England v Pakistan: 1st Test, Day 3 - Headingley ’81, or Malahide ’18?

 

England v Pakistan: 1^st Test, Day 3

Headingley ’81, or Malahide ’18?

May 26^th 2018

Up until mid-afternoon today, Pakistan had done everything right and England had done everything wrong. Even with a man short, Pakistan were odds-on to win and seemed certain to do it in three days. England were in all kinds of strife. They had fallen from 91-2 to 110-6 in 38 catastrophic deliveries before Tea. Buttler and Bess survived the last three and a half overs until the interval but, after the way that the tail was blown away in the first innings, everything pointed to a rapid finish after the break.

Seeing how Dom Bess played initially as if he was facing hand grenades in a minefield, you would not have given him much hope of seeing out the time until Tea, let alone helping England into a fourth day. However, he had one thing going for him and that was guts. If you had to elect two players to save England, it would not have been a questioned slogger, with no red ball form at all in the last two years and a twenty-year-old debutant with only a handful of First Class games behind him.

The last time that Jos Buttler scored a First Class 50 was in Mumbai in December 2016. It is his only half century in twenty-seven innings, which also gives an idea just how little red-ball cricket he plays. Buttler is an enigma: he has incredible talent, he shows that when he plays in the IPL and when he plays in ODIs, but he struggles to convert it into any kind of consistency in the longer form. In eighteen Tests, he has 6x50, but a top score of 85 and an average of 31.4: almost the same as his average in First Class cricket, but far lower than his average in ODIs where he can play with more freedom. Dom Bess averages 25.4 with the bat in his fledgling First Class career, with 1x100 and 2x50.

Slowly, very slowly, Buttler and Bess gained confidence after Tea and started to counter-attack. It was the sort of situation where the stuntman is working without a safety net and the first slip spells the end of the performance. Lots of quick singles, lots of caution, but hitting the bad balls. Slowly, they brought down the deficit. Maybe England would not lose by an innings: a boundary from the increasingly confident Dom Bess, who no longer found the edge of the bat, but, instead, was middling the ball nicely, obliged Pakistan to bat again. Then, maybe Buttler could reach a fifty and, with it, make a point. Another boundary and the landmark was duly reached.

By now, the lead, though tiny, started to grow just swiftly enough for Pakistan – both players and fans – to get nervous. Then it was the hundred partnership. Then it was Dom Bess’s fourth First Class fifty and by far his most important. The bubble of hope started to grow. Maybe Buttler and Bess could make it to the Close. Maybe they could survive long enough to get some help from the rain promised on the last two days. Maybe they could even get far enough ahead for the always unstable Pakistan batting to implode in a chase.

If England need anything to give them hope it was the way that Pakistan panicked against Ireland at Malahide. Ireland were 157-6, 23 behind still and looking set for an innings defeat. The Kevin O’Brien scored a century. Stuart Thompson, fifty. Ireland entered the last day 139 ahead, with three wickets left and with hopes of making Pakistan sweat. Even though the innings ended quickly on the fifth morning, Pakistan found themselves 14-3, chasing 160 to win. Although Pakistan won, in the end, fairly comfortably, they showed how easily they can panic.

At the Close, England were just 56 ahead. Effectively 56-6 in a one-innings match. The new ball is two overs away. To have any hope of saving the match, Sir Geoffrey believes that England must bat through to Lunch tomorrow at least. To be brutally honest, even that would offer only the slimmest of hopes as it would imply a lead of only around 150. England will need a century from at least one of the not out batsmen, runs from other and a couple of significant scores from the last three. It is a tall order.

At Malahide, Ireland resisted, but lost in the end.

However, what no one dares to mention is that there is another precedent. Say it softly: Headingley 1981.

Just occasionally, all logic goes out to lunch and doesn’t come back. At Headingley, in 1981, England were in an even worse mess yet, somehow, contrived to win because the opposition panicked. Headingley was a rare and extraordinary event but, if you keep battling, just occasionally something like Headingley will happen and a game will be saved that should not be saved and, may even be won. It was a don that England acquired between 2009 and 2011 and trotted out at places as far afield as Cardiff, Durban, Cape Town and Brisbane. It is too long since we have seen England show this ability to hang on when a match seems lost, but it is sorely needed now.

