3rd Test, Squad Announcement: And the Winner is…!

 

3^rd Test, Squad Announcement: And the Winner is…!

July 22^nd 2017

We have had a couple of days to digest the bomb(s) that the selectors have dropped.

First and most important, they were spared the embarrassment of having to admit to error and drop Gary Balance thanks to his broken finger. Ballance is conveniently unavailable for the 3^rd Test and that debate can wait.

In his place plays Tom Westley. This is an interesting call and one of the less expected names in the sense that there were plenty of calls in the press for him to be called up, but you rather thought that he might be pipped at the post and get a call from the selectors beginning “awwwwwfuly bad luck Tom. You were so close.”

If you just look at his career average, you see under 38 – a useful player, definitely a county stalwart, but nothing exceptional. He has spent several seasons in the more relaxed climes of Division 2 cricket, where pitches are often not so good and attacks are friendlier after some lively new ball overs. Last season though, his runs at 53 were a large part of the reason why Essex were promoted and he is now averaging 53 half way though his first Division 1 season: last season was not a flash in the pan.

What is more, when newly promoted Essex started fast, largely due to the quantity of runs from Alistair Cook and Tom Westley, people nodded wisely and thought that it would not last. We are now more than half way through the season and Essex are sitting pretty at the top with a healthy lead and five wins from eight matches. Yes, they could suffer a late meltdown but they have already enough points in the bank to ensure that those who bet on them to go straight back down can throw away their betting slips and, after several seasons where the County Championship title has gone down to the last round and even the last day, or last session of the season, there is every chance that this season the title will be wrapped up with at least one round to spare. Westley’s recognition is recognition that Essex have hit a winning formula and that their players deserve recognition too.

However, Tom Westley’s elevation was the result of a delicate and complex ballet.

Question 1: Do we persist with Keaton Jennings?

This should not even have been a question given that he has only played 4 Tests and his first 3 were marked with a century, a fifty and a battling 33 in the second innings of the 1^st Test when conditions were at their most difficult, which helped set up the win.

Dropping him so quickly was not an option. However there was a permutation that would have seen Mark Stoneman selected as an opener and Jennings dropping to #3. This was in line with the original Plan A of the selectors to square the Cook-Hameed-Jennings triangle by playing Jennings at #3 and let Hameed open. Social media are still full of calls for Hameed to open, but his recent run of 0, 9, 10, 18, 38*, 0, 2, 17 & 23 really does not broke argument. He has hardly scored a run since leaving India as injury, illness and expectation have taken their toll. Jennings is hardly in sparkling recent form, but a fifty in each innings for the Lions sealed his spot. Hameed managed just 0 & 2 against South Africa A.

It seems though that the selectors stated firmly that Jennings would open. That, apparently, ruled out Stoneman, who was not considered a suitable option for #3. Westley thus was considered the best fit as a specialist #3. This allows Jennings to find his feet against what is proving to be an extremely testing new ball attack (ask Alistair Cook, whose scores of 3, 69, 3 & 42) are some way short of the form that he has shown for his county: 3x100, 2x50 and no score lower than 31 in his last eight matches). It also allows Joe Root to stay at his preferred  #4 position.

So, Part 1 of the England conundrum has been resolved with

       1.     Cook

2.     Jennings

3.     Westley

4.     Root

Part 2 involves the bowling.

Moeen Ali has bowled 59 overs and taken 14 wickets.

Dawson, Broad, Stokes and Wood have bowled a total of 213 overs and taken 15 wickets.

Wood’s only wicket of the series came when he bowled a token over before Tea on the final day of the 1^st Test and JP Duminy decided to end his Test career with a rash shot.

While the series bowling averages are topped by Moeen Ali and Jimmy Anderson, the next five slots are all held by South African bowlers. The England support bowling has been very disappointing. Stuart Broad has bowled well and has been a fine foil for Jimmy Anderson, but with limited luck. Stokes, Dawson and Wood though, all too often, have released pressure.

Having six bowlers does give the captain many options. It also means that bowlers have relatively light loads through what is a very compressed series. With several bowlers who are carrying long-term injuries, or who are approaching the end of their careers, or both, not over-bowling them is a major concern. In theory, Joe Root can call on a bowler of high pace (Wood), two of the best seamers in world cricket (Anderson and Broad), an X-Factor bowler (Stokes), a decent off-spinner (Moeen) and a Slow Left-Armer (Dawson). It should be an attack that can prosper in any situation.

