Further thoughts: England vs Pakistan

Some further thoughts after Thursday's catch up, because after not posting for most of the series, one post just isn't enough to ramble on in. England's battle for consistency remains an issue, as it often has, and with every series it feels like the same familiar questions arise. Who should open the batting, who should make up the middle order, should Moeen Ali be the first choice spinner, which pace bowler should England pick? At the risk of sounding like a broken record, here's a moment to delve into some of the issues from the Pakistan series.

It has been four years since Andrew Strauss retired, but from the looks of it England are still no closer to finding his replacement. Alex Hales showed a lot of promise against Sri Lanka: on three occasions coming so close to a maiden test century before falling at the final hurdle, and seemingly showing a lot more maturity for one often perceived as just a limited overs player. Yet this series he has struggled, and there would be few surprises if he was soon to miss out. With the white ball, yes, he looks assured, free, and much more confident; but he has yet to replicate that present in the test arena. And he's had more of a chance than most. A confrontation with the TV umpire after his first innings dismissal can hardly have helped his cause. I don't want to see England chopping and changing their openers all the time, I just want to see one stick. But I'm not sure now that Hales will be that one. Frustratingly, there still seems to end in sight to the question.

The question remains as well over England's middle order. It's been so long since it consistently fired, probably going back to that Ashes series in 2013 or before. Joe Root's move up the order to number three seems to have filled that hole at last, but the problem has just been pushed further down. Numbers four and five remain issues. Six, seven, and eight have often been getting the bulk of the runs; and as Cook said, they should be there to provide the icing on the cake, rather than being the ones to make it. James Vince may be elegant, but he hasn't looked the test player, and it's hard to see his test career continuing beyond this summer. So often it seemed to be the same dismissal, the edge behind to the keeper or the slips - a fragility that can ill be afforded at this level. Gary Ballance looked slightly more assured, but still never quite settled, and cannot yet claim to have nailed down his place either.

And again, spin - and the exact role of Moeen Ali - is still an issue as well. Moeen bats at number seven or eight, and is primarily in the team as the spin option - despite generally in his career having been more of a batting all rounder. And in this series, his batting shone; after the embarrassment of a horrific shot to get out for 2 at Lord's, Moeen went on to score a century and two fifties, and at a good strike rate too. The problem was that his bowling wasn't at the same standard. He has the knack of picking up wickets, but with an economy of 4.65 it makes it all the more difficult to apply any pressure. Spinners aren't just there as the wicket taking option, and especially for England - tying up an end is often the priority, and it's something Moeen hasn't been able to do. But is there anyone better out there, demanding their place? Or is the option for Moeen to make his way up the order, bringing in someone like Rashid as the primary spinner and number eight (an option that could be likely come tours to India and Bangladesh this winter). 

Then there's Steven Finn. He's become something of an enigma. He has proven himself, on several occasions across several series, to be a highly dangerous, threatening, wicket taking option, capable at times of producing absolute magic. After his return to the side last year, and particularly on tour in South Africa, it looked like it had finally all come together. But injury struck again, and things fell apart. He's not been at his worst, but he goes through periods where he struggles for rhythm and struggles to look the part. With Mark Wood looking dangerous as he completes his long return from injury, and Jake Ball also making a good impression on debut, he faces a lot of competition to keep his place.

England have stated their aim in selection this year, and it's an admirable idea to give a player one test too many rather than one test too few. After all, I might have wrongly given up on Chris Woakes, and many might have thought Bairstow to have had too many chances without proving himself. But there's a matter of timing, too. Of when time should be called, so you have enough time to prepare the next man. Asia won't be an easy place if a new batsman makes their debut, a steep lesson in spin and unfamiliar conditions for many Englishmen. And England can't find themselves in this position at the end of next summer, throwing a new opener into the frying pan of an Ashes test at the Gabba. There has to be a balance between giving a player a good chance, and planning for the next man in. England have made those mistakes before, and might have made them again. It's the end of the test summer, and England are again left to ponder what comes next. 