The most likely result is that England will lose by 5 or 6 wickets, sometime tomorrow. If they do, it will be as if this evening’s partnership never happened but maybe, just maybe, they will show the self-belief to make something marvellous happen.

However, if Pakistan win. When Pakistan win, it will be no more than they have deserved in this match.

England v Pakistan: 1st Test Preview - And the Winner is… Dom Bess!

 

England v Pakistan: 1^st Test Preview

And the Winner is… Dom Bess!

May 23^rd 2018

First: an apology… I never did wrap up the New Zealand series. Disappointment at the outcome – when you take wickets with the first two balls of the day and it is all downhill from there, it takes some effort to dredge up the effort to write. New Zealand held out comfortably for the draw and took the series. England were not good enough. New Zealand were good value for their win and deserved it thoroughly.

Then, a heavy schedule at work was followed by being signed-up by the View from the Outfield website to report on County cricket – if you don’t know View from the Outfield, you can find it at viewfromtheoutfield.com: it is well worth a read – which is taking two or three hours out of many of my evenings.

Another season, another series. Pakistan are the warm-up act for the summer’s main series against India, with an ODI series against Australia sandwiched in between. For England, this summer bears a depressing similarity to 2014, when England played after a 5-0 defeat in Australia, then lost for the first time at home to Sri Lanka and were being thoroughly outplayed by India before Moeen Ali went from being “Moeen Who??” to being “the beard that is feared”.

There is an irony in the fact that, having been a fixture in the England side for four years since his Lord’s debut against Sri Lanka in 2014, Moeen was almost certainly not even mentioned by the selectors for this Test. In India and Australia over the last two winters, England have given debuts to Liam Dawson, Zafir Ansari, Mason Crane and Jack Leach. Ansari has retired. Liam Dawson’s star has faded to the extent that he is unlikely to play another Test. Crane is just coming back from serious injury and now it is the turn of Jack Leach, who took Mason Crane’s place in New Zealand when Crane was injured, to have a serious injury himself.

While short-sighted curmudgeons have been moaning about playing on “the beach at Taunton”, England are seeing it pay dividends. Jack Leach was one of the few successes on the Lion’s tour to the Caribbean and his spin-twin, Dom Bess, also came out of that tour with great credit with a maiden century (in the post-Lions, Champion county match) and wickets. He may have played only sixteen First Class matches and he may not be a regular in the Somerset side but, when he plays, he has often been lethal. Twenty years old and averaging four wickets per match in his short career, astute followers of the county game have known for a year that his Test match debut was just a matter of time: most people expected to be against Sri Lanka in the Autumn but, the attrition rate of spinners means that he will get an early chance to impress. Lest we forget, Alf Valentine had only played TWO First Class matches before he set about destroying the England batting in 1950.

It could all end in tears – England have tried spinner after spinner since the decline and fall of Swann and Monty – but remember that Nathan Lyon was the thirteenth spinner to be tried by Australia in a short space of time and he seems to have done okay.  There are plenty of cricketing reasons to believe that, come this Autumn, in Leach and Bess, England will take to Sri Lanka their most potent spin combination since 2011.

Do not expect miracles from Dom Bess. He has taken just one wicket so far this season on the seam-friendly pitches, as Somerset have relied so far on pace, but this game will be about his temperament and readiness. Bess will play, as England have already stated that he will provide the variety in a seam-heavy attack.

For England there are many questions:

·       Has Alistair Cook still got the hunger to score big runs? In 2017 he was scoring runs for fun for Essex before the Tests. In 2018, he has managed 84, 0, 26, 37 and 66. After a pretty dreadful winter, there is enough there to show that he is getting some form back but, will it last into the Pakistan Tests?

