How to evaluate an opening day where England racked up 349 runs at a fair lick, against opposition with an average age of 22, who dropped more catches (five) than they took wickets (four, with two further retirements) and could seldom sustain pressure with the ball? Where there were four half-centuries for unestablished batsmen, but failures for the seasoned leaders, including Alastair Cook to the tour’s second ball before a run had been scored?
Mark Stoneman, who top-scored with a stylish 85 and put on 153 with James Vince after Cook prodded at the Western Australia XI’s captain Nathan Coulter-Nile (the one bowler of consistent quality England faced), was encouraged and so he should be. He was one of those dropped, on 54, low at gully (an area England’s opposition stacked, sensing a weakness), but looked rhythmical, straight-drove beautifully and cut powerfully. He had asserted that the conditions should suit him here and he backed that up in his first innings, before explaining how England’s preparation is moving through the gears.
“Finding rhythm in a match situation is important,” he said. “You can hit as many balls as you want in the nets but the intensity is not quite there.
“There will be tougher tests but there was nice progression from the work we have done throughout the week. A score helps you settle in to the tour, and helps your confidence. It settles everything down and you can hopefully try to snowball that and you’re not fighting against anything, alleviating technical or mental issues in your mind.”
Stoneman and Vince did not know each other before this tour, but they are sharing one of England’s serviced apartments and despite an early mix-up between the wickets that nearly meant Vince was run out they seemed to gel. Whether it is by accident or design that they are rooming it seems a bright idea: down as opener and first drop for the first Test in Brisbane, they should spend plenty of time together on the field so might as well get to know one another off it.
After weathering a testing opening spell, they cashed in as Coulter-Nile used eight bowlers before lunch, by which point boundaries were flowing and both men had reached 64-ball fifties. Slightly wild bowling in such a game helps, Stoneman said. “It can be a good thing. Your levels of concentration have to be high. If you have a couple flying down the legside then one right on the money, you will make mistakes.”
Vince also reached the eighties, but was less convincing outside off stump, a feature of his fledging Test career. He was reprieved three times between 47 and 67, with the first two near identical drops from cut shots. Coulter-Nile, stationed at first slip, shelled both above his head, while a pull stung the hands of midwicket, who could not take the catch.
A better period of bowling after lunch led to Stoneman edging Lance Morris to second slip when driving, then Aaron Hardie, another young right-arm seamer, dismissed Vince, whose luck ran out when he flicked straight to midwicket, and Joe Root in the same over. Root had been tied down and was given out caught behind off the back pad, and did not hide his disappointment at the decision and becoming the second of England’s key batsmen to fall cheaply. “It’s not a good thing that they missed out,” said Stoneman, “but it is a bit of a lesser problem when it’s two blokes with phenomenal records in Test cricket and who know their games inside out.” He makes a fair point, but only if the pair score runs in Adelaide this week.
Next came the shootout at No5 between Dawid Malan and Gary Ballance, the latter providing the final drop at second slip when on 36. Both played well, reaching half-centuries and neither could be prised out, but Malan remains at least a length in front for selection at Brisbane, thanks to his glorious driving here. He nailed his first ball, which came between the Vince and Root wickets, through mid-off and continued in that vein.
With 75 overs bowled, Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes were given a crack and they capitalised on a flagging attack and its fresh Kookaburra. Coulter-Nile, who may well make his Test debut in the forthcoming season and had caused Ballance some trouble with the short ball, charged in, but Bairstow was in the mood, waltzing his way to 36 off 37 balls, and Woakes was happy to amble along in his slipstream.
“Things will ramp up as the tour goes on and greater challenges lie ahead,” said Stoneman. “But that was a pretty good day for a first hit out.”
On the second and final day when the temperature is set to hit 33 degrees, he says, the aim is to take 10 wickets. If the WA XI’s batting is much like their bowling, that seems a pretty modest target.
