What a difference a week makes. The England selectors meet on Tuesday to discuss their squad for the third Test at Edgbaston next week and find themselves where their Australia equivalents were following the defeat in Cardiff: damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Losing games brings doubt and the scale of that reversal at Lord’s appears to have created an appetite for change, with the top order understandably the focus. Do so and the selectors will be accused of panicking but stick with the lineup and the talk will be of stubbornness. Either way, Michael Clarke’s side will see England’s predicament as a victory.
But don’t get fooled by the phrase “moral lead”, which has emerged from some quarters in the aftermath of the second Test. It suggests Australia are somehow more than just square in the series, that they are in fact ahead. Let’s cut the crap: there is no such thing as a moral lead. The scoreline is 1-1 and there are three Tests left to play.
Yes, England will be concerned by the starts they are getting but they have talented players and will come again in this series.
They won the first Test inside four days themselves and Clarke’s men must expect a similar response to the one they delivered at the home of cricket, where they took control on that first day and did not look back.
England’s selectors must strip away all the opinions floating around and simply go for the batting order they believe will score the most runs in the next Test. They have options, too. Certainly Jonny Bairstow is a player pushing hard for selection and his 139 against Worcestershire on Sunday, while England were collapsing to 103 all out, was another example of his good timing.
Jonny is in a very special place right now. His average in the championship this summer has just tipped past 100 with that innings and, given the opportunity, I know he would take it with both hands. It is important that those people who don’t watch much county cricket don’t pipe up with opinions based on his past experience in Test cricket because we’re talking about a different beast right now. Let me tell you why.
When he returned to Headingley after the 2013-14 Ashes tour, Jonny said he had received plenty of well-intentioned advice regarding his technique and after some conversations we came to the conclusion this had inadvertently created more confusion in his mind. So we made a pact: the Yorkshire coaches – myself included – agreed we would not speak to him about his method and instead judge him solely on his returns. This would be our only feedback. No longer would he have support staff stopping him every second ball in the nets, telling him to change his grip, stance, backlift or alignment. Instead, the only advice would be when he sought it and based solely on his gameplan for any given day. Sure, we still discuss conditions and what his approach for an innings will be, but in the 18 months that have followed his technique has not been brought up.
Ultimately we have backed Jonny to take responsibility for his own game and the results are there to see. He no longer sweats the small stuff and is enjoying his cricket, which is something we emphasise heavily at Yorkshire. An Ashes series will be a step up in the quality of bowling he will face, no question, but he has had a taste and is now hungry for more.
The surface at Lord’s has been scrutinised heavily in the past few days and the toss did benefit Australia. But Darren Gough always used to say there is no such thing as a flat pitch and I go along with that. Sure there are wickets that are more batsman-friendly but there is always a correct area to bowl and if you are prepared to bend your back you can get a response.
Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Johnson and Josh Hazlewood – supported superbly by Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Marsh – did exactly that in the second Test. You have to remember cricket is a battle for control; whoever owns that zone on the pitch – the right length on off stump – tends to win the Test. England’s bowlers were not able to put the pressure on the opposition batsmen like the Australia attack did because they lost their discipline in this regard. Again, this was a full role-reversal from Cardiff.
Did they make the so-called flat pitch a self-fulfilling prophecy after losing the toss? You would have to ask them that question but for me, seeing only 9% of deliveries going on to hit the stumps on day one was simply not good enough, even when you factor in the plan to bowl wide to players like Steve Smith. With him, they simply got their lengths wrong and sent down too many half-volleys.
Smith is a fine batsman of course, and his return to world No1 after that special 215 in the first innings is great to see. It’s no mean feat scoring a Test double-hundred overseas, let me tell you.