·       Mark Stoneman is lucky to hold his place. He scored 4x50 during the winter and bettered his best Test score three times, falling in single-figures just twice in seven Tests, but still has not passed 60. Can he make a definitive contribution and seal his place? He has reached 20 four times in seven innings this season for Surrey, but has yet to reach 30. In contrast, Keaton Jennings is on a run of 109, 126, 136, 73 and 69 for Lancashire. If Jennings can maintain this prolific form, it will be hard to ignore him.

·       What about Joe Root at #3? He prefers to bat at 4. It is well-chronicled that it is a long time since Root has converted a 50 into a century: he has been scoring 50s a-plenty, but the difference between the two sides in Australia was often the relative contributions of the captains. Can Root score big runs at #3 and improve his conversion statistics?

·       Is Ben Stokes ready for Tests again? We already know that he will miss one of the Tests against India as his charge for affray will come up in Bristol Crown Court, where he faces a possible sentence of three years in prison. How distracted is he by what is coming up and by the media circus that will follow him?

·       What about Jos Buttler? He will bat at 7 with a licence to play with freedom. However, he played just one red-ball game in 2017 and has struggled to adapt to Tests. Can he harness his incredible talents in Tests? His form, opening, in the IPL has been extraordinary, but that is a very different problem to batting in a Test.

·       Which way will England jump with the fourth seamer: Chris Woakes or Mark Wood? Woakes was bitterly disappointing in Australia and Mark Wood can hardly say that he seized his opportunity in New Zealand with both hands. Can either cut it long-term at Test level?

·       And, the $64000 question: how long have Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson got left? Anderson was masterful in Australia and Stuart Broad looks to be back to his best, but England know that Anderson is on borrowed time and Broad may have only two years left in him at this level, even if his form continues to justify his place.

Last time Pakistan toured England, they shared the series, celebrated wins with press-ups. They also became #1 in the ICC Test rankings to boot. Now they are #7 having barely won a match since. They beat Ireland, but not after Tim Murtagh and Kevin O’Brien gave them an almighty scare (in the end they were relieved to scramble over the line) and have been depressingly badly treated with the warm-ups, by having games against the hapless Northants and a weak Leicestershire: as preparation goes for a Test series the ECB should be embarrassed and ashamed by their lack of generosity as hosts.

It is quite likely that just four of the eleven players who faced England at Lord’s less than two years ago will be in the Pakistan XI. Like England, they desperately need a strong showing for their own credibility. Pakistan are mercurial: perhaps the most naturally talented cricketers in the world, they get too easily distracted by what they see as on and off-the-field conspiracies and, as a result, disintegrate far too easily. Just as England have to learn to cope with pitches taking big turn in India and the UAE, India and Pakistan have to learn to cope with a tinge of green in the pitch in England without screaming “foul!!” Cricket is intended to be played on grass and, in a wet and humid country, grass tends to grow green.

The bad news for England is that even a 2-0 series win – which seems to be totally implausible – will barely gain any ranking points: England need to win 1-0 even to stand still. Pakistan will remember what Sri Lanka did in 2014 and know that England are vulnerable and that there are questions against the name of almost every player in the XI; the Pakistanis will be only too happy to deepen the England crisis and are quite capable of doing it if they can retain their focus.

Ashes 2017/18: 3rd ODI - Australian Inadequacies Left Bare

 

Ashes 2017/18: 3^rd ODI

Australian Inadequacies Left Bare

January 21^st 2017

As in the Test series, the ODIs have been settled at the first opportunity. Australia needed to win or tie to keep the series alive and, despite almost everything running for them, were never really at the races after England recovered from a difficult position.

Australia had to chase in what were probably the best batting conditions of a match, after England’s main strike bowler limped off having bowled just eight deliveries. After 48 overs, with two well-set batsmen at the crease and comfortably ahead of England at the same stage – having been well ahead during virtually the entire chase – the same thing happened as had happened in the first two matches: their chase died away. Australia’s batting simply fades out in the last five overs when other sides look to score fifty, sixty, or even seventy runs. Today was their best effort of the three matches so far, with thirty-seven from the last five overs but, when you need two-a-ball (a rate that should not be out of reach with two well-set batsmen, one of them a big-hitter), they managed the required twelve from a only single one of the last five overs and, by then, only when it was far too late.