Selected thoughts: England vs Pakistan

This blog has gone somewhat quiet recently: not due to a lack of interest, merely a lack of time. As I have obviously missed the boat somewhat for lengthier reviews of the test series, here are some (slightly) shorter thoughts from the past three matches.

The comeback. After losing a hard-fought battle at Lord's, falling victim to the spin of Yasir Shah, it all went much better when the second test began at Old Trafford. For starters, England won the toss and batted - taking out the option of facing Yasir Shah in the fourth innings again. Once Alastair Cook was joined at the crease by Joe Root with the score on 25/1, England never looked back. When Cook departed, it was 210/2. When Root departed for 254, England were well past 500, with a pair of 58s from Woakes and Bairstow also aiding the cause. Yasir Shah, so devastating at Lord's, looked almost ordinary. 589 played 198 after both sides had batted, and despite not choosing to enforce the follow on - Cook and Root instead piling on the misery again - it was then fairly straightforward for England. The bowlers did the rest, and victory was won by 330 runs.

The triumph. The series was finely poised at 1-1, both teams still having everything to play for. Sohail Khan came in for Pakistan, having managed one wicket in his previous two test matches - the first in 2009, the last in 2011. His moment had come though, and he made the wickets tumble - dismissing much of England's middle order for his first five wicket haul. England's batsmen could make starts - Ballance (70) and Moeen (63) the top scorers - but they couldn't build an imposing total, with England all out for 297. Pakistan could though, hitting that 400 mark exactly, led by 139 from Azhar Ali and 82 from Sami Aslam, making his maiden test fifty aged just 20.

Act one was complete. But act two brought a twist. First of all, a rare century stand for the opening partnership, the first shared between Cook and Hales at the top. Batsmen made starts again, but this time more solid starts than before. It was enough for Bairstow and Moeen to exploit when they got their moment - Bairstow with 83, and Moeen on the attack with 86* from 96 balls. England could declare on 445/6, setting a target of 343 and somehow finding themselves in pole position to take the match. And though the breakthrough was slow to come at first, England then went rampant; including a spell of four wickets for one run inside four overs. A fantastic comeback saw England win by 141 runs, taking the series lead to boot.

The finale. England needed to avoid defeat to win the series, Pakistan needed victory to retain the series trophy. All to play for. But familiar problems arose for England. That fragile top order proved fragile again, slipping to 110/5 before Bairstow (55), Moeen (108), and Woakes (45) were there to bail England out to 328. Sohail Khan was there to pick up another five wicket haul, Wahab Riaz returning as well to take three.

Younis Khan had been having a difficult series until this point. Undeniably a brilliant batsman, but things hadn't been going quite right. Catches had gone down when in the field, and when holding the bat he was skittish, jumping around the crease, and not looking like a man of 100 tests and over 9000 test runs. But at The Oval, the real Younis Khan returned. An innings of 218 put the knife into England's hopes, racing along too with a strike rate of 70. Asad Shafiq reached the three figures before him, a comeback of his own after a pair in the previous test. Pakistan had made 542; England had been batted out of the game.

Yasir Shah might have gone quiet for the previous two tests, but he returned for the finale; five wickets to spin England out again. Wahab Riaz was there too, something of a flamethrower in human form, dealing the damage despite having to be taken out of the attack for running on the pitch. Bairstow was England's resistance, fighting as he so often has this summer, until Wahab got his man. England passed Pakistan's score, but a target of 40 was chased down with ease. The series was level once again.

The thrill of the fight

How test cricket is a wonderful, wonderful thing. The runs might have dried up, and wickets too had come to a halt; on the face of it, not much might have been happening at all. And yet it was gripping, utterly absorbing stuff. A target to chase that was a tall ask, but not entirely out of reach, meant that every ball survived and every run scored could give England just a fraction more hope, but that everything could change with just a wicket. Pakistan ran out deserved winners in the end, after a contest that was utterly enthralling.