That though, is only a theory. The reality is that something is holding Mark Wood back. In the ODIs, the knowledge that he would bowl a maximum of ten overs in two or three spells allowed him to release his aggression. In the Tests, the thought that he may need to bowl 20 or even 25 overs in a day (so far he has been nowhere near that), have caused him to hold back. He is bowling neither fast, nor aggressively. He is not giving control. His only wicket was due to a piece of rank bad batting. While not bowling badly, he is not achieving what his team needs, which is to exploit breakthroughs with incisive bursts of aggression.

Wood’s place is under threat for other reasons. He is carrying a heel injury and although passed fit, it may be that he is not risked. Get him through the series. Get him ready for Australia. One option is to play Toby Roland-Jones at The Oval and at least see what he can do. Is he a plausible option for Australia if others are unavailable? Most likely Woakes (probably unavailable until the West Indies series) and Ball would be picked ahead of him, but Roland-Jones is probably only an injury or two away from going to Australia. With the lack of any kind of meaningful practice in modern tours of Australia, the best time to find out about him before the Ashes start will be in a Test. The West Indies series will be needed to re-commission Ball and Woakes and perhaps as a confidence builder for Wood. If England are serious about Toby Roland-Jones, they have to bite the bullet and play him.

The impression is that TRJ or Toblerone – as he is known – has had a discrete season. He is though the leading wicket-taker for Middlesex in the Championship by a clear margin and in the top dozen Division 1 wicket-takers, although his average of 35.6 is poorer than any of the top fifteen wicket-takers apart from Neil Wagner. He has also laboured with what BBC Radio London’s Kevin Hand has called “Five Day pitches”, on which bowling out sides once, let alone twice, has been a real battle. This though may be an advantage in Tests as he has learnt the skills to winkle out batsmen on good pitches.

A look at the leading wicket-takers in Division 1 does reveal some reason for hope. Two South Africans in exile: Harmer and Abbott lead the way with 44 and 40 wickets respectively. Behind them, Ben Coad on 39 has surely earnt a ticket to Australia. Seventh on the list, with 24 wickets, is a name who probably no one would have guessed: Somerset’s Jack Leach, apparently getting his mojo back. Hovering around the top 20 are Stephen Parry of Lancashire, Liam Dawson, Dom Bess (17 wickets at 19.5 in just three matches) and Ollie Rayner. Leach and Bess will surely go on tour with the Lions and it is not impossible that one or other may be in the party to Australia. Yes, there are some spin options. Maybe no one in the Shane Warne class, but then, who is?

Despite Liam Dawson’s success this season for Hampshire, his place is under real threat. England picked him, not as the best spinner, but as an able batsman who can bowl tight overs and relieve the pressure on Moeen Ali. Since his battling 66* in the 1^st innings at Channai his scores have been: 0, 0, 0, 13 & 5* and his bowling: 2-129, 2-67, 2-34, 0-26 & 1-42. Looking at the cold numbers and an economy that has only been below 3.7 in his last four innings as South Africa collapsed at Lord’s, you would have to say that he is not supplying what England need. It is hard to avoid the feeling that he is batting at least one place too high in the order and that England would be better served by having a specialist batsman in his place and pushing Bairstow, Stokes and Moeen down a place.

Although the name of Dawid Malan had been mentioned – after all, he has made his T20 debut and averages over 40 this season, as well as being an under-rated leg-spinner – his naming was unexpected and definitely not universally approved. A common complaint is that England are addressing an all-too-real batting issue by picking a T20 specialist. Yes, Malan made his name with a remarkable T20 century in 2009 and made his debut for England in T20, but he has been a Lions regular for several seasons without ever quite making it into the Test team. He has also got a solid record in what has frequently over recent seasons been a dysfunctional Middlesex middle order.

If I had to take a bet, I would say that the selectors will baulk from three changes and three new caps, but two is a very good bet. Right now, I would bet good money on one of Dawson and Wood missing out, with Malan for Dawson the most likely swap. The only reason why it may not happen is that if The Oval pitch looks like being a big turner, as it has at times in the past, the selectors may think that Dawson is necessary. If, however, the weather is likely to be grey and cool, encouraging seam more than spin, Malan will slot in at #5.