(^) Daily Mail, Thursday, August 1, 2019
84 THE ASHES 1ST TEST
I
t is not that England have been too bold in
making Jason Roy their Ashes opener, more
that they may not have been bold enough.
Given other conservative options, and the
disruption of elevating Joe Root to No 3, it
could equally be asked why the World Cup
winning pair of Roy and Jonny Bairstow were not
retained for the rest of the summer?
too brave, too cavalier, too gung-ho? Well, where exactly
does pragmatism get a team in modern test cricket? it is not
as if by picking their prime white-ball partnership England
it, juggling leading on the field and
batting. it’s something i’ve been
thinking about for a long time, to
lead from the front.
‘i’m not concerned by the top
order at all. Roy is a very talented
player and he’ll be disappointed
with the scores he made against
ireland. But you’re looking at
extreme conditions there and we
found a way to win that game.
‘When we have found ourselves
under pressure in the past, when
we haven’t got the scores we would
have liked, a lot of the times we
have come out winning — because
we, as a group, can find ways of
doing that. We have strong charac-
ters in the group and guys have
stepped up under pressure when
they needed to.’
Although it does help when the
opponents are ireland and they
get bowled out for 38. it sounded a
little Micawberish, a little some-
thing-will-turn-up. it hasn’t for
England’s openers in four series
against Australia of late, which is
why it seems so peculiar to have
looked straight past a rather
obvious, if risky, remedy.
THE ASHES
MARTIN
SAMUEL
Chief Sports Writer
NASSER HUSSAIN
ENGLAND 3-2 AUSTRALIA
THIS is one of the better Australian sides
to visit England since they last won here
in 2001, but England are very strong at
home because they know how to play
to their strengths: they have a powerful
bowling attack plus a deep batting
line-up. I take England to win, but
only just.
JASON GILLESPIE
ENGLAND 1-3 AUSTRALIA
IT WILL be an intriguing battle between
England’s strong middle order and
Australia’s bowling, but it is the return of
Steve Smith and David Warner that will
be key. Their experience gives their
batting a little more oomph and the
pace attack has good knowledge of
conditions here.
OUR EXPERTS
GIVE THEIR
ASHES
VERDICTS
Brave, bold
openers
took us to
glory... so
why not be
gung-ho?
would be rejecting a tried and
tested five-day opener, a player
who might not set about the
attack with abandon, but could at
least be relied upon to amass
significant numbers, and dig in.
Nobody would have contemplated
this roll of the dice when Alastair
Cook was in his prime.
the fact is, once Roy kept his
World Cup role, England were
choosing between Rory Burns and
Joe Denly: two comparative
rookies. it not only gives England’s
top order a callow look — Denly
might be 33, but his experience
equates to that of a man 10 years
younger — it also surrenders the
opportunity that the two men who
took apart Australia’s bowlers
from the off at Edgbaston on July
11, might do so again.
that day, in the World Cup semi-
final, England raced to 124 in 17.2
overs before Bairstow surrendered
his wicket to Mitchell starc. it was
their 11th century partnership in
32 innings and as a pair they have
reached 50 in over half their
innings. What the home side would
give for a start in a similar vein this
morning. Forget the run rate —
with Roy and Bairstow at the
crease it is unlikely to be slow, any-
way — just to be 124-1 against this
Australian attack seems the stuff
of dreams right now.
For while it goes without
saying that red-ball
cricket is very differ-
ent, the days when
attacking from the
off was not an
option have
passed. the
influence of the
white-ball game
has changed
tests — its num-
bers, its targets,
its methodology. if
England had open-
ing batsmen who
could nurdle their way
to three figure partner-
ships even in testing conditions,
that might be different. But they
have not, and this has been the
case for close to a decade now.
December 26, 2010. First day,
fourth test, Melbourne. that was
the last time England’s openers
made a test century partnership
against Australia. By the time
Cook and Andrew strauss were
separated the following morning,
they had amassed 159 runs
together. since then, a statistical
collapse. Across 39 innings in four
full Ashes series, plus the final
test of that 2010-11 tour, Eng-
land’s openers have got past 50 on
just five occasions, at an average
stand of 24.4.
take away the one innings that
Cook and strauss played together
in that run and the average falls
yet further to 22.5. in the circum-
stances, what exactly was there to
lose in taking the game to
Australia? Yes, England could pick
their World Cup openers, charge
off on the front foot and end up
20-2. Yet that remains the risk no
matter the personnel.
since strauss retired, in 12 of 38
innings against Australia, England’s
openers have failed to reach double
figures as a partnership. Are the
chances of that greatly altered with
Burns in, partnering Roy, ahead of
Bairstow? Hardly. so what is being
lost? if Bairstow and Roy hit it off
in one game, they could as good as
win the test. two, and they might
very much influence the series in
England’s favour.
this is not to decry Burns, even
if his last match for England saw
him accrue 12 runs across two
innings against ireland, while
being spectacularly outshone by
nightwatchman Jack Leach. Burns
is best friends with Roy, which can
only help, and is capable of bold
play, as he showed against sri
Lanka last winter. Yet, like Denly,
he is playing for his short-term
test future. if some names are
set in stone this summer,
two of England’s top
four have theirs
written in chalk.
A further com-
plication is that if
Bairstow opens,
he wouldn’t be
able to keep
wicket. in the
past, this has
been greeted
with great dis-
gruntlement from
the player. Yet,
surely, an England
international does what
is best for his team — as
Joe Root has by electing to
come in at three, not four — and if
that means promoting Ben Foakes,
so be it. some think it strange that
England could field a team with
three wicketkeepers: Bairstow,
Foakes and Jos Buttler, but why?
England have three batsmen who
all happen to be able to keep
wicket. Nothing wrong with that.
it is a moot point for this test,
sadly, Root replying with an une-
quivocal ‘no’ when asked if there
was ever a temptation to keep Roy
and Bairstow together. He was
insistent, too, that his own promo-
tion came from personal choice,
not the desire to paper over some
rather obvious top order cracks.
‘it was completely my decision,’
Root said. ‘it’s an opportunity for
me to get in there earlier to spread
out the experience and a really
good chance to cement this spot
and make it my own. Having
captained this side for a while, i
feel like i can get my head around
FLOWER FUTURE IN DOUBT
AS ECB LOOK TO CUT COSTS
ANDY FLOWER, whose coaching
helped rescue English cricket
from the doldrums a decade
ago, could soon part company
with the ECB if no agreement is
reached about his future role.
Sportsmail understands that
Flower, the former Zimbabwe
captain who has been involved
with the ECB for 12 years,
recently approached England’s
managing director of men’s
cricket Ashley Giles about taking
up a freelance coaching position
in the new Euro T20 Slam, but
was refused permission.
With Mark Ramprakash sacked
as England’s batting coach, the
ECB wanted Flower to remain
in his position as head coach of
England Lions at least until the
end of the season. But after that
Flower, who as England team
director oversaw three Ashes
wins, the World Twenty20
trophy in 2010 and the Test
team’s ascent to the top of the
rankings in 2011, could move on
— probably as a freelance coach
in T20 franchise cricket.
In private, the ECB have played
down talk of a sacking, but there
is a feeling within the board that
savings need to be made
because of the costly National
Cricket Performance Centre in
Loughborough.
Flower declined to comment.
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JASON ROY and Jonny
Bairstow have scored
the most ODI runs of any
opening partnership in
England’s history. They
total 2,251 runs — 671
more than any other
first-wicket stand.
Test return:
Smith (left)
and Warner
EXCLUSIVE
By LAWRENCE BOOTH
Wisden Editor
jacob rumans
(Jacob Rumans)
#1