Ashes 2015
Let the Blood-letting Begin!
May 4th 2015
The young West Indian side, shorn of its stars, was just hungrier. When they were 124-7 in the first innings, still 133 behind, they should have been dead and buried. Instead, the tail did what England’s tail singularly failed to do and, with some judicious attacking, put on 65 invaluable runs. In contrast, England’s last three wickets managed 17 and 28 in their two innings. The tail should not be held responsible for the failings of the specialists, but England’s has been particularly poor in this series, even when a major batsman was still around. The sight of Jos Buttler 3* in the first innings, with 9, 10, Jack having faced more balls than him, was bewildering. In the second innings Jimmy Anderson was facing the first four balls of an over and then taking a single before the inevitable happened to the first ball of another over.
Where the series was
lost was in a stunning West Indian fightback late on Day 1 and on Day 2. At
189-4 with Cook and Moeen Ali batting confidently, 350 was the minimum that
England should have aspired to. Then Ben Stokes came in and started to play the
sort of innings that England needed from him. The loss of Stokes and then Cook
in the last four overs of the day started a catastrophic sequence of events.
233-5 to 257ao in 64 balls was pretty awful. Even then, Jimmy Anderson’s 6-for
threatened to recover the situation until Jermain Blackwood, who has been the
big West Indian discovery of the series, brought them back into the match. When
a lead of over one hundred looked to be a given, the final lead of 68 was a disappointment
and quick wickets gave the West Indians an initiative that they never lost. The
wisdom of giving the new ball bowlers a one wicket start was never more in
question than here where one wicket quickly became two as Cook fell too.
Similarly, the
wisdom of depending on a non-specialist spinner, especially one coming back
from injury who had hardly bowled for several weeks, was called into question by figures of 1-56
and 1-54 at 5-an-over on a pitch where quick scoring was difficult, was
manifest. England got away with it in the 2nd Test, but here Moeen
Ali’s bowling was a gift to the batsmen, as it had been for much of the time in
the 2nd Test. Maybe James Tredwell and Adil Rashid would have been
even worse, but you can bet that both will be seen as devastating spinners of
near-mystical powers as the inquest continues. A measure of how things have
changed is that Monty Panesar is not even in the Essex side in this round of
matches: when he cannot even make a place his own in a modest Second Division
attack, early season or not, you would think that his chances of playing at top
level again are just about zero.
Similarly, England
have made a firm commitment to playing Jos Buttler in all formats as an
attacking batsman who can do a job with the gloves. However, when Jermaine
Blackwood had a rush of blood to a decent Moeen Ali ball, he missed it
completely, the stumping chance went begging and the match went with it. Had
that chance been taken England would probably still have won. Buttler has only
played 6 Tests and averages 62 (with 3x50), so he is doing the job with the
bat, but he is still a work in progress with the gloves and in tactical
awareness in batting with the tail. At 24 he will only get better in both
departments (Rod Marsh and Alec Stewart are just two wicket-keepers who were
roundly criticised as being a liability with the gloves early in their
international careers, but who turned out alright), but he is a long-term
commitment.
Alistair Cook is
questioning the wisdom of Colin Graves’s remarks prior to the series. In fact,
with sterner Tests to come, he should have welcomed having a fired-up West Indies
to test his side. What he knows now is that the side is not as good as he
thought and that cannot afford to carry two or three passengers. Players whose
contributions will be scrutinised include: Jonathon Trott, who scored 59 in one
innings and totalled just 13 in his other five; Ben Stokes, who contributed 3
wickets at 85, although his batting was consistent; and Moeen Ali, who scored
58 in the first innings here and only 8 runs in his other three innings; Chris
Jordan will also know that he could do better than 6 wickets at 43 and 55 runs.
England could cope with one misfiring bowler, but to have Stokes and Moeen Ali
both struggling to create threat and Chris Jordan only bowling well in patches
was a huge burden. There are also the usual complaints about Stuart Broad: his
10 wickets were more than Jordan and Stokes combined, but the fact that his
nerve has gone completely as a batsman means that it is now just a matter of
when he gets a straight ball.
The Stokes/Jordan
conundrum is an important question of balance. Had England had Stokes’s batting
and Jordan’s bowling combined in one player they would have been well content.
Instead, all too often it was Jordan’s batting and Stokes’s bowling and that
simply was not sufficient. The balance of the side was wrong, with too much
being demanded of non-specialists. Suddenly Adil Rashid is looking like a great
spinner (he is not, but is a more regular bowler than Moeen), but the biggest
flaw was not to try Liam Plunkett’s 90mph missiles which, on the Barbados
pitch, could well have been the difference between winning and losing.
England are not a
bad side, but one really bad day has been costly in the series. If you are
very, very good you can afford a bad session, or a bad day: England are not so
good as to be able to do it and have learnt the lesson the hard way against a side that fought hard and has shown that the future need not be bleak for Caribbean cricket.
After the 2nd Test and then the Cook century, it seemed that the pressure was completely off
Alistair Cook and lifting from Peter Moores’s shoulders. Now, it is right back
on again. Peter Moores cannot afford England to have a poor series against New
Zealand. Nor, for that matter, can Alistair Cook the captain, even if Alistair
Cook the opening batsman has had a fine series, with a century and two fifties.
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