JON SUPER/AP/POOLAustralia typically opt to bat first if
they win the toss, but if they end up
batting second their ability to score
heavily is barely impaired. Overall,
they have in those 83 wins made
seven first-innings totals of more than
600, 25 in excess of 500, another 25 of
more than 400, and 18 between 300
and 399.
England are well aware, too, that
when they won down under in 2010-
11 they overwhelmed their opponents
with the bat to such an extent that all
three of their wins were achieved with
an innings to spare – scoring 620 in
Adelaide, 513 in Melbourne and 644
(their highest total on Australian soil)
at Sydney.
The formula then — painstaking
contributions at the top of the order
from Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss
and Jonathan Trott laying the ground
for a free-flowing middle order of
Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell and Matt
Prior — is precisely the one being
followed now. And the signs are that
it is working.balls in Hamilton) and Stokes (
balls yesterday) have played the
longest innings of their careers, while
newcomer Dom Sibley has twice
batted for more than 300 balls. He
has a strike rate even lower than
Denly’s.
Slow scoring is not seen as a virtue
in itself, but England are confident
that if they lay solid foundations they
can catch up later through the
middle-order talent of Stokes, Ollie
Pope and Jos Buttler. As with his
innings in Leeds, Stokes showed
yesterday that he can wreak havoc at
the back end of an innings once set.
Pope played in similar fashion in Port
Elizabeth, where he reached a sedate
century before going into a Stokes-
style overdrive.
As England’s analysts will have told
them, Australia’s formidable record of
83 wins in 115 home Tests since 2000
is built on amassing huge first-innings
totals. Not that they need reminding
— they should know it from their
own bitter experience.Speaking in South Africa this year,
Root admitted his mistake. “In
white-ball cricket you can have one
way you want to play,” he said. “Test
cricket... having one way, it doesn’t
work. We found that out the hard
way. Being more aggressive... you just
can’t do it.”
Denly may now have been dropped,
but he was dropped for not scoring
enough runs, not for batting too
slowly. In fact, his tempo — though
his strike rate of 39.64 is one of the
lowest in world cricket — was one of
the things the management liked
about him. It was why he was
jettisoned this week only with
reluctance.
In the ten Tests since Headingley,
England have only twice been
dismissed in the first innings in fewer
than 87 overs – the chaotic Boxing
Day Test at Centurion being the only
other occasion to Southampton – and
yesterday was the third time they had
extended their stay beyond 150 overs.
During this period, both Root (If England’s batting over the past
couple of days has been largely a
tough watch, then their followers
had better get used to it. Yes,
allowances must be made for a slow
surface, but the approach of Joe
Root’s side was quite deliberate. This
is the way that Root’s England team
Mark II intend to play. However long
it takes, make sure to score big first-
innings runs, then seek to control
the game from there.
This plan is one they intend to
take late next year to Australia,
where big first-innings runs
have long been king, and
every opportunity is being
taken by Root and Chris
Silverwood, the head
coach, to refine this
approach. This was what
led Ben Stokes, acting
captain in Root’s
absence, to opt to bat
first in the Test in
Southampton even
though grey skies
made this course of
action a tricky one.
Old Trafford
Sport
6 1GK RS Saturday July 18 2020 | the times
Root’s plan
to win back
the Ashes is
taking shape
Stokes admitted at the toss that it
was a gamble, but explained:
“Hopefully we can put some pressure
on with some big first-innings runs.”
In the event, England were dismissed
in 67.3 overs by the moving ball, and
lost the game, but they may still
consider it to have been a useful trial.
Grinding out big first-innings runs
may sound like an obvious plan, but it
was one that Root’s Mark I team did
not follow. During that period, Root’s
head was turned by the
free-wheeling
approach of Eoin
Morgan’s white-ball
outfit and he thought
it could be transferred
to the Test arena. Root
even took into the most
recent Ashes series one
of Morgan’s openers,
Jason Roy.
The dream died during
the Headingley Test last
year when England were
bundled out for 67 and Roy
failed at the top of the order
for the sixth time in
succession. A shift in approach
was evident in the second
innings of that game when Root
and Joe Denly laid the ground for
a record-breaking run-chase with
their painstaking third-wicket
partnership of 126 at little more
than two runs per over. Stokes, too,
played a highly orthodox Test
innings until he was joined by the
last man, Jack Leach.Simon
Wilde
Shannon Gabriel fumbles a chance to run out Stuart Broad as West Indies were worn down by England’s long inningsWhite-ball success had
swayed Root too much
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