England v Ireland: Only Test

Issues before the Ashes

July 27^th 2019

 

Ireland’s inaugural Test in England, only their third in total, was as brief and violent as predicted. Despite rain and a quite appalling overrate, it lasted under seven sessions and started and ended with a crazy clatter of wickets. The fact that the clatter of wickets saved England for the very real danger of an embarrassing defeat made it a face-saving relief.

For England, falling to 43-7 and then 85ao in well under a session to a good Second Division county seamer who is approaching retirement and who was never particularly close to a Test place even when at the height of his powers, caused much merriment in Australia. The fact that, at the same time, the batsmen of Australia were floundering desperately in their own match between the Australia and the Australia A squad, may have had something to do with their own enjoyment of seeing someone else struggling.

Kudos to Ireland. They have moulded a team of County pros, many of whom are not 1^st XI regulars into a side that gave England an almighty scare. Ireland have an ethos and a team spirit that does them great credit and they should be proud of their efforts. However, they should have closed-out the win and the fact that they did not will hurt. They will learn from this and, this winter, will get a new chance in Sri Lanka to get that maiden win.

The first thing that is obvious is that England’s switch from white-ball to red-ball mode has been difficult. An experimental top order. A middle order than has barely played a red-ball game all year. And an experimental attack that included two spinners – on a green-top – and a surfeit of all-rounders. All in all, England had a lot to play for and the struggles of the batsmen showed how desperately that they needed to re-acquaint themselves with the skills that the red ball requires. The fact that the innings barely lasted longer than a T20 and was less than half the length of a ODI innings, showed that the England batting problems are nowhere near resolved. The top order is fragile and the middle-order is hit and miss. You can see the Australian bowlers ripping through the batting. However, at the same time, there was a warning to the Australians. Here was an England attack shorn of Jimmy Anderson, Mark Wood, Joffra Archer and Ben Stokes, with a questioned Stuart Broad leading the attack, with a debutant as first change, that was able to defend 181 and win by a massive margin to boot.

While we wonder who will bat in the top 3, we also have to wonder how England will fit in their four injured or rested quicks. One assumes that Stone and Curran will make way but, even so, Anderson, Stokes and, presumably, Archer will come in and surely England will not play five seamers. It is possible that Archer will still not be regarded as fit enough for a Test but, even so, that is just delaying the inevitable problem.

The other big issue is what to do with Moeen Ali? He is so obviously out of sorts. At his best, batting at #8 and bowling as he can he provides a double-whammy of late order runs and abundant wickets against imprudent batsmen who feel that he is not a Test-class spinner. There is a real case for retaining Jack Leach in the playing XI, despite the fact that he had little to do at Lord’s and took some punishment in his first couple of overs: you always need the option, even if you think that a spinner will not be needed. Moeen needs a rest and a run-transfusion with his County and will, again, come back stronger.

Even if Jason Roy scored runs at #3 in the second innings, his nervous, fidgety initial efforts did not promise that he is the opener that England need. There is a strong body of opinion that, like Alex Hales, he should only bat in the middle order. There is an argument for playing him at #3, although he plays at #4 for Surrey. However, that #4 spot is reserved for Joe Root and it is where he bats best for England. Rory Burns is averaging little more than 22 after a decent run in the side (22.3 after 7 Tests) and surely cannot get many more chances. The betting must be that he will not last the Ashes, unless he makes a breakthrough very quickly. Similarly, Joe Denly, strangely picked with the somewhat bizarre idea that he could be as successful with his part-time spin as Moeen has been, has had just one significant knock in six innings, averages 24 and is struggling to get rid of the impression that he is not quite good enough with with bat or with ball at this level. In Denly’s case one wonders what he could have done without those wilderness years after his ODI debut in 2009. Denly is another who may well not be in the XI at the end of the Ashes unless he can find some steel soon.

What of the alternatives? Whatever the cynics say, there is talent there. England’s problem is to find a Boycott and a Tavaré to provide the cement to allow the stroke-players to build an innings.

If you look at the County Championship now, after ten rounds, now in its run-in, there are three stand-out form players: Dom Sibley, Sam Northeast and the eternal enigma, Gary Ballance. Sibley and Northeast average well over 60, with 3x100 and 4x50 each in 9 matches. Sibley is just short of 1000 runs and has a strike rate of 41: just the qualities that England need. Adam Lyth is also beginning to recover the qualities that made him an England opener, but has shown a repeated inability to count past 95 so far this season: fix it and he may be looking at a possible recall. In Division 2 – and I *do not* advocate Division 2 runs as being any kind of adequate preparation for an Ashes Test, two names stand out, apart from Dawid Malan who, has the handicap of battering on the door of a musclebound England middle order and Ryan Higgins (England are mob-handed already with all-rounders): Hassan Azad of Leicestershire and Chris Dent of Gloucestershire, who has recovered his magic this season. Dent is probably the best opener in the country who has never been mentioned for England at any level… and far better than some who have played Tests, let alone for the Lions. Of the two, Hassan Azad will start interesting Division 1 sides and England if he keeps up his prolific season.

England are likely to go with the top 3 from Lord’s and hope that they come good, but not many people expect that top 3 to last more than half way through the series. One hopes that Dom Sibley will come in before it is too late.