England v Bangladesh: A Batty Selection?

 

England v Bangladesh

A Batty Selection?

September 16^th  2016

Rumour has it that the England selectors, never ones to duck controversy have picked Haseeb Hameed, Gareth Batty and Ben Duckett for Bangladesh.

The selection of Hameed is a good one: where better to blood only the second teenager to play for England since the controversial pick of Brian Close in 1949? He will come into the side in a series where the scrutiny will be less intense and the level of opposition somewhat friendlier than in Australia or South Africa.

Ben Duckett would be a more controversial pick. At face value, Ben Duckett and  Keaton Jennings look to have similar records: 3^rd and top run-scorers in the country in First Class cricket in 2016.

	Duckett	Jennings
Number of runs in 2016	1338	1576
Average	58.2	68.5
Centuries	4	7
50s	5	3
Top score	282*	221*
Team	Northamptonshire	Durham

Duckett was born in Kent, is a wicket-keeper and is in prolific recent form: 26, 6, 80, 185, 208, 12*, 5 & 70 in his last four Championship matches.

Jennings was born in Johannesburg, captained South Africa U19s in England in 2011 and then emigrated to the UK and served his qualification. His four games since the summer break have brought him 21, 0, 22, 171*, 40, 8, 201*, 11.

Both have made runs in struggling sides in which they have held together the batting. The difference is that where Duckett has made his runs in the relatively relaxed cricket of Division 2, Jennings has done it in Division 1 against far stronger attacks and with the handicap of playing half his games on the seamer-friendly pitch at Chester-le-Street.

It could well be that Duckett is going as cover for Jonny Bairstow on a tour where he may only get one day of cricket (the chances are that he will share the gloves in one of the two, two-day warm-up games and maybe get an innings), so the selectors feel that picking Jennings will be a waste of a batsman: or perhaps having another South African who has jumped ship in the squad is a jump too far. However, seven centuries in a First Class season does not broke much argument and one wonders what more Jennings has to do to get a chance.

Where selection is likely to be really controversial is in the spinners. Most pundits expect Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid to go and to be joined by one or two additional spinners. It is believed that Gareth Batty will be one and, possibly, Zafar Ansari or Liam Dawson.

While the Batty selection looked plausible two months ago, right now it will be seen as more evidence that playing for Surrey seems to imbue a player with mystical powers in the minds of the selectors.

Gareth Batty played the last of his 7 Tests in 2005 when Ashley Giles was injured and Batty replaced him for the pre-Ashes, Bangladesh series. 11 Test wickets at 66.6 will not strike fear into many Asian batsmen. In fact, after taking five wickets in his second Test match, in Sri Lanka, figures of 0-59, 1-47, 0-137, 2-185 and 1-44 convinced the selectors that he would never take enough wickets at this level.

Who are the top English-qualified spinners over the 2016 season?

	Wickets	Average
Jack Leach	61	23.4
Ollie Rayner	50	22.0
Gareth Batty	41	32.3
Simon Kerrigan	34	36.4
Adil Rashid	32	33.8

To find Zafar Ansari and Liam Dawson we have to go down the list a fair way:

·        Ansari, 22 wickets at 31.4

·        Dawson, 15 wickets at 46.8

Zafar Ansari missed the early part of the season after the serious injury that wrecked his end to 2015 and stopped him from making his Test debut in the UAE. If he was good enough in September 2015, one can understand that he is good enough now and an opening batsman to boot, covering a second, vital squad position. Dawson though has been outshone by the 19-year-old Hampshire leggie, Mason Crane and his 31 wickets at 40.7. It is Crane, not Dawson, who has been the #1 Hampshire spinner, as reflected by bowling one hundred more overs in just about the same number of games.

Where the comparison starkest is in recent form. Who is really bowling well NOW?

Let us have a look at the recent games, after the Championship’s slightly illogical summer break

	Games	Wickets-runs	Recent average
Ollie Rayner	4	24-414	17.3
Jack Leach	5	29-594	20.5
Liam Dawson	3	11-323	29.4
Zafar Ansari	3	7-219	31.3
Gareth Batty	5	6-342	57.0

Enough said? Dawson, Ansari and Batty together sum, in 11 games, the same number of wickets that Ollie Rayner has taken in his last 4 and a lot fewer than Jack Leach has taken in his last 5. If form means anything, go for the 25 year old Leach, or the 30 year old Rayner, not for a man who will be 39 when the 1^st Test starts and who is right at the end of his career.