Compare this with England’s effort. Tied in knots by the Australian attack, they were 200-6 after 40 overs and 236-6 after 45, with the pundits speculating that 270 would be defendable. The last five overs went for 8, 10, 10, 24 and 14. The seven death overs of Hazlewood, Cummins and Starc, brought back to slap down those irritating Poms, went for  a total of 83 runs. It all goes to show that what works in Tests, does not always work in white-ball cricket.

Steve Smith admitted that Australia were chasing thirty too many. At times though, their tactics were somewhat odd. Joe Root, brought in to complete Liam Plunkett’s allocation, was given some brutal treatment, finishing his first spell with 6.4-0-53-0: just what Australia needed – to attack the emergency bowler when Eoin Morgan really did not have a viable seventh bowler available to relieve the pressure. Root though came back and bowled his last two overs for just seven runs. Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid then bowled some cheap overs as the batsmen dawdled along and, suddenly, the RRR was climbing. Steve Smith, so different from the batsman who ruled the Test bowling with a rod of iron, scored at the equivalent of 4-an-over and managed only a single boundary in 66 balls. Mitch Marsh was a little quicker (5-an-over) but, with a run-a-ball needed, only Aaron Finch and Marcus Stoinis showed the necessary urgency. As in the previous match, the rest left them too much to do. It was all very well saying that Smith was setting a base for the final slog, but the final slog just has not been coming and the 1990s-style mid-over batting killed the chase.

Moeen Ali, although he has only two wickets in the series, continues to be the most economical bowler on either side. Adil Rashid has almost identical figures to Mitch Starc – they have bowled the same number of overs, have taken the same number of wickets, but Adil Rashid has conceded two more runs – and his mid-overs partnership with Moeen is proving to be England’s trump card. In contrast, only Andrew Tye is giving Steve Smith some control.

England’s other trump card is the finishing. Chris Woakes is proving a far bigger threat with the white ball than with the red. He has four wickets at good economy, but his 92 runs at a strike rate of 146 have given England the final push that they needed in both games in which he has batted because he has batted in support of someone at the other end. Australia, in contrast, have a finisher, Stoinis, who has 120 runs at a strike rate of 135, but he has played a lone hand with no real support: other batsmen have always left him far too much to do.

Today though, the story was of Jos Buttler. He has looked totally lost most of the time in Tests but, give him a white ball and a licence to hit and he looks a totally different player. A century from 83 balls, with his second fifty come from just 31 as he tore the Australia Test attack to shreds.

This being Australia and another defeat, there has to be some controversy. Defeat in the first two ODIs has been marked by suggestions that Australia are not really trying and have not fielded their best side (NB: England have not been able to field their best side either, only the best available, but that is another story). Today, they fielded another changed team and what is undoubtedly their best attack, so it was an umpiring decision that received the brunt of their ire. Steve Smith edged and looked back, guiltily. Jos Buttler swooped and claimed the catch. The umpire gave it out. And Smith reviewed. As is their wont, the TV images just added confusion and we were in a situation where unclear, foreshortened images were clearly out to one side and that the ball had clearly bounced to the other. The Third umpire took the pragmatic view that he could not say beyond all doubt that the on-field call was wrong, so a furious Smith had to go. Australians will blame their defeat on the umpires but, his dismissal probably helped Australia because, at that stage, the RRR was rising and Smith seemed unable to accelerate, while the fall of his wicket brought in the aggressive Stoinis. The Australians might well reply that the wicket lifted England when they might have started flagging, but Smith would have had to start to take some risks or sacrifice his wicket soon anyway.

There are still two ODIs and two T20s to come. You can imagine England winning most, if not all of them. It does not change what came before, but it will allow a more positive spin on the tour as a whole, so different to the 2013/14 tour. However, even if England win all the ODIs and T20s, were we to be counting points, as in the Womens’ Ashes, the final score would still be 22-18 to Australia. The Tests were lost – and lost badly – and that is what will be remembered in future years.

