Even when it seems to be settled, the England Test team is in a state of flux. Injuries, retirement, loss of form: all have an effect. The loss of James Taylor opened up a batting place and now the inability of Nick Compton to raise his game to Test-match pitch has done it again. Then there is Ben Stokes’s climb back to full fitness to consider, the niggling injury to Jimmy Anderson, and even question marks about Jonny Bairstow’s wicketkeeping. The selectors will have plenty to think about when they come to choosing the squad for the first Test against Pakistan at Lord’s on 14 July.
First, the batting. Compton gave it his best shot, both in South Africa and against Sri Lanka, and his play in Durban deserved to win him man of the match. But it is time to move on. For any other country Joe Root would be batting at No3, the position to which the best players aspire – or at least ought to. In this country, though, there is the notion that the best batsman needs protecting from the new ball, an odd idea given that whatever the conditions, the top player should be best able to cope with them. Scott Borthwick has been a strong contender for the role with a series of strong performances for Durham and will certainly be in the mix.
An alternative at three would be to move James Vince up the order to the position he probably would have occupied had Taylor still been playing, although this correspondent still needs convincing there is more substance to his batting than a pretty, offside game. Trevor Bayliss seemed to suggest the possibility that Jos Buttler could play as a batsman, or, less likely, as keeper, although were he to come in to the side, he might as well keep with Bairstow moved up the order. There is still too much tendency to conflate vigorous run-making in white-ball cricket with an ability to produce the goods in top-order Test-match batting.
There must surely be significance in Stokes’s half century for Durham, though. Along with Alastair Cook, Root and Bairstow, Stokes is the best Test batsman England possess, an excellent technician, something that should not be camouflaged by the licence his all rounder status bestows upon him. The suggestion here, then, is that he should bat at No5 and Bairstow at No6 while keeping the gloves as well. There is an aside, though.
This winter will involve a tour to Bangladesh (depending on security issues) and India, which will demand high-class keeping, largely up to the stumps, in tricky conditions. To this end, England could certainly then consider a specialist keeper to bat lower in the order. It may prove invaluable.
Anderson is confident of fitness, his problem not really to do with a stress fracture of a shoulder blade (stress fracture is an emotive term covering a wide range of conditions) but a muscular condition. If he is fit then a bowling place will rest between Chris Woakes, who was excellent against Sri Lanka, and Steven Finn, who has been struggling for rhythm. While Woakes has done all he can to be retained in the side, Finn, on the top of his game, is a considerable Test-match force. Those watching him at Scarborough these past few days, coming down the slope as he has been, will have seen a bowler whose confidence, and with it, pace and bounce, has started to return. When Stokes’s bowling returns, soon probably, and one has to go, it will be a close call.
Possible squad Cook, Hales, Vince, Root, Stokes, Bairstow, Ali, Woakes, Broad, Anderson, Finn, Ball.