Pakistan were the victors, winning not just the match but also the hearts of many watching. Their previous tour to England of course ended in acrimony, overshadowed by the spot-fixing scandal that saw Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif, and Mohammad Amir banned and also imprisoned as a result. Amir made his return to the test team at the scene where it all happened before, but - barring the odd grumblings of discontent - the reception from the stands was generally positive. The final wicket was his, fitting with the script. The past is behind this Pakistan team, and now here is a side crafted in Misbah's image: Misbah, 40 years old and still every bit a test player, and celebrating a century at Lord's with press-ups. When the game reached its conclusion, the team followed; first standing to attention before taking orders from Younis Khan, a reference to a recent army camp before the tour began.

But the match belonged to two men more than most - to Chris Woakes, and to Yasir Shah. I was one of those unconvinced by Chris Woakes before the summer began, but I definitely no longer feel that way, and I am glad for that. He was England's most threatening, most dangerous bowler - and eleven wickets in the match can attest to that. And he held out with the bat too, in that long partnership with Jonny Bairstow that looked like it could edge things back in England's favour. But they had to face Yasir Shah. Yasir, who left England's batsmen utterly flummoxed - and sometimes before they'd even come out to bat. The ball to dismiss Gary Ballance in the second innings brought comparisons with Shane Warne's other 'ball of the century', the one to dismiss Andrew Strauss at Edgbaston in 2005. Sometimes it was just the straight one that did the job too, like the key breakthrough to dismiss Bairstow after he'd held out for so long. Ten wickets in the match were for Yasir, and it was a warning for the rest of the summer for England.

England went on the attack for the second innings, chasing a target of 283. It was a smart way to go after the new ball, perhaps the best time to face this Pakistani attack - just before it really starts swinging or reversing, and before Yasir comes on with his spin. But it was certainly a bold move, and like so many of England's bold moves, flirted dangerously on that line between positivity and recklessness. It will always look brilliant and attract praise when it succeeds, but easily looks foolish when it fails. Hales was gone early, cutting the ball. Root was out pulling straight to the fielder. Vince made his highest score for the test team with 42, but gave chances all the way - and his eventual dismissal wasn't a huge surprise. Moeen's was the worst of the lot - charging at the spinner at the start of his innings, when it just wasn't needed. Ballance (43) was more secure, but the need to dig in soon took over when England fell to 139/6.

England find themselves again with selection dilemmas ahead of the next test, reflected in the 14 men in the squad. Anderson and Stokes return after injury, whilst Adil Rashid is also present - giving the option to play a second spinner, or to replace Moeen Ali as the first choice. Whilst Anderson and Stokes look likely to replace Jake Ball and Steven Finn, Stokes's ability with the bat could lead him to replace James Vince, still struggling to make his mark in the team. If so, it may be an interesting call with the bowlers: to go for a second spinner, so rare in England; to stick with Ball, after a decent show on his debut; or to carry on with Finn, who often looked out of his rhythm, then suffered two dropped catches when he found it.

What is sure though, is that we look in for an absolute treat of a series. The fourth day was the kind that sets the pulse racing, the true test of determination and wills, the character that makes the sport as much as the physical action of bat on ball. And it could well continue with two sides looking very evenly matched, with individuals capable of brilliance, and with the bowlers edging the battle between bat and ball. After this game, I can't wait for the rest of the series.

Springing the surprises

One sure way to create a talking point is to announce a new test squad, or at least it seems to be one subject I spend a lot of time talking about on here. The international summer as ever moves along at a rapid rate, with there barely time to pause for breath before the tricky challenge of a test series against Pakistan begins next week. And with Compton dropped, Anderson injured, and Stokes still absent through his injury, the selectors had some interesting decisions to make.

And interesting decisions they were. I have long been something of a cheerleader for Gary Ballance - when he was breaking into the England team, when he was in it, and when he was out of it. But am I surprised he's been recalled? Yes, definitely. And would I have recalled him at this point? It's unlikely. Whilst I firmly believe he still has a test future ahead of him, like most I wasn't expecting this to be the time he would return. There's still the feeling that he hasn't done enough to remedy the issues with his technique - that big movement back in his crease that got him into trouble against the full, swinging ball. An average of 33.64 in the Championship this season has hardly set the world alight either, especially compared to other rivals for England places. But timing is everything, and this week Ballance made a century against a strong Middlesex attack; whilst Scott Borthwick's last three first class innings have been single figure scores.