 

A Day That Offers Some Hope

 

 

Ashes 2015

 

Hope, But England Make Their Supporters Suffer

 

May 21^st 2015

 

If patrons tuned in to the Test match expecting to suffer, they were not disappointed. New Zealand resent being no more than a warm-up act for their big brother over the Tasman Sea and are keen to score a few brownie points themselves. England wanted to show that change had come and that the closed shop had disappeared: Jordan was sent back to Hove where, hopefully he will be allowed to turn out for Sussex and Mark Wood became the latest in the production line of Durham quicks to win a cap.

When all the pundits were saying that the winner of the toss had to bat, Brendon McCullum had no doubts. He felt that England were there for the taking and that if he took on the top order head-on, it would crumble.

Win toss. Bowl. Behead.

For 43 balls it seemed that perhaps the new England opening combo would restore some sanity to the office. Not a chance. Good ball from Southee. Fine edge. Thanks very much Adam. You have three more innings before the Australian arrive.

29 balls later it was 30-4. Ballance. Cook. Bell. Thanks for turning up, guys.

It was scant consolation that Lyth and Bell got very good balls. We knew that New Zealand had a good attack and that very good balls should not be a great surprise. And given that the fans regularly castigate the England attack for bowling low-80s, there was not a 90mph ball in sight. In fact, there was barely an 85mph ball in sight and Corey Anderson, after making a point with a few 80mph deliveries, settled down to mid-70s pace. If it had been Stuart Broad and Chris Jordan you would have heard the blood vessels of the fans popping with righteous indignation.

Barely two weeks ago England got into this kind of mess against the West Indies and sank without trace. Today, something unexpected happened: Brendon McCullum kept on attacking and runs started to flow. Resistance turned into a full-scale counter-offensive and the counter-offensive threatened to become a rout. Thirty-two overs. One hundred and sixty-one runs. Bowlers being taken apart as fours and sixes flowed. On came the Antipodean answer to Moeen Ali. Ben Stokes showed his elegant leave so as not to throw it away with a century just two hits away. Unfortunately though, the leave would have been much better against a ball that was not quite so straight.

Joe Root was still there and looked a banker to go on to a century. If the Australians think that they are going to meet the nervous, prodding figure of 2013, so much the better because they are in for a nasty surprise. On 98 he went for the cut that would take him to his century, feathered an edge and departed. Since the start of last summer he has: 200*, 15, 13, 31, 154*, 13, 66, 3, 56, 77, 149*, 83, 59, 182*, 33, 1, & 98. That is some serious scoring.

That left two batsmen with questions against them to capitalise. Jos Buttler’s figures for England are excellent, but his protection of the tail in the Caribbean was totally clueless and, arguably, lost England the 3^rd Test given that an extra 20 runs eked out in each innings might have changed the result. Moeen Ali has played 9 Tests and averages just over 30, with 1x100 and 2x50. Given his bowling last summer that has been quite sufficient, but 6-208 in the Caribbean and an array of buffet bowling required something more from the bat. At his best, Moeen is a rich man’s Ashley Giles: a better bowling average, a better batting average, a more imposing figure and capable of scoring centuries. Today, in partnership with Jos Buttler, Moeen batted with increasing confidence.

Buttler went to the last ball of the day and Moeen will now have to shepherd the tail as skilfully as he did at Headingley last year when he was two balls from saving a Test that looked like a lost cause.

At 354-7 England know that they need to get to 400. And then the attack has to be as skilful with the new ball as New Zealand’s was. However, there is very little batting left and the challenge will test every atom of Moeen Ali’s skill. However, as a statement of intent, the riposte to the New Zealand challenge has been a fine one and holds out hope that the summer may be less traumatic than we feared.

England Are Lucky: Can They Make It Count?

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

Luck starts to turn

 

July 29^th 2014

 

In the end, 569-7d looks pretty good, but it involved a fair slice of luck. Alistair Cook made 95, but was dropped off an easy chance on 15. Ian Bell made 167 but, had DRS been in place, would have departed for a duck and Jos Buttler was walking when he gave a low catch to slip before the matter was referred to the Third umpire who, as usually happens in such cases, found sufficient doubt in the foreshortened view of the TV camera’s telefocal lens to give the batsman a probably unmerited lifeline – Buttler made 85 at a rattling pace. Take away those 332 runs and it would have been business as usual for England and a battle to save the game, even if Gary Ballance can fairly say that he got a pretty poor call.

There are times when a side needs a little luck. Last winter, in Australia, England lost the toss in the first three Tests and was right on the back foot from the start. What luck there was all went Australia’s way until England were too battle-scarred to be able to take advantage.

Here, India can feel hard done by in several senses, but certainly did not help themselves. Dropped catches, poorly directed bowling and lax fielding all helped to make England’s job easier. While the bowlers were persistent, many pundits thought that they did not deserve to do much better than they did.

While both Bell and Cook got runs, neither should have done. However, they took their chances well. Better to have a life and take full advantage, than to have one and fall a few balls later. Bell looks back to his best although, for Cook, it is still a struggle. Similarly, Jos Buttler was extremely lucky not to start his Test career with a duck however, as he took advantage of his luck, India surrendered and the unfortunate Jadeja went for 21 in one particularly violent over. This score has probably ensured that Jos Buttler’s place will not be disputed for the rest of the summer at least. Even if his ‘keeping is deficient, it is as well to remember that neither Alec Stewart no Matt Prior were anywhere near Test-class wicket-keepers initially.

Things are looking better but, until England have bowled on this surface, we do not know how good England’s score is. If the bowlers can do a bit better than in previous matches in terms of line and length and put India under some real pressure, we can start to talk of the corner being turned. So far this summer though, England have got themselves into some very good positions, but not been able to exploit them. The corner will not be turned until they are exploited and a win results.

India Threaten To Turn England's Tailspin Into A Crash Dive

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

The England Tailspin Continues

 

July 22^nd 2014

  

India were just too good on the sort of greentop surface that, previously, would have heard them screaming foul and taking to the field already defeated. Two balls before lunch, England were right back in the game and one dared to hope of an astonishing chase being pulled off but, yet another catastrophic collapse and fine, aggressive Indian bowling finished things off astonishingly quickly after the interval. There is every possibility that the series will finish 2-0, or even 3-0 to India. Just four Tests into the summer, with a Test series lost and another slipping away, added to defeats in an ODI series and a T20, there are already whispers that Peter Moores’ renewed tenure as England manager may be brief unless he can come up with some answers rapidly.

After the Ashes, the general feeling from the pundits was that England would see off Sri Lanka and India comfortably and mask the issues that were shown up over the winter. Losing both series was not even regarded as a possibility: it is now looking increasingly likely and a winless summer is becoming an uncomfortable possibility.

England’s catastrophic series of results claimed its first victim as Matt Prior stepped down from international duty for the rest of the summer and, presumably, for good, on the grounds of injury. He has struggled for a long time to manage an Achilles tendon problem and, this season, has had muscular problems and a hand injury too. Prior will have an operation on the Achilles tendon, but will struggle to get his England place back, even assuming that he gets back to full fitness after the operation.

Having made his debut in ODIs in Zimbabwe in 2004, he waited a year for his next cap. Then, he played another 11 matches in two series, mostly as a batsman, with limited success before being dropped for nearly 15 months and then re-gaining his place in the aftermath of the disastrous Ashes series in 2006/7. A century in his first Test innings and 324 runs in the 4-Test series against the West Indies, showed his batting class. However, his wicket-keeping was criticised and he was soon was out of the side again for a year as things went horribly wrong in Sri Lanka, with Peter Moores struggling to get England out of a post-Ashes slump. Once back in the side, he went from strength to strength, both as a wicket-keeper (having not even been Sussex’s first choice ‘keeper initially) and as a belligerent batsman, but never translated that success to ODIs.

Matt Prior’s aggressiveness meant that he was not always popular, even with home fans and he rarely got the respect that he deserved as an exceptional wicket-keeper batsman. His decline over the last fifteen months when he has rarely been injury-free has been rapid and sad to watch. In the twelve Tests since returning from New Zealand in 2013 he has averaged just 22 and has wicket-keeping has suffered too. It is hard to avoid the impression that, like Alec Stewart before him, he has tried to go on for one season too many. Matt Prior though has been a tremendous servant for England and we should not forget it.

An indication of the extent of England’s struggles comes in the list of leading run-scorers and averages for 2014. Seventeen players have represented England in the five Tests so far this year – itself an indictment – and only five players have played in all five Tests. Apart from Joe Root, a relative newcomer, the next three highest run aggregates are all for debutants (Ballance, Robson and Moeen Ali) and the next is a bowler: Stuart Broad. Ian Bell has 197 runs in 9 innings, Matt Prior has 179 in 9 and Alistair Cook 129 in 9, just ahead of Jimmy Anderson’s 119 and Liam Plunkett’s 112 (from 8 and 7 innings respectively and both with better averages than the captain).

Not all recent debutants have been a success though this summer. Ben Stokes announced himself with the only century of the Ashes series for England but, since, has hardly scored a run. Stokes' recent scores for England in all formats have been: 0,5,5,4,0,4,0,0,0,0 – 18 runs in his last 10 international innings. He has been picked ahead of Chris Jordan, who is unquestionably the better of the two as a strike bowler at this level and, arguably, a more reliable bat on recent form.

Jordan has to play at the Ageas Bowl but, it is as likely to be for Stuart Broad as for Ben Stokes. Although only Jimmy Anderson has more wickets for England in 2014 than Stuart Broad, that is largely down to opportunity: the heavily criticised Liam Plunkett has the same number of wickets (18) in one fewer Test,  at a better average and far superior strike rate; even Moeen Ali has a better strike rate than Stuart Broad in Tests in 2014.

Astonishingly, Stuart Broad’s best match figures in his five Tests so far this year are a disappointing 4-103. He seems to be struggling with injury and is not the penetrative bowler that he can be when fully fit. Broad was bowled into the ground in the 1^st Test and looked tired at Lords when England needed him fresh. A rest can only do him good, while forcing him to bowl 30 or 35 overs in an innings time and again with inadequate rest could lead him to break down completely.

Depending on the surface prepared for the 3^rd Test, there may be a case for England playing both Jordan and Chris Woakes for Stokes and Broad. Woakes has many detractors – although not at Warwickshire – but came back strongly at The Oval after a difficult start. With 36 wickets in a strong County Championship Division 1 at 19.6 each and some fine recent performances, he is right on form. There is also a strong case for giving Liam Plunkett the new ball and letting him pitch it up, with Jordan coming on early as first change with a still new ball in hand, rather than a battered rag twenty or twenty-five overs old.

The usual calls will be made for Graeme Onions to play. He has managed just six First Class matches for Durham this season and has 12 wickets at 43.3. His only First Class match since return from injury finished with 1-121 so, one can assume that those demanding his return are not regular followers of the game.

The final decision concerns who should replace Matt Prior. Seemingly, most fans would like to be Read or Foster as a short-term measure while Buttler gains experience. However, the likelihood is that Peter Moores’ mind is made up and that Jos Buttler will become the latest non-specialist to be thrust prematurely into the role. The reasoning is that, as Buttler will spend most of the time standing back anyway (Simon Kerrigan may not be impressed with this news), his technical flaws will be less important than his run-scoring. Where though would England go if, like Jonny Bairstow, he neither impresses with gloves nor with bat over the rest of the series while trying to combine both jobs? Personally, I would prefer to see James Foster see out the rest of the series and let Jos Buttler play a full season and then tour in the winter, before asking him to step in.

Buttler’s First Class record is mediocre (average 33). He may be another Marcus Trescothick or Michael Vaughan who came into the Test side and immediately averaged ten above their First Class average, but then he may not. It is more likely to be similar to Alec Stewart, who was not Surrey’s regular wicket-keeper and who found batting at six (and often opening) in Tests and learning his trade with the gloves to be a huge task initially.

Whatever happens, despite Alistair Cooks’ first reaction that he would go with the same XI for the 3^rd Test, there will have to be changes and, most likely, unless the errors of Lords are repeated, at least three new faces in the starting XI, including the forced change.