England v Sri Lanka, 3rd Test: Day 1 - England Struggle With the Weight of Final Test Syndrome

 

England v Sri Lanka

3^rd Test: Day 1

England Struggle With the Weight of Final Test Syndrome

 

June 9^th  2016

 

The shadow of Tino Best in 2012 hangs long over Lord’s in this Test. England went into the match 2-0 and looking for a whitewash and, in a severely rain-affected game, Tino Best, who had only passed 20 twice in has previous 14 Tests, scored 95 in a last wicket partnership of 143 in 31 overs as the West Indies went from a shaky 208-6 to a healthy 426ao and were grateful that rain saved them from too much embarrassment when slipping to 49-3 in reply.

England lost the Final Test in South Africa. Lost in the UAE when a draw and 1-0 would have been a highly respectable result. Lost against Australia. Lost series wins against the West Indies and New Zealand by losing the final Test. England’s relatively poor ranking in the ICC Test Ranking owes a lot to multiple train wrecks in the final Tests of series in the last three years that have turned comfortable wins into narrow ones, narrow wins into drawn series and narrow defeats into bad defeats.

It is getting too systematic to be just bad luck. Yesterday all the signs were there again. Sri Lanka went from being totally out of their depth for one and three-quarters Tests to giving England a scare when an innings victory seemed inevitable. When the great West Indian or Australian sides of the past would be looking to be ruthless and humiliate their opponents, England relaxed and Sri Lanka won back their self-respect. You knew that there was a chance that they would continue that upward trend if England did not impose themselves. And there was a real danger that a series that should finish 3-0, will end 2-1.

Beautiful batting conditions. Lord’s pitch that looked full of runs. Green attack weighted-down with worries. England winning the Toss. The sort of day where your #5 batsman does not plan to change into his whites before Tea. The sort of day where Nick Compton and James Vince must have thought that all their prayers were answered: a fifty at least, a century there for the taking with a little luck. At 56-0  it should have been a long, hard day in the field for Sri Lanka. At 84-4 the vultures were circling, no just over England, but over half the batting.

It seems doubtful that anything less than a second innings century will save Nick Compton and maybe not even that. Since starting with a vital 85 that set up the 1^st Test victory in South Africa his scores have shown a frightening downwards trend: 49, 45, 15, 26, 0, 19, 6, 0, 9, 22*, 1. 179 runs in the first three innings of his comeback. 98 runs in the next 9. It is not just lack of runs. His strike rate has gone down too from 39.2 in those first three innings to 35.4 in his last 9 (boosted by his not out innings in the 2^nd Test victory) and the manner of his dismissals has gone from badly executed attempts to accelerate the scoring, to timid surrender. He has had a bad trot in 2016, not scoring runs for Middlesex either and, at 33 before the end of the month, the case for extending his run is getting steadily weaker, particularly as Scott Borthwick is showing great form at #3 for Durham and would give another spin option.

With the new and somewhat bizarre County Championship, almost half the season is played in April and May and Middlesex have just two more games before August. He cannot even be sent back to his county to find some form, unless it is in 2^nd XI cricket and even County 2^nd XIs are playing more and more T20 and less of the longer form.

The other issue that England wish they did not have is that of James Vince. It would be unfair to drop him after three Tests but, the selectors must wish that he could get a second innings 50 to settle things. Since his 119 v Yorkshire in mid-April he has 25, 38, 0, 47, 9, 35, 7, 27 and, yesterday, 10. He has looked okay in his limited opportunities in this series without ever putting his hand up and nailing-down his place with a score.

And, of course, incredibly, despite 86 at Headingley and 83 at Chester-le-Street, Alex Hales’s 18 yesterday was greeted with glee by the fans who did not want him in the Test side in the first place, as it was taken as proof that he cannot cut it at this level.

Thankfully, the captain, who has appeared weighted-down by that search for the 10000^th run is looking a little freer. Without his 85 and another big innings by Jonny Bairstow there was a real danger that Sri Lanka might have been batting soon after Tea and looking to set up a match-winning total.

We are now in a similar situation to Day 3 at Chester-le-Street. Chris Woakes starts the day along with a set batsman. The threat is that the innings could subside to a very sub-par total of under 300. Or it could fly away from Sri Lanka before Lunch. Woakes looks more and more like a Test batsman, but still has not reached 40 in his 8 Tests. If he can show some grit and reach a maiden Test 50 and Jonny Bairstow continues to ride his luck, 400 is on and, with it, probably safety from defeat. Almost every game we say that the first half hour will be critical: Sri Lanka know that if they can get one or both batsmen in that first half hour, they will have an unexpected opportunity to bat England out of the game.