The B team are back. Jonny Bairstow and Stuart Broad are in the XI for the final Test in Colombo, starting on Friday. Having the luxury of an unassailable lead on an overseas tour for the first time since England’s visit to the Caribbean in 2004, the pack has been shuffled to allow these two stalwarts, who were compelled to wear their yellow bibs in Kandy, a resumption of their Test careers.
It is fair to say Jimmy Anderson has been rotated, a concept England spend a lot of time talking about but seldom doing. With the series won they seized the chance to give Broad some Test cricket before the tour to the West Indies.
Anderson does not like the idea of missing Tests but he understands. Moreover, it has been a frustrating series for pace bowlers. Anderson took one wicket in the first two Tests – the same applies to Sam Curran and Ben Stokes – and he lamented the lack of lateral movement either in the air or off the pitch while lauding the efforts of this England side in Sri Lanka over the past month. Bairstow is not a like-for-like replacement for Curran, who is still suffering from a side strain, and, if taking the short-term cricketing view, his inclusion lacks logic.
According to Joe Root the pitch at the Sinhalese Sports Club is likely to be the best for batting in the series. “It looks like it will be a really good wicket so Broady was really pleased when I told him he was playing. He made his debut here [in 2007] and he said it took him 35 overs to take a wicket, Chaminda Vaas caught off the back of his bat.”
On that occasion England were in the field for over 13 hours. In these circumstances a captain usually craves the extra bowler. England are going in to this Test with an extra batsman with Moeen Ali at seven and, rather surprisingly, Ben Foakes at eight. However, there is a longer-term yearning to sort out the batting order – and to reintegrate Bairstow.
It was soon pointed out to Root that Bairstow will become the fifth No 3 in five matches. “Yes, and we have won all five‚“ he said. “We’re not the finished article; we’re still learning and improving but we are going in the right direction. Sometimes you have to tinker with things to get to where you want to be. And if we don’t try, we don’t know.”
“This will give us a bit more knowledge moving forward. It doesn’t change the balance too much. We’ve still got two seam options [Broad and Stokes], plenty of spin and strengthening the batting should hold us in good stead going into this last match.”
Root described Bairstow as: “definitely a strong option at three and it’s an opportunity for him to nail down that spot. He’s more than capable of doing it. He bats up the order in white-ball cricket and one thing we know about Jonny is whenever he’s got a point to prove or he’s up against it he generally comes out and does something pretty special. Hopefully we’ll see that Jonny this week with that determination and drive to really hammer that spot home for himself.”
So Stokes’ sojourn at three has lasted for one knock. After the use of a nightwatchman Stokes reverted to No 5 in the second innings in Kandy. “I stayed at four there because I wanted to split the left-handers up,” said Root, who reiterated his preference to remain at four for the foreseeable future, since this gives him a bit more “thinking time” after captaining the side in the field.
“I think No 5 is Ben’s preferred position. Long-term he’s going to be bowling more in an English summer. So his workload will have an impact on his batting position. It wouldn’t be impossible for him to bat at three – he’s a very fit guy – but it might be a better formula to have him in the middle order.”
England’s latest theory about their batting lineup has some merit. They now pick the best players and then decide which order to send them out. They may consolidate soon in a rather boring manner but for the moment the intriguing experimentation continues.
The home side are still without important players. Their captain, Dinesh Chandimal, who has a groin strain, will not be fit enough to play in Colombo, while Akila Dananjaya, who took eight wickets in Kandy, will be in Brisbane this week undergoing tests on his bowling action.
As a consequence the off-spinner Nishan Peiris has been drafted into the Sri Lanka the squad; so too has Danushka Gunathilaka, an opening batsman recently disciplined for poor timekeeping. He could replace Kaushal Silva, who has struggled at the top of the order in this series.
England: RJ Burns, KK Jennings, JM Bairstow, JE Root (capt), BA Stokes, JC Buttler, MM Ali, BT Foakes (wkt), AU Rashid, SCJ Broad, MJ Leach.
Sri Lanka: (possible) FDM Karunaratne, MD Gunathilaka, DM de Silva, BKG Mendis, AD Mathews, ARS Silva, N Dickwella (wkt), MDK Perera, PADLR Sandakan, RAS Lakmal (capt), PM Pushpakumara.
