistently. too much pressure on the skipper one feels.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Did I watch the series?.. More appropriately did you read my post properly.? Let me requote " Bess looks good notwithstanding a POOR series"... I later revert to stats over a number of Tests and 1st class games to try explain why the England selectors are staying loyal to Bess. Not much between them stats wise bowling with Bess having a vastly superior batting average and youth on his side.... I know he was poor this series.. So was Root 1st Test excluded but that doesn't make him a bad batsman.. Very few if any English players emerged without diminished reputations.. .
Simon
Guest
Did you watch the series? Bess was shocking. He's only young so he's got plenty of chances to improve, but his bowling really released pressure basically every time he came on. Leach though, definitely improved his standings
Ducky
Guest
I would think Australia and England are two very evenly matched sides who will both have a point to prove and Root to be fair is yet to prove himself in Australian conditions. Stokes is the dangerman and Archer could be in his element. Careers of a few top order batsmen, a pace bowler from each side and likely even both spinners will be on the line
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Yeah.. I said pretty much the same thing on another article.. Better sides than this England team have come unstuck in India against worse Indian teams too.. Let's put it another way.. It would have been a massive surprise if England won the series.. So I'm not sure why they are being so criticized by especially their own fans for losing..
Gonzo99
Roar Rookie
I can't remember the exact numbers, but it's something like only three touring sides have won a series in India in almost 40 years. Even when India were rubbish (and they're far from rubbish right now) they didn't lose at home. If anything England did better than expected in winning a test, restricting India to less than 400 in any innings, and Kohli getting more ducks than 100s. Great teams get beaten in India. England are no.4 currently, so a bit average. I think they're improving, but they still have issues at the top of the order that don't look like being resolved soon.
Ian
Roar Rookie
Good post Paul.The main problem with the English cricket team from what I've seen in my 2 years of living back here,is that the media here have far too much influence in who plays and who doesn't.Certain pundits have their favourites and that's all there is to it.Johnny Bairstow is a fine white ball cricketer but after 70+ Tests his average is 34.Yet he still keeps getting picked.Jos Butler is an absolute media darling here but has scored 2 centuries in 50 Test Matches.Joffra Archer rarely rates a critical word but apart from his 1st Test Series has really done very little.The situation with Ben Foakes is absurd.He is quite clearly a supurb wicketkeeper and can bat but has next to no chance.They can't wait to put Butler back in and if he fails,give Bairstow another go. If they continue to make 3-4 changes every game stand by for another 4/5 nil come the Ashes.Ed Smith is Englands Chairman of selectors.He's responsible for everything about the England Team.He's also an ex member of the TMS commentary team.Yet I've not either heard from him or a word of criticism about him anywhere.Talk about look after your mates!
Tony
Roar Guru
If they perform badly at home against India the English media will probably destroy them once again, and that may very well be the end of their Ashes campaign
Paul
Roar Guru
He's still played the 8 Tests and an average just under 32 is okay but not great. I think their selectors Buttler is the better option because when he really gets going, he can take a game away from the opposition in a session. The problem is, he hasn't done that for ages. I'd have Foakes over Buttler for sure.
Paul
Roar Guru
You're right Matt, but when will that return to normal take place? I read the WTC final in June has been moved from Lords, because they'll need to set up similar conditions they had when the Windies and Pakistan toured last year.
Paul
Roar Guru
He was okay in the last three innings, making double figures so I'm guessing he'll stay in the squad, but will their selectors rate him ahead of Bairstow, for example? I'm sure he'll get more Tests, but not a first choice player just yet.
Tempo
Roar Rookie
Fair enough, Bess may turn out to be a good spinner in the future with more experience. At the moment, his figures flatter him though. He's got quite a few lucky wickets in there - batsmen hitting full tosses and long hops to fielders, or in one case a ricochet from short leg to midwicket off a long hop. CricViz wrote a good post about how much he has benefitted from luck during his career so far . The balls he's bowled you'd expect him to average 39 according to their model. Admittedly their model is imperfect, but Bess himself admitted he bowled poorly when he took 5/30 against Sri Lanka - in that haul alone his wickets involved one long hop, two reverse sweeps and a ricochet from short leg. Getting wickets like that is not sustainable in the long run, as the second innings of the first test and his performance at Ahmedabad showed. He may well develop into a decent test offspinner (he is still very young as you say), but he's a long way behind Leach at the moment given his lack of control over length. Moeen Ali is probably also a safer bet at the moment, even if he is not particularly accurate either. Bess has a good attitude, bats and fields well and is a competitor. But he needs to be able to land a consistent length to be a decent test match spinner. The fact that Joe Root bowled more overs than him in the fourth test says it all really.
matth
Roar Guru
I thought Lawrence did okay and would be worth a bit more of a look?
matth
Roar Guru
Surely COVID bubble life has played a signficant part in forcing this rotation strategy for the well being of the players. It might not be so prevalent once the playing conditions return to mormal.
matth
Roar Guru
His batting has in general been very good for a keeper and number 7. No problems there. It's just that temptation to go with the batting talents of Buttler.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Its not so much the fact that the ball was turning, but in India it doesn’t come onto the bat.. The batsman has to make it happen.. For Indian players that’s second nature.. Probably why they are so wrist dominant with the willow. England struggled with that and often players lost wickets trying to dominate the slow bowlers with big T20 slogs.. That was a little disappointing.. Or should I say would be if I were English..