Jonny Bairstow will learn whether his golden summer with the bat for Yorkshire has resulted in an Ashes call-up after the England selectors meet on Tuesday morning to discuss their squad for next week’s third Test at Edgbaston.
The series-levelling 405-run defeat at Lord’s has given the head coach, Trevor Bayliss, and his fellow selectors – James Whitaker, Angus Fraser and Mick Newell – much to ponder in the batting order and Gary Ballance’s place at No3 is a likely topic of conversation given he has averaged 17.5 in his last 10 Test innings.
“It wouldn’t be a surprise to any player in the team that when you play badly, positions are going to be looked at and discussed,” Bayliss said. “And I’m sure it certainly will be. But two Tests ago they were selected because they were considered the best players in the country. That doesn’t necessarily change after only four innings.”
Bayliss arrived in the country only at the end of June and so, while he has admitted that changes are likely, the Australian will look to the other members of the panel, whose work is being scrutinised by the director of cricket, Andrew Strauss, this summer, for suggested alternatives.
Bairstow is one name he does recognise, however. The Yorkshire right-hander is averaging 100.66 in the County Championship this season after scoring five centuries, the latest of which came against Worcestershire as England were collapsing to 103 all out.
Asked about his input into the meeting, given a lack of familiarity with county cricketers, Bayliss said: “Bairstow I obviously know of and a few of the guys in the one-day team. But I haven’t got a big knowledge of any names that haven’t been on the international scene in the last little bit.”
The inclusion of Bairstow, who won the last of his 14 Test caps during the 2013-14 Ashes tour, could mean a shake-up of the batting order with Ian Bell pushed up to No3 in the hope that the extra responsibility on his home ground will see him emerge from his own trough.
Nottinghamshire’s James Taylor pushed his case on Monday with a career-best 291 against Sussex, but Bayliss has questioned whether county pitches are preparing players for the rigours of protracted Test innings. He said one-day form will also be factored in.
“There’s always a lot of low scores in first-class cricket here. Is that preparing our batters to actually bat for a long time? Possibly not,” he said. “But I think you get confidence from batting well anywhere. If you’ve got one-day form, there’s no real reason you can’t turn that into runs at Test level.”
Asked about the pitches he hopes for in the final three Tests, he replied: “I’m quite happy for the groundsmen to produce the wicket. I’d like to see a typical English seaming wicket against the Australians. To take 20 wickets I think that would suit our bowlers. I think the flatter the wicket is and the slower the wicket is it actually plays into the Australians’ hands.”
Bayliss confirmed Adil Rashid is likely to be retained as the second spinner in the squad despite ruling himself from the Lord’s Test with a finger injury. He remained relaxed about England’s second innings failure at Lord’s. I – it is not in his nature to vent.
“I very rarely bare the teeth,” he said. “As long as the players are giving their utmost I’m not going to get angry, and I very rarely get angry anyway. They know they haven’t played well in this game and that performances are what they’re judged on and whether they will play the next game or not. They play under enough pressure as it is and I’m certainly not going to add to that.”
Bayliss laughed off the suggestion from the Australian double-centurion Steve Smith, who worked under him at New South Wales, that England had been too negative in the field. “I’m sure that was a little bit of a dig. I’ll have a word to him after the series, the little bugger.”
