A series already won, and comprehensively so, yet the questions being asked at the start are far from having been satisfactorily answered.
The opener’s spot goes some way towards resolution perhaps, although we won’t know more until something more challenging with the new ball appears with the arrival of Pakistan. But Nick Compton’s spot and that of James Vince are no nearer solving the middle order conundrum, and the return of Ben Stokes – whenever that might be – will only further muddy things: whatever happens there will not be room for both Compton and Vince. And finally, the fragile, mercurial nature of Steven Finn’s bowling is a constant cause of concern wondering which of his persona will turn up.
Compton and Vince provide a contrast not just in style but circumstance. On the one hand we have an intense player trying to resuscitate a career that faltered. You would not, by Compton’s own admission, go out of your way to watch him: he fills the bars rather than empties them. But he has Test match hundreds to his name, and, if he is in no way an enterprising batsman, England know they will get diligence to underpin the batting. It seems though that every innings he plays (and he has only had two completed ones in this series) he is under threat of the axe, a heavy additional weight for any player to carry.
Vince, on the other hand, has been earmarked as having the longer-term potential to be an aggressive, free-flowing batsman. Comparisons are made with Michael Vaughan, although such things are rarely helpful. Observations so far show an attractive off-side batsman, of a kind whose showpiece cover drives bring the gasps of approval from spectators. Bowlers, though, see the off side as the sissy side, with, they will say, the leg side as where the grown-ups play. Off-side players tend to hang just that fraction inside the line: see a batsman push defensive shots out towards extra cover and they know they are in business. Compton needs to loosen his stays a little; Vince to tighten his somewhat.
Alex Hales has gone the furthest in establishing his position. It has been evident from the two matches so far that he has managed to divorce the different demands of white-ball cricket and red ball, and the expectations of those who see the two as mutual. His early attempts at Test opening saw him perhaps trying to be something he is not, with an understanding since then that while a half volley is still a half volley, there tend to be fewer in Test matches, and the imperative to bat longer in them is greater than that to score rapidly.
It seems as if Hales is finding a balance where he is prepared to play himself in and then become more expansive later. His judgment outside off stump has improved markedly, he scores well off front and back foot, and is much straighter in defence. His two first-innings scores of 86 and 83 had different characteristics: the first, in the circumstances was worth double; the second should have been double. He could be getting there.
The manner in which Chris Woakes bowled at Chester-le-Street, the fastest of the bowlers on show, can only place more pressure on Finn as and when Stokes returns from his knee problem.
England know only too well that in Finn they have a bowler who can reach speeds of 90mph and more, and who takes wickets at a rate faster than any England paceman since Frank Tyson. If he produces that sort of speed, he is a devastating part of one of the finest pace attacks England has possessed. The trouble is that he is currently down 10% on his pace: there are any number of more skilled bowlers sending the ball down in the low 80s. Consistent bowling, though, requires a solidity of technique, something that repeats, rather like the best golf swings.
Finn’s whole method, from the start of his run to his follow-through, is a delicate balance with variables, any one of which – if out of kilter by a fraction – can impact disproportionately compared to other bowlers. Clearly he has worked hard at trying to eliminate the curious cross-over steps that precede his jump into the crease, with a more measured, deliberate stride pattern. That, in turn, would get rid of some of the speed-wobble that leaves him unbalanced at the crease at times.
But he has been leaning back in his action, rather than standing tall, and his right arm still has a kink in it as it goes into delivery as if he has been protecting an elbow injury. The effect is to shorten the arc of his bowling arm.
A personal view is that Lord’s being his home ground, which some see as an advantage, is not the help that many might think. A bowler who tends to lean back at Lord’s is almost always one who bowls from the Pavilion end and feels the slope dragging him into the line of the stumps.
Finn is a habitual Pavilion-ender, but he might well benefit from trying the Nursery end where he could use a more angled run that would set him better at the crease, without fear of running on the line of the stumps. It is perfectly understandable why England want to persist with Finn, but they cannot afford indefinitely to carry a bowler purely on potential.
