England v India: 5th Test, Days 1-2 - The Shuffled Pack Shows Its Bottle

 

England v India: 5^th Test, Days 1-2

The Shuffled Pack Shows Its Bottle

December 17^th 2016

Once again Alistair Cook has won the Toss, as he has in the previous two Tests. And at 21-2, barely forty minutes into the game, any England fan optimistic enough to have got out of bed, must have been watching from behind the sofa. It brings back memories of watching Doctor Who as a six year old: terrifying, but strangely compulsive viewing.

Jimmy Anderson has joined the growing casualty list. Some reports are suggesting that he may struggle even to be ready for the South Africa series in July. With Steve Finn and Gareth Batty considered expensive luxuries and Ben Duckett and Gary Ballance considered liabilities, the unavailability of Chris Woakes ensured that Jake Ball would keep his place. England must have breathed a sigh of relief that Stuart Broad was passed fit, even so, of necessity Liam Dawson became the most unlikely England debutant for years – even he must be wondering how it happened. Poor Gareth Batty though knows now that he will never play for England again. Of the XI who started in Bangladesh, four have fallen by the wayside. Of the XI who played the 1^st Test v India, two more have gone.  Could a re-shuffled England do any better?

Keaton Jennings is finding that Test cricket is unforgiving: two failures have followed his debut century, but then that has been the Jennings way this season, with him following a series of low scores with a huge innings. Do not be amazed if he scores a century or makes a duck in the second innings. More alarming, given the waffle about his captaincy, is Alistair Cook’s form. In India in 2012, he led the way with a series of massive scores. This winter, his scores have been 4, 12, 14, 59, 21, 130, 2, 54, 27, 12, 46, 18 and now 10. It has been decent, but England have needed more than decent to compensate for his lack of intuition as captain. At his best, Cook leads from the front and inspires and the team follow and that simply has not been happening.

Moeen Ali is another to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Many England fans continue to be outraged that he is considered worth selecting. Vilified for irresponsibility more than once in the series, he is finding that “Trott’s Fault” (the excuse for any calamity in past years) is in danger of morphing into “Moeen’s Fault”. Considered far and away England’s most threatening bowler after three Tests of the winter, he has now been eclipsed by Adil Rashid’s advance. To guarantee his place in the summer he may well need to score enough runs to be picked as a batsman. An awful, scratchy start had the fans calling for his head but, somehow, he survived, he gritted his way through and then thrived. Two centuries and two fifties have come this winter – four centuries in the year – so he is doing something right, but five single-figure scores and nothing else higher than 14 shows his early vulnerability. However, on this occasion, without his 146, England would have been in a sad mess yet again.

With England slipping from a positively cheering 253-3 to a depressing 321-7, those who predicted 340ao seemed to be in danger of being classed as sad optimists. Such has been the reliability of England’s tail that 19 runs from the last three wickets seemed to be more akin in optimism to Oliver asking for some more. Yet, wonder of wonders, a century partnership from Dawson and Rashid – hands up all those who predicted that one! – and England started to dream of 450, 480, even 500. As Stuart Broad got behind the ball and made his highest Test score for more than a year, yes, even 500 looked on. Somehow though he managed to run himself out running what should have been a reasonably comfortable three and hopes of 500 went with him. Even then, Jake Ball kept Dawson company for a while. 477 looked good, but then so did 400 in the 4^th Test and it was only good enough to ensure an innings defeat.

No praise can be high enough for Dawson’s debut 66*. He showed spine and gumption and managed to imbue the England tail with some too. We have been used to seeing India’s last three wickets pile on the pain but, to see England progress from 321-7 to 477ao seemed little short of a miracle. It is little and late, but the side has finally shown some bottle. England will now be hoping that Dawson is similarly successful in his day job. India have not scored quickly, but they have advanced with no discomfort, no alarms whatsoever. The lesson of days 1 & 2 has been that there is some life in the pitch for the first hour: England either use it or they will watch India rack up 600+ again and face a thoroughly unpleasant last day under pressure to save the game. Unlike India 2012, India 2016 do not offer a side the chance to escape. This Indian side is seriously good.