West Indies
v England, 3rd Test, Day 3: West Indian Collapse Papers Over the
Cracks
September 9th 2017
It says a lot that, despite everything that went on
in the 2nd Test – a great advertisement for 5-day cricket – that,
but for rain, this match would have ended in a fraction over 2 days. The four
innings totalled just 203 overs: well under 7 sessions. My estimate that the
last two Tests would sum no more than seven days of cricket for England to
resolve their numerous issues was pretty close to the mark.
When you are desperate for a win – and England had
to win to avoid going to Australia in crisis – to find an opponent willing to
make life easy helps a lot. With the best batting conditions of the match
expected, at least in the morning, the Sun shining, Shai Hope at the crease and
the batsmen showing some real grit, the script was for England to have to
battle for their wickets. There was that nasty thought at the back of the mind
that if the West Indies dug in for the first hour they could set a really
difficult target. Three deliveries, including a play and miss first ball and
Jimmy Anderson settled any nerves: vote
of thanks to Royston Chase for his prod outside off. Seven overs later, five of
them maidens, which included a really bad drop by Broad and a successful review
by Blackwood, Anderson added Blackwood and, at 100-5, it was all over bar the
shouting. Two wickets in the first nine overs of play, less than forty minutes
into the day and West Indies effectively 29-5 and sinking fast.
This has been the biggest difference between England
and their rivals all summer. The ball has usually been on top in all seven
Tests but, when England were four wickets down, one tended to think that the
bowlers were through the tail and now the real batting would start. In
contrast, the middle and lower orders of South Africa and West Indies have tended
to bow and wave the bowlers through.
The West Indies, like South Africa before them,
desperately needed a couple of 50 partnerships to give their bowlers something
to defend. Shai Hope needed someone to show the same fight that he has shown
through the series and stand with him. The sad fact was that, in a familiar
pattern from the South Africa series, the partnerships kept being broken before
they could become annoying: 48 for the third wicket; 25 for the fourth, 23 for
the sixth; 32 for the seventh; 22 for the ninth.
However, despite the fact that the current
Australian team cannot hold a candle to the teams of 2006/07 or 2013/14, one doubts
seriously that they will be so accommodating come November. It is unlikely that
we will see seaming pitches or atmospheric conditions that allow massive swing;
the Australians will not continue this summer’s trend of the opposition being “Six
out, all out!”
If Joe Root could have made a wish, it would have
been to chase 107 without alarms. A ten wicket win would have been nice but,
failing that, decent innings for the two players under most pressure – Stoneman
and Westley – would have been high on his wish list. At very least, he got
this. Two red-inkers – 40* for Stoneman, 44* for Westley – but lest one get the
urge to run around shouting “Whoopee! Crisis over!” the runs were mostly scored
against an attack that had given up long before. Once England had knocked off 35
at runs from their target at 5-an-over it was obvious that there would be not
early clatter of wickets and the seamers were rested for later battles. At
least one can say that Stoneman and Westley knocked off the target with
assurance and playing some shots. As an exercise in building confidence, it has
done its job but, for Tom Westley at least, it is too little, too late. He has
been found out and the Australians will be waiting for him if England are
foolish enough to persist with him at #3.
Trevor Bayliss has stated that the squad for
Australia will come from the players who have featured over the last 12-18
months. That allows for several recalls, but seems to rule out a recall for Sam
Robson.
One assumes that the squad will be of 15, with two
spare batsmen and two spare bowlers. As there will be a shadow Lions squad
playing cricket it would make no sense to take two wicket-keepers. A sixteenth
player will only rob other players of desperately needed practice and is
extremely unlikely to get a Test unless the batting crisis is as severe as it
was at the end of the last tour: you do not plan to be whitewashed… at least,
one hopes that that is not in the plans.
Of the XI in this Test, those certain to tour are:
Cook, Root, Stokes, Bairstow, Moeen Ali, Broad
& Anderson.
Stoneman and Malan have done enough to get a place
on tour, although not necessarily in the starting XI.
One assumes that Roland-Jones, who has made a great
international start, will go, but again may be in a three-way flight for a
single place in the starting XI.
That leaves five slots to fill.
Provided that they are fit – and in the case of
Mark Wood, that may be an awful lot to ask as his latest “minor injury” has led
to him missing the whole West Indies series – Woakes and Wood will be players
11 and 12. You cannot ignore an all-rounder with the class of Woakes, who has
nine First Class centuries and three Test fifties despite batting as low as #9.
Similarly, Mark Wood is the fastest bowler available and one assumes that
having someone who can whistle the ball around the ears of the batsmen at 90mph
will be essential.
One also assumes that the selectors will want to
take Haseeb Hameed if he can give them any excuse to do so, although he is
still far from being in form and is in no way ready to return to Tests. If
Hameed is picked, Keaton Jennings will miss out, even if he scores runs now
(his return to County cricket has not been a success), but Jennings will almost
certainly have the consolation of the captaincy of the Lions and the likelihood
of a call-up if he shows form (rare is it now that there is not an injury
replacement on tour).
It is widely assumed that Alex Hales will be
recalled to bat at #5 and plug one of the gaps. It is his natural position in
red-ball cricket and his brutal form this season has made him the obvious
candidate to compete with Malan for the #5 spot.
That leaves one spot. Traditionally it goes to a
young player and is likely to go to a bowler, probably a spinner, although
England are unlikely to field two spinners in any Test.
The likely candidates are, in order of likelihood:
Ben Coad, Tom Livingstone and the favourite, Mason Crane. The losers in this
shootout will undoubtedly get a lot of cricket with the Lions.
So, the likely squad is:
Openers: Cook, Stoneman, Hameed
Batsmen: Root, Malan, Hales
Wicket-keeper: Bairstow
All-rounders: Stokes, Woakes, Moeen,
Quicks: Roland-Jones, Broad, Anderson, Wood
Spinner: Crane
However, there is no specialist #3 in the squad. It
could be filled by Root, although he is far more successful and prefers batting
at #4 & #5. It could also be filled by Jennings who, over the winter, was
regarded as the natural #3 in a top order of Cook, Hameed, Jennings, Root, but
just as injury and illness have led to a catastrophic loss of form for Hameed, Jennings’s
golden period that saw him score huge numbers of runs and centuries between
April 2016 and May 2017, has come to a horrible end and there are, for now, no
signs of recovery. It is also possible that the selectors may keep faith with Gary
Ballance as he was the man in possession until breaking a finger.
No comments:
Post a Comment