It will be a challenge for his technique against a Pakistan bowling attack well able to expose any flaws, particularly with the recent return of Mohammad Amir. But Ballance does seem to have the mental character and the appetite for the battle in test cricket, and maybe a move from three to the middle order will serve him well. Certainly it was a surprise when he took the number three spot in the first place, never having been his position for Yorkshire and really having a technique more suited to batting at four or five. Root will be the man moving up to number three, with Bayliss keen on having the best player in the position. Root is adaptable, and certainly has the ability to rise to the challenge - but there's also the argument that if he's doing so well at four, why should you change it? The make up of England's middle order remains uncertain.

An option that was considered, and was looking likely with remarks made by Bayliss in the ODI series, was for Jos Buttler to return to the test team as a specialist batsman. It would have been quite the attacking move, and one definitely in keeping with the philosophy England are trying to employ in all formats. At the end of the day though, the safer option was taken. Buttler may be able to transform himself into a test player in the future, but I'd feel he needs more time batting with the red ball to do so, and with IPL and England commitments hasn't yet played a first class game this season.

The new face in the squad belongs to a bowler, Toby Roland-Jones. Jake Ball may be the front runner to fill James Anderson's spot, but Roland-Jones will provide strong competition and it will be a close contest for the test place. The call up might have been slightly unexpected, not having featured in an England squad before and with little hype before his inclusion. But he has been consistent in county cricket for a number of years, has a first class average of 25.17, and was involved in the Lions setup during the winter - certainly enough to put him on anyone's radar. He's shown his form this week as well, playing a key part with bat and ball as Middlesex defeated Yorkshire by an innings. His selection also gives me the chance to tell anyone who will listen that he belted a brilliant century from number 10 - also against Yorkshire - when I saw him play last year.

Pakistan of course beat England in the winter tests, and England will be wanting to set the record straight in home conditions - though Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz will provide a big test for a batting line up still not yet fully firing. Series against Pakistan can often be an interesting and tense affair, and the potential is there for a close contest between the two sides.

The one-day revolution

About fifteen months ago, England were being knocked out of the ODI World Cup. Another international tournament had come around, and once again England were left chasing the big boys, playing in slow motion as the game had whizzed on ahead of them. The cricket was bland and unexciting, even though the players had the talent to be anything but. Talk of the numbers and par scores seemed to take precedence over the the team's own freedom to attack and express themselves.

Watching England now still almost feels difficult to believe, like if you pinch yourself you might wake up from the dream. There has never been a huge change in personnel - though of course some new faces came in - but the change in attitude has been dramatic. Getting to 300 with the bat no longer feels like a rarity, more like a minimum. England made 324 in the last match and it still felt like they hadn't fully hit their stride. Gone are that team that looked so far behind the times at the 2015 World Cup, with no freedom, joy, or attack. That team lives in the past. The new England are here to stay.

And sure, it's not all been plain sailing. Series losses to Australia in South Africa show that it's still a learning curve, the latter especially an example when they let the series slip from their grasp after taking a 2-0 lead. The first ODI of this series too, showed that the threat of the traditional English batting collapse hasn't disappeared - though a brilliant game of cricket with a thrilling finale, it was still a match where England snatched a tie from the jaws of defeat of a match they should have won. At times it can be that there's just that extra maturity lacking - knowing when to hold back a little and not be gung-ho all the time, or with what approach to take when bowling. But maturity comes with experience, and experience comes with time, and a young team should have plenty of time on its side.

Perhaps Sri Lanka weren't the strongest side, and they have certainly endured a torrid tour. Injuries haven't helped them, and neither has a lack of match practice in English conditions. It was always going to be difficult post-Sangakkara and post-Jayawardene, but there are still shoots of hope. Mathews and Chandimal shared several partnerships worth over fifty, scoring three and four fifties apiece. Kusal Mendis also looked very promising early on in his international career. But the wickets would often come at the wrong times, and just at the moment when Sri Lanka wanted to be gearing up for the back end of the innings, they had to play themselves in again and England could apply the pressure.

