We have been blindsided. Jimmy Anderson is not fit for the first Test and Ben Stokes not chosen as a frontline batsman for England’s first Test against Pakistan next Thursday. The stuff about Jos Buttler was a red herring and Scott Borthwick got his runs at the wrong time, unlike Gary Ballance, who made his first hundred of the home season against Middlesex this week in front of Andrew Strauss. James Whitaker, the national selector, has always been an admirer. Timing is everything.
Ballance has been named in a 12-man squad, along with the Middlesex paceman Toby Roland-Jones, one of those against whom Ballance made his recent runs. Alastair Cook, the captain, has confirmed Ballance will not bat at three, where he has made his four Test hundreds, the spot instead going to Joe Root, just as it ought to. That will be the influence of the coach, Trevor Bayliss.
The return of Ballance, who has not played for England since the Ashes at Lord’s last year, comes despite no obvious changes to the technique that led to him being dropped and, until this week, no significant runs to boost a claim. In this business, though, there is a tendency to highlight what players cannot do rather than what they can.
So what will Ballance bring? There are his 15 Tests for starters and the ample demonstration he has the temperament to play and compete at the highest level: temperament is a huge factor. He is resolute and has a clear gameplan to which he is prepared to stick. According to Jason Gillespie, his coach at Yorkshire, he is an immense presence and positive influence in the county dressing room.
Why then was he omitted and Nick Compton, say, brought back instead? In simple terms, the bowlers had begun to work him out. When first he appeared, it seemed as if the obvious thing to do was attack his pads as he moved a long way back and across, and then planted his front foot no further forward than the crease.
It was a mistake by bowlers to think so, for the technique allows him time to see the movement in: he is prolific through midwicket as a result. His trigger movement, while a strength in one way, proved a weakness in another for he was allowing the ball to be pitched up a fraction further, with more movement consequently, so bowlers who sent the ball away from him were able either to go outside his bat yet still hit his exposed off-stump or find the edge.
He was not bowled in his first 14 Test dismissals, during which time he scored his hundreds: six of his last 11 dismissals since have been bowled. Left-armers such as Trent Boult gave him trouble. The default method for right-armers should be round the wicket and shaping away: such a delivery from Steven Finn dismissed cheaply him in his last innings at Scarborough on Wednesday.
Gillespie is adamant Ballance recognises the issue and, rather than being stubborn about it, has worked extremely hard at getting a better stride in, although clearly that is work in progress. In selecting him it will have been fully recognised that Pakistan possess high-class left-arm pacemen, especially Mohammad Amir.
The decision to give Root the responsibility of batting at three is absolutely the right one but something that had seemed unlikely to be embraced by England sides playing in this country. However, he is one of the most accomplished batsmen in the world and, as such, ought to be best qualified to deal with any problems posed by the new ball (and there will be a few in this series). Presumably Ballance will bat at four and James Vince at five.
Roland-Jones has impressed all season. He is strong, tall, gets good movement, and has bat-jarring, if not express, pace. The downside comes only in an inordinately long run that begins in another parish and would do nothing for the over rate.
He and Finn form two-thirds of an excellent Middlesex attack who have taken the county to the top of the championship (the other third is Irish). Like most bowlers he can bat as well. On the final day at Scarborough, his clean hitting, which included six sixes, helped put his side in a position from which they could win the game, while against the same opposition at the end of last summer, his century did the same.
It is unlikely he will leapfrog Jake Ball and get the third seamer’s spot, but knowledge of the vagaries of his home ground, something Ball, who has four wickets in two first-class games at Lord’s, does not possess, would be a plus.
