‘Come in No4. Your time is up,” has been an all too familiar refrain among the England cricket team recently – not just when Freddie Flintoff was bobbing around in a pedalo somewhere off the coast of St Lucia in the middle of the night after a World Cup defeat in 2007.
In their past five Tests England have had three No4s: James Vince, Gary Ballance and Ben Duckett. In those games the No4s have scored 43 runs in nine innings with a top score of 13 by Duckett in Rajkot. In Mohali there is every chance that England will have another one.
How Alastair Cook’s side line up will be a source of some agonising but hopefully not too much. It is possible to overcomplicate the importance of the order in which the seven best available batsmen arrive at the crease. There may be virtue in mixing up the right- and left-handers but the technical issues are not so pronounced as in England. There the top four should be adept against the new, swinging/seaming ball. But here the No4 is just as likely to be confronted by Indian spinners as the No7.
Even so cricket teams tend to be conservative. If X has a record of scoring runs at No6, then there is a reluctance to move him. It may be that Joe Root had to be flattered into switching to No3 last summer. And understandably the players like to know for certain how they are going to line up – they all have their own routines.
In Mohali possession of the No4 slot will probably boil down to a choice between Moeen Ali and Jos Buttler, with the former the most likely occupant. Given that England always tend to stick to the personnel in the original tour party – though why that should remain the case in an age of super-swift air travel is worthy of debate – there are no other obvious options.
Throughout his England career the chart of Moeen’s batting position resembles the FTSE 100 index in turbulent times. One reason for that is that he is such an amenable cricketer, prepared to take on any role. Moreover he has batted at No3 for much of his county career with Worcestershire and there is the dreaded process of elimination. For the Mohali Test, England could bat Jonny Bairstow at five, which is where he usually bats when keeping wicket for Yorkshire, Ben Stokes at six and Buttler at seven.
In this case Buttler would not be the first “specialist” to bat at seven for England. Back in the 1980s Derek Randall, another man who zigzagged up and down the order – also because of his amenability – sometimes batted there, with Ian Botham higher up in the manner of Stokes in this side. So, too, did a young Mike Gatting, albeit with greater reluctance.
Wherever Buttler bats – assuming that there is no swerve in England’s intentions – there will be more than the usual frisson of anticipation and excitement when he comes out. In part this will be caused by the manner in which Buttler likes to bat and how the coach Trevor Bayliss will be encouraging him to play: to give free rein to his aggressive instincts. It also stems from the fact that England are gambling wildly, albeit without many aces left in their hand. And that is always captivating.
We are in fresh territory since Buttler, as the doubters constantly remind us, has played one game against a red ball in 12 months. By all the old parameters such a selection should not work – Buttler has not even faced a white ball for five weeks. But he just might defy the old truisms and I suspect that India would rather be bowling at Duckett or Ballance later this week.
Still, there are risks and anxieties about a Buttler recall despite his 15 Tests and an average, modest but not calamitous, of 30. So in an effort to sustain morale it may be better to highlight on the punts of the past that have succeeded rather than those that did not quite come to fruition. Let us bypass Usman Afzaal, Chris Adams, Darren Maddy, Gavin Hamilton and many more and focus on a few of the gambles that came off.
As recently as 1956 Cyril Washbrook of Lancashire was a Test selector when it was decided that he should be recalled to fill a nasty hole in the side during the Ashes series. At the age of 41 he stuck on his England cap, appropriately askew, and made 98 at Headingley, sharing a stand of 187 with Peter May as England recovered from 17 for three. Nice one.
There was a closer parallel in 1977 in Kolkata when England’s second keeper, Roger Tolchard, was drafted into the Test side by the captain Tony Greig. An impish batsman against spin, Tolchard hit 67 on his debut against Bedi, Chandrasekhar and Prasanna.
In 2009 there was even greater alarm about England’s batting options. The Ashes were at stake at The Oval and there was universal consent that Ravi Bopara had to go. Beyond the team there was panic: “Bring back Ramprakash,” bellowed one column: “Get Trescothick out of retirement,” yelled another. Instead they stuck to their plans and gave Jonathan Trott his debut.
With the Ashes secured after a Trott century it seemed the obvious thing to do. In Mohali this week recalling Buttler looks the only thing to do. The odds are stacked against him.
But it just might be fun.