After the first match, England just made batting look easy. In the second game, Sri Lanka saw their total of 254 chased down in only 34 overs, Roy and Hales both making centuries without losing their wickets. After a washout, game four brought another century for Jason Roy - 162 runs, just five short of England's record held by Robin Smith. Roy was brilliant, and if he didn't quite find his fluency during his first year in the England team, he's certainly found it now. Smith's record might not be lasting for very much longer. There were fifties too for Root, his typical way of getting runs before anyone notices; Buttler - a 93 that held the innings together in the first match, then a thrilling 70 in the last; and one for Woakes, the key man in the opening tie with 95* before Plunkett's six off the last ball stole the headlines. James Vince also chipped in with a fifty in the final match after coming in for Hales, a first international fifty that will surely give a confidence boost after a difficult test series.

England were on top with the ball, too. Bowling in ODIs is never an easy - or enviable - task, but England did enough to impress. Plunkett and Willey topped the wicket taking charts with ten each, whilst Rashid and Woakes had economies under five for the whole series. England might not know their best bowling attack, and in any case, rotation will always be a factor with others such as Stokes, Finn, Wood, and Topley absent in this series. Here though they struck a good balance - the left arm swing of Willey, the aggression of Plunkett, the pace and consistency of Woakes, and the legspin of Rashid.

Certainly, this England team is more exciting than ever before. And maybe even better than ever before as well, or at least the best England ODI team there's been in recent years. They've made it fun to watch their one day cricket again, something they didn't particularly do before - instead it was more often with a resigned sigh. It was hard to get excited about England's chances when they never valued the game in the way of other countries, but since Strauss took the job at the top every format is a priority, and there has been a focus on one day cricket that was never there before. And it's paying off. England's ODI revolution is going strong. 

That never-ending question

It's not the first time recently that England have emerged from a series victorious, yet still find themselves with several questions still to answer about the side. And yes, it quite often seems to be the very same question that rears its head - after every series, after every match. It's a batting line up that still never fires consistently, still finds itself three or four wickets down for not-very-many, and though the personnel may change, the problem still stays the same.

In any team, there's normally one man under pressure. It's not often that a top six will contain six players all in fine form at the same time. Even in great successes, there's always somebody who has found it that little bit tougher. For England over the last couple of years though, it's rarely just been one batsman. It's happened so many times that it can feel like the phrase 'England's top order failings' is just whirring on repeat in the background. During this series alone England found themselves at 83/5, 84/4, and 50/3 at various times. The lower-middle order, numbers six to eight, bailed them out this time (Bairstow in particular continuing his purple patch), but still - there's only so long England will be able to manage with half the batting line up functioning.

Compton was the man under the spotlight this series, and sadly his international career will surely now be at an end. Though certainly a fine player at county level, we only ever saw glimpses of this in an England shirt - two centuries in New Zealand and the 85 he scored on his return in South Africa, one of the most important innings of the series. But generally at test level, it's never stuck for him. Maybe it's the mental side, or maybe it's about finding his way to score, with comments about his strike rate following him wherever he went. Sport moves on quickly, and chances are hard enough to come by at any age. Almost 33, a third go won't come around.

Times were hard too for James Vince, though just at the beginning of his international career. He is unquestionably a lovely player to watch and easy to appreciate, one who can make it all look easy on a good day. But test cricket is a learning curve, and just looking good doesn't compare to actually making runs. Some also pointed to the fact that his batting average in the second division of the County Championship far exceeds his average in the first (averaging over 60 in both 2013 and 2014 in division two but just 32.70 last year in division one). He's a player who has been on England's radar for a long time and will certainly stay in the side for the series against Pakistan in the second half of the summer. But Pakistan's bowlers should provide more of a threat than Sri Lanka's, and Vince will need to learn fast.

