Section:GDN 1N PaGe:50 Edition Date:190830 Edition:03 Zone: Sent at 30/8/2019 0:23 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
••• The Guardian Friday 30 Aug ust 201950scores. He will bat behind Smith here,
with the discarded opener, Cameron
Bancroft, at No 6.
“It’ll be somewhere in the top six,
I can tell you that,” said the Test cap-
tain, Tim Paine, of the change. “We’re
looking to have a squad that’s got
some real depth and we want to get
back to a stage in Australian cricket
where we’ve got some really good
players and unlucky players that are
missing out.
“Our selectors are going to have,
hopefully after some big runsSport
CricketSmith enjoys a quiet day in Derby
on return from concussion
Fans in Derby wanting to see Steve
Smith had to content themselves with
a bevy of autographs at stumps on the
fi rst day of Australia’s tour match, with
the opening batsmen, Usman Khawaja
and Marcus Harris, compiling 77
unbeaten runs after Derbyshire were
bowled out for 172.
Smith is listed at No 4 in his return
since becoming the fi rst Test player tobe substituted because of concussion ,
in the second Ashes Test at Lord’s.
Marnus Labuschagne , who replaced
Smith in that match, will bat at No 7
here after three Test fi fties that ensure
he will be retained for the fourth
match, at Old Traff ord, that starts on
Wednesday. The player most likely to
make way would be Khawaja or Harris,
meaning their partnership may also
be a contest.
Matthew Wade may also feel vulner-
able despite his century at Edgbaston ,
surrounding it with four single-fi gurePlooy in a typically parsimonious one
for 11 from eight overs.
Labuschagne and Bancroft went to
the nets as Smith padded up but his
only real work had been the peculiar
over he bowled : leg-breaks to the right-
hander, off -breaks to the left-hander.Geoff Lemon
The 3aaa County Groundtomorrow, a really diffi cult decision
to make.”
The Derbyshire captain, Billy
Godleman, chose to bat, unlike some
county sides on recent tours who off er
fi rst use of placid pitches to make
sure matches last the distance and
gate receipts do not suff er. It almost
worked, or would have done had
anyone stayed with Leus d u Plooy ,
second-last out for 86.
Michael Neser, though, nicked two
wickets before a run was scored, then
came back to nip out Luis Reece after
a recovery stand of 66. Alex Hughes
and Harvey Hosein helped Du Plooy
for a time.
Once they were removed, courtesy
of Labuschagne and Mitchell Marsh,
Mitchell Starc shrugged off an
indiff erent day to grab three wickets
in an over. Peter Siddle picked up DuEngland’s
puzzles
What to do
about Roy,
Stokes and
Anderson
How to accommodate Anderson
England’s greatest bowler of the
past decade has just proved his
fi tness again after pulling up lame
on the fi rst morning of the Ashes
series. Good news, right? Well,
yes, but in his absence England
discovered their greatest bowler of
the next decade. Jimmy Anderson
and Jofra Archer could be the
new-ball pair of Ed Smith’s dreams- the best combination of fi re and
craftsmanship since Hephaestus.
But how to fi t them into the same
team? By resting Chris Woakes.
Archer will have to move up to
No 8, which should not cost many
runs now Australia have identifi ed
Woakes’s weakness (fl apping at
bouncers). But it will mean Archer,
when batting in the nets, has to do
more than just impersonate Steve
Smith’s leave.
What to do about Roy
Every so often in an English summer,
there is a Test opener who becomes a
walking wicket. It happened to Heino
Kuhn of South Africa, Shane Watson
of Australia, even Virender Sehwag
of India. This year, it is the fate of an
Englishman: Jason Roy, the one-day
team’s Mr Swagger. Not one of the
48 openers who have played at least
two Tests in England over the past
decade has a worse record than Roy,
who averages 8.85 as an opener (his
72 against Ireland came at No 3) and
keeps edging stock deliveries outsideoff stump. Do England persist with
him, as Australia have just done,
fruitfully, with David Warner?
Or drop him, as Australia did,
fruitlessly, with Cameron Bancroft?
It is obvious Joe Denly, who has been
getting starts at No 4, would do more
to blunt the new ball. But then the
question is whether Roy squeezes
into a crowded middle order ...Whether to bring back Pope
Ollie Pope of Surrey is England’sbrightest batting prospect since
Joe Root, with a fi rst-class average
of 59 to prove it. He may have
struggled in three innings against
India’s pacemen last summer but
he was out of position at No 4. For
Surrey, he has shown he can do the
thing Brian Lara used to do, and
few Englishmen have ever done –
make big runs at high speed. Aged
21, he already has a 251 on his CV,
plus a 221 from just the other day.
At Headingley, he was on standbyin case Roy was ruled out with
concussion. So he is the next cab on
the rank and he is now used to No 4.
At Surrey, in red-ball cricket, they
would not dream of preferring Roy
to Pope. And they should know.How to keep Stokes stoked
After the World Cup triumph in
July, some of England’s top players
struggled to adjust, whether
through sheer exhaustion or the
bereavement of achievement. Such
are the dangers now lying in wait
for Ben Stokes after he pulled off
one of the greatest heists in Test
history. The reassuring thing is
that classic Ashes moments tend
to go in threes. In 1981, Ian Botham
followed the famous 149 not out
by taking fi ve wickets for one run
in the next Test and stroking 118 in
the one after. In 2005, England’s
two-run victory at Edgbaston led to
a cliffh anging draw at Old Traff ord
and a three-wicket win at Trent
Bridge. The worry is that Stokes has
used up his three goes already, after
being player of the match in the
World Cup fi nal and the Lord’s Test
as well as at Headingley. Let’s hope
the Lord’s Test does not count,
as the award should have gone to
Archer. That Mo Mentum sees off
Ann Ticlimax. And that Stokes is
still making it up to the lads for
missing the whole of the last Ashes.How to move beyond block
or blast
Whenever they collapse, ie
about once a fortnight, England’s
batsmen are berated for bringing
their white-ball habits into Test
cricket. The picture is more
nuanced. England’s strike rate
in this Ashes has been 45 per 100
balls, way down from the last home
Ashes in 2015 when it was 58. Then,
Australia’s strike rate was also 58;
this time it is 52. England’s problem
has not been impatience so much
as periods of inertia. It has been
block or blast, which has worked
spectacularly well for Stokes, less
so for his team mates. Jos Buttler’s
strike rate in the series is 29, which
is right out of character. Partly this
is because Australia’s bowling has
been defensive but it takes two
to tango. Jonny Bairstow showed
the way with his breezy cameo at
Headingley – instantly upstaged but
highly infl uential, as it got Stokes
moving. They also serve those who
merely hit a quick 30.Who makes way for the
fast bowler and will there
be a batting shake-up?
Tim de Lisle has plenty to
ponder before the fourth Test1 Ben Stokes
Kept the
Ashes alive at
Headingley2 Jason Roy
Opener has
been unable
to replicate
his one-day
form3 Ollie Pope
The Surrey
batsm an has
shown he can
score quickly4 Jimmy
Anderson
Bowler
has
proved
his
fi tness
for
fourth
Test22 33
4
1
Pope is
England’s
brightest
batting prospect
since Root, an
average of 59
in first-class
cricket proves it
BARRY MITCHELL/REX/
SHUTTERSTOCK;
MIKE EGERTON/
PA IMAGESSteve Smith had
to make do with
bowling some spinsionilly
ome
off er
ake
and
most
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