Now for something completely different: white kit, red ball and a week in the same hotel. It is finally Test match time. The first one against South Africa starts at Lord’s on Thursday and then there will be six more this summer inside eight weeks.
According to the rankings it is the second team in the world against the fourth and it is easy to establish why one is the more highly rated. South Africa (No2) have won their past four series since being beaten by England on their own soil in 2015-16. England have just been thrashed by India after drawing series with Bangladesh (away) and Pakistan (at home).
For all the turbulence South Africa have hit upon a capable, combative leader in the past 18 months in the form of Faf du Plessis, who may be back at Lord’s in time after the birth of his first child. If not Dean Elgar will be the stopgap captain. Meanwhile, Joe Root will be leading England for the first time and the hope is that he is no stopgap and that he will retain the post into the next decade – despite the frequency with which South African tours here have coincided with the resignation of England captains.
Root was the obvious choice to replace Alastair Cook and he has had plenty of time to contemplate the challenges ahead. There has been much positive talk about the new regime. In March, Tom Harrison, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, spoke of the need for “bold and brave cricket” as if this was a commercial imperative.
Fortunately for him, Root and the new vice-captain, Ben Stokes, are inclined to play that way come what may. But now that the Tests are upon us they have started to reconsider their priorities a little: winning, by whatever means, or not losing now seems quite important, too. The signs, from the announcement of the Test squad on Saturday, are that a certain caginess has already crept in.
At least the identity of one of Root’s opening batsmen was never in doubt. Cook, to no one’s surprise, has happily returned to county cricket and has scored a stash of runs in all formats, which is a source of reassurance. The expectation is that he will never be an overbearing presence on the field or in the dressing room. Cook may even remember his first experience of captaining England in Bangladesh when he seemed to be swamped by advisors on the pitch, eager to help out but often getting in the way. He will stand at first slip and offer advice to the new captain, but only if asked. That part of the transition should be smooth.
Moreover, there are no obvious character clashes between young and old in the England team, which seems a genuinely harmonious set-up. But there has been the odd generational difference in approach. For example, back in Visakhapatnam last winter Cook’s decision to “block until we drop” in the second innings was dutifully followed by the rest of the team – to no avail – but not necessarily universally supported. So the challenge for Root will be to marry the more gung-ho inclinations of the majority of his side with the greater conservative approach of senior citizens such as Cook, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad.
The best sides usually bat aggressively and score rapidly, while recognising that there will be the odd aberration. The West Indies of the 70s and 80s did this unwittingly; Australia in the 90s and beyond gave their batsmen free rein in a more calculated way; their aggression became a strategy. In both cases the system worked spectacularly well since those sides possessed bowlers capable of retrieving a game that was out of control after a batting failure. It is fanciful to think that Root has such firepower in his attack.
But the Test squad also suggested that Root, for all the bluster from on high, is quite capable of taking the pragmatic approach. This is no gung-ho selection. As anticipated, Gary Ballance is back and his run-scoring this season justifies his recall. We expect that he will bat at three, which he never does for Yorkshire, to allow Root to go down to four. There is a certain caginess here as well.
As the head coach, Trevor Bayliss, outlined when speaking at an Investec event this week this would not be his preferred batting order. “Personally, I would have him [Root] at three. I like to have my best player there,” he said. Then there was a familiar shrug of the Bayliss shoulders. “But three or four does not make much difference”.
Bayliss is no José Mourinho. He does not seek absolute control. Indeed, he emphasises the notion that the captain usually has the final say. “In my experience almost 100% of the time they get what they want [in selection],” he added. The assumption is that this applies not only to the recall of Ballance but also where he will bat.
The retention of Liam Dawson, who made his Test debut in Chennai, is more surprising and a stronger indicator of the sort of pragmatism that Harrison was dismissing back. Dawson will probably play and the thought process surrounding his selection is clear, comprehensible and cagey: Root needs plenty of bowlers since the pace quartet is a bit creaky; there is no Chris Woakes, so suddenly England have a bit of a tail; at Lord’s where the pitch can be flat, a second spinner can be useful but the leg-spinners cannot be trusted. If Toby Roland-Jones plays rather than Dawson then we know that one of the pace bowlers, most likely Stokes, is not fully fit.
It is easy to understand why the talented Mason Crane, who has much to learn, would not be trusted. Indeed, it would have been foolhardy to throw him into the team so soon. However, the absence of Adil Rashid suggests that confidence in him as a Test bowler is dwindling fast. He is not trusted; the less gifted, more reliable, multi-purpose Dawson is preferred. His selection makes some sense but it is hardly the prelude to a brave new world. Rather, it hints at a young captain and an old coach hedging their bets.