It's not all doom and gloom, of course not. England won the series, and with Cook and Root not providing their usual weight of runs, others stood up. It's still too early to tick off the opener's spot, but Alex Hales certainly stated his case, though ultimately falling just short of a test century in three innings. Maybe he hasn't provided the swashbuckling innings that might have been hoped for when first selected - but more importantly he's shown the key qualities of a test batsman, like patience and control around his off stump. It wasn't easy in South Africa, but he looks to have learnt from the experience. The lower-middle order delivered as well, with a century for Moeen Ali, two for Jonny Bairstow, and Chris Woakes also chipping in with some runs. Whether or not Bairstow should take the gloves will be a debate sure to continue throughout the summer, but he's shown his star quality with the bat on the international stage and has truly been a joy to watch.

What next? Scott Borthwick looks to be the next man in line, a chance to add to his only test cap from the end of the 2013/14 Ashes. He was chosen as a spinner then, but over the past few years his batting has made him stand out more - hitting three centuries this season already. As ever with England, it's a matter of finding the last pieces to complete the puzzle. There's undoubted talent there and they've come out with the result, but they're still something of a work in progress, never quite fully functioning. As it is, the questions continue.

Batting on the brink

Form is a fickle thing in cricket. There might be no reason for it coming and going, yet that's what it does. That effort to find form again might feel like the longest wait in the world, but sometimes all it can take is one good innings, or a couple of lucky wickets. In form, and it feels like everything will just go right; out of form, and everything just goes wrong.

And there can come a point where a player reaches the brink. The last chance when their place in the side, even their career, is on the line. It's the brink where Nick Compton finds himself now. Trevor Bayliss has said he prefers to give players one test too many rather than one test too few; others say he's already been given his test too many. Certainly it looks like his moment of judgement has arrived, after gradually diminishing returns in South Africa and then a poor start to the English summer on both domestic and international fronts. With England's batting lineup still not finding its stride, there's always going to be one man looking like the obvious fall guy, and right now Compton is the next in line.

It can be a defining moment, that last match whilst the axe is sharpened in the background. Think Andrew Strauss - 2008 against New Zealand. A duck in the first innings and his head ready for the chop. 177 in the second innings, a career saved, and the next year he was England's captain. Paul Collingwood against South Africa the same year, coming back fighting in the second innings with 135 at a moment when his career was on the line. Alastair Cook at the end of the summer of 2010, a moment when he might have been on the brink of being dropped ahead of that winter's Ashes series, making 110 in the second innings against Pakistan. We all know what happened after that. Though still young enough to make a comeback, the story still might have been so different.

But the do-or-die moment doesn't work out so well for everybody. For every Cook or Strauss there are many more who can't avoid the chop. Think of all the openers England have gone through in the past few years, and many other batsmen too. Think of Ian Bell, a man with the history and the reputation, but who couldn't turn around his form when that time came. Sometimes the rut is too deep to claw a way out of.

That moment is now for Compton. His place in the side has never been cemented - and it would take more than just runs in the next test at Lord's to stake a claim for a long term future in the team. But fail here, and his international career would surely be at an end. Nearly 33, international chances don't often come round again, and certainly not for a fledgling career such as his.

Will he succeed? We will have to wait and see. And with Compton, it's not just the runs that matter; it's the manner in which they are made, too. It's a question that has followed him around since his first spell in the team - the balance between being cautious in approach and simply not scoring, which often swings too far towards the latter. There's certainly still a place for the grafting innings, but you still need to have that way of letting off the pressure, that release which Compton doesn't always seem to have. Cook and Trott, and Ballance too, though cautious in approach, still did enough to keep the scoreboard ticking, as strike rates in the upper forties show. Compton's strike rate of 35.88 leaves him trailing behind. Test cricket of course is not and should not just be about strike rates, but as everyone else runs ahead, Compton too often stands still.

How might his career have been different had England decided not to chop and change in the first place. After all the struggles England have had with their opening batsmen in the past three years (though Hales has impressed so far this summer), with hindsight it might have been best to keep the faith in the first man chosen as Strauss's replacement. Just like finding form, international sport can be fickle and cruel, and hindsight can give no comfort.

With the knives being sharpened, a game at his home ground of Lord's will give Compton his most important test yet. Here stands a man on the brink, his international career on the line. It's now or never.