When the selection of Ben Stokes for the Ashes tour becomes headline news, something’s up. At the moment we are assuming – no more than that – Stokes will be available for the start of it. Sadly that depends on the investigations of the Avon and Somerset police and the state of his right hand.
Stokes’s presence in the Test side is more important to England’s chances of retaining the Ashes than the recall of James Vince and Gary Ballance, or the selection of the newcomers Ben Foakes, Craig Overton and Mason Crane, all of whom would have taken centre stage on another day. Stokes is potentially England’s greatest asset in Australia, but like his predecessors as England’s talisman, Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff, he is neither invincible nor invulnerable. It’s about time Stokes learnt that.
Sometimes the superstars believe that they can operate to different rules than the rest of us. Moreover, Stokes has acquired the worrying habit of damaging his right hand, an important part of a cricketer’s ammunition, when beyond the field. Dealing with a hard cricket ball is the least of worries.
It is fair to say that many of England’s batsmen in the last two years have recognised all too rapidly that they are neither invincible nor invulnerable. Hence it is hard to argue too much in the selection of the runscorers (hopefully) destined for Australia. Most of us have been reduced to putting on a blindfold and sticking pins into pieces of paper to sort out the final three batting slots.
The last choice of the real selectors reminded me of some sage advice I once received from a predecessor when assuming the captaincy. “Pick your mates,” he said. “It won’t make much difference to the result but you’ll have a much better time”. The problem here is that the team in question were Oxford University, who were not expected to win games. The expectations are a little different with Joe Root’s England.
Root played in the Under-19 World Cup with Vince, who is certainly a stablemate of the England captain with International Sports Management. That agency looks after five of the tour party as well as Paul Collingwood, who has been drafted on to the coaching staff. Likewise Root of Yorkshire knows and trusts Ballance, who is now his county captain.
So this slightly unlikely pair have the chance to repay the faith of Root and Trevor Bayliss, who has eventually acquired sufficient evidence to give a considered opinion. But these selections offer England no flexibility. There are just two opening batsmen in the squad, which means that Mark Stoneman must feel remarkably secure about his position at the top of the order. There is no natural No3 in the squad given that Root, quite reasonably, is minded to bat at No4. As an Ashes captain he has enough on his plate without having to plug that hole.
Ballance never bats at No3 for Yorkshire (and there must be a reason for that) but is often dragooned into doing so for England. Vince has been batting at No4 this season for Hampshire while averaging a modest 33. On that basis he is destined to come out at No3 at the Gabba in Brisbane on 23 November, quite a challenge. If he is so highly rated it is strange that he has not been recalled earlier.
The call-ups of Foakes, who celebrated with a golden duck at Old Trafford, and Overton, have a certain logic. Foakes has performed well in red-ball cricket for Surrey with bat and gloves and has been heavily touted. His selection might consign Jos Buttler to a cricketing life where he never encounters a red ball, which would be a shame, since he surely has the capacity to be a Test player. Hence there cannot be too many quibbles about the choice of Foakes.
The same applies to Overton, who has been outstanding for Somerset this summer, though it is mildly surprising that Steven Finn, like Adil Rashid, has been banished. Once Toby Roland-Jones and Mark Wood were insufficiently fit, Finn must have fancied his chances. Overton could be the recipient of the old jibe once delivered to Steve Waugh, “You’re not even the best player in your own family”. Overton’s twin brother, Jamie, has often been regarded as a more likely Test cricketer since he bowls faster when fit, which is not the case at the moment.
The most puzzling selection is that of Crane, not a regular in the Hampshire side this year. Even gnarled old pros, it seems, are easily beguiled by anyone who flicks the ball out of the back of the hand, who fields with brio and who manages to break into the New South Wales side. Would they really want to play Crane if Moeen Ali picked up an injury on the morning of a match? It would have made much better sense to place Crane with the Lions until they wanted to draft him in as a second spinner. They really cannot rate the alternatives.
