The Cricketer Magazine – June 2018

Mike Selvey

The inside track

national selector’s choices, made

with the knowledge that a plethora of

information and advice brings, and those

that I made on my Twitter feed, based

on nothing more than observation of

those within the side and a peripheral

look at who had been doing well beyond

that. On the second day at Lord’s we had

the opportunity to compare notes. We

know which way Ed went. For my part, I

had Nick Gubbins opening. Stoneman,

I thought, had already shown his

limitations and there was nothing to be

gained by not moving on. I’d have gone

for Gubbins, but I had no knowledge of

Keaton Jennings’ technical corrections.

Ed waited one Test too many to move on

in my opinion and, although Jennings did

move nicely and looked the part, he didn’t

make a telling score. Maybe my choice

would have been just as successful.

I also wanted Dawid Malan up the order,

Joe Root at No.3 preferably, and Jonny

Bairstow at No.5. We differed on No.7,

for I had selected Ben Foakes, to keep

wicket too, for I have a belief that we do

not get the best out of Bairstow, one of

the country’s leading batsmen, by him

keeping. He is reluctant to give up what

was his pathway into the side – insecurity,

maybe – but he is a massively improved

player now. Ed, as we know, went for Jos

Buttler, who did a fine job as a batsman at

No.7, although I fail to see why he doesn’t

keep. Jonny by the way, is not keeping in

ODIs, it is worth noting.

Finally, I had chosen Jack Leach,

although that went by the board. Dom

Bess was a bold choice and acquitted

himself more than adequately, although

I’m not convinced he did a better job than

Moeen Ali might have done. But it looked

progressive, so fair enough. All in all then,

a satisfactory start that brought Ed some

invaluable positive column inches.

Wise Ed will prove Hendo wrong

I’ve had enough full-on debates down the

years with my good friend and colleague

over the page, be they the relative merits

of The Who and The Stones or Timothy

Taylor’s Landlord against Adnams

Southwold bitter, to know that when

Michael Henderson goes off on one, he

tends not to take prisoners.

Few writers have a recognisably generic

style in this business, such that the

phrase ‘doing a Hendo’ needs no further

embellishment. So his annihilation

of the credentials of Ed Smith as the

new national selector hardly came as a

surprise: Hendo, as he once explained

to me, takes the extreme, not least to

create debate. “You, Selve,” he once

admonished me, “can be too balanced.

You’ll get creosote stains on your trousers

from sitting on the fence.” I bet the

magazine’s postbag has been bulging on the

back of his last piece anyway.

The thing is that, not for the first time, I

disagree profoundly with his assessment

now. As I wrote on these pages a couple

of months ago, I was one of the few

interviewed for the position so I have a

particularly detailed understanding of

what is expected from the role and how

it is anticipated it will work in the fullness

of time. Given this, I am under no illusion

that Ed is eminently qualified for the role,

and that his schooling and academic

record are irrelevant. He has a fertile

mind and a broad base of experience

relevant to the job. And to clarify, no

one was “offered the job” and turned it

down: there is a difference between being

encouraged to apply and this.

Anyway, that was a few weeks back now

and Ed, still with most of the old system

in place, nonetheless has already had

the chance to cut his teeth with a couple

of Tests, and, by the time this is read, an

ODI against Scotland and most of a series

against Australia. The results on both his

personal front and with the team have

been middling: a dismal loss to Pakistan at

Lord’s, followed by a rousing turnaround

in Leeds which anyone who has read

Michael Lewis’s brilliant book The Undoing

Project will recognise as nothing more

than England regressing to the mean. At

present, they are an average side.

To me there is an interesting personal

comparison to be made between the

Above
Ed Smith

Ed Smith is eminently qualified

for the role, and his schooling

and academic record are

irrelevant. He has a fertile mind

and a broad base of experience

relevant to the job

PHILIP

BROWN

/G

ETTY

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