England's dismal loss to West Indies casts dark shadow over the "red-ball reset"
What happened? Should Joe Root be sacked? Is there a structural problem in English cricket? Who should play for England?
England played West Indies for a three test series, losing 1-0 after a “red-ball reset”. They had been hammered by the Aussies away from home, and on the back of that, decided that the answer to their persistent and sustained batting collapses was to drop the 2 best bowlers they’ve ever had - over 1,000 test wickets between the pair of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, despite the latter only being 35 years of age. The managing director and coach were both sacked, and off went England to West Indies, with a much changed squad. Now, England have lost to West Indies, a moderate side which is 9th in the World Test Championship and is nowhere near as good as Australia; with England’s resources, this is plain humiliating, and has been for a number of months now - England have won 1 of their last 17 tests.
The first two games, held in Antigua and Barbados, were both roads, with little to no help for the bowlers. Both ended in draws, with Bonner, Crawley, Root, Stokes, Bairstow, Blackwood and Brathwaite all scoring centuries.
The third test, held in Grenada, offered reasonably little swing, but nice seam movement; England succumbed and found themselves 53-6. They failed to hang in, at 114/9, and had their pride saved by no’s 10 and 11, who took them to 204. A brilliant 100 by Joshua da Silva (on a seaming pitch with the tail) gave West Indies a lead of 93. England then gleefