The fervent hope within the England camp is that their prospects for the rest of the tour, unlike the heroic Haseeb Hameed’s finger, are bruised but not broken. But the outlook is bleak.
India’s confidence is soaring ever higher after they recovered so emphatically from a tricky 204 for six in their first innings. They bat deep and they bowl dry. Now the likelihood of England squaring the series is not much greater than Sir Ian Botham voting “remain” in any second referendum.
The summons of another batsman, Keaton Jennings, is justified but also a confirmation that the squad has been carrying a few passengers. When the postmortems begin in earnest at Lord’s after Christmas there will surely be an item on the agenda entitled “selection”. Strategically there were mistakes in September with the elevation of too many unproven or out-of-form left-handers. Moreover there was an element of wishful thinking in the choice of the Surrey spinners, albeit when contemplating a very shallow pool.
That has been maintained with the call-up of Hampshire’s Liam Dawson as a replacement for Zafar Ansari. The ECB release notes Dawson played white-ball cricket for England last summer “after impressing on last winter’s Lions programme in the UAE”. There is a school of thought, albeit a bit old-fashioned, that an even better way to impress is by excelling in real first-class matches. Dawson took 20 wickets for Hampshire, who were briefly relegated last summer, at an average of 43.85. He is not the next best available spinner in the country but he did average 33.89 with the bat. They have selected another batsman who can bowl a bit.
Let us hope that when Jennings, who at least had a prolific season for Durham even if he does not have a reputation of being particularly adept against spin, arrives someone is at hand to point him out to Trevor Bayliss since first impressions are important in any relationship. Bayliss’s knowledge of England’s cricketers extends only to those he has been sent by the selectors over the last 15 months. The team’s coach cannot have a significant input in the selection of new players in the squad – for the simple reason that he has never seen them play nor does he have a trusted network to consult within English domestic cricket. This may be an unavoidable problem but, to use a phrase that has been trotted out all too frequently on this tour, “it is not ideal”.
Even without the poor selections and the self-confessed misreading of the pitches in India, England would probably have found themselves two down with two to play. There are holes in this team. The depth and quality of the spin bowling remains a problem despite the progress of Adil Rashid. Moreover the constant lament has been the inability to score enough first-innings runs on benign batting surfaces; the No4 slot remains a problem and now there is the renewed uncertainty about Alastair Cook’s latest opening partner.
Bayliss insists it is important that batsmen should remain positive in outlook, eager to rotate the strike and to take the attack to the Indian spinners whenever possible. This makes absolute sense, but one handy little hint after the Mohali Test – as many as eight English players fell in the first over of a new spell in that game. Batsmen should seek to impose themselves on a new bowler but not necessarily in that first over.
Perhaps there should also be concern about a man who is having an excellent tour. In this series Ben Stokes has hit a century and he has a five wicket-haul; he is England’s most charismatic cricketer, with Hameed coming up on the rails. He has become a leader in the dressing room and the most likely topic of conversation at any press conference.
Bayliss seldom waxes lyrical when confronted with a microphone but he comes alive when talking about Stokes – the pair of them obviously hit it off – just as he did when bidding farewell to Hameed after the Test match.
So where is the problem with this fast-maturing cricketer, albeit one who is occasionally overcome by the red mist? It is not one of Stokes’s making but too often in this series he has been compelled to bat like Graham Thorpe and to bowl like Angus Fraser.
Stokes has, in fact, worked hard with Thorpe, one of the ECB’s batting gurus, and the welcome consequence is that he has a much sounder defence against spin bowling and is more adept at manipulating the ball into the gaps.
But at the moment Stokes always seems to find himself having to play that way. He is constantly trying to shore up a situation that is out of control. Ideally he should be the wildcard who can take the attack to the opposition. At the moment the batsmen above him do not allow him to set free those aggressive instincts – they get out too quickly. There may even be a danger that Stokes will soon forget how to launch those assaults that can change a game in a session.
To an extent the same applies to his bowling. He has been Cook’s most potent paceman in this series. But increasingly he has had to undertake the role of stock rather than shock bowler. His captain needs him to restore order and to pound out a few maidens with the bloody-mindedness of Fraser two decades ago. In the long term this may not be the best use of his talents. In a good England team he should seldom be shackled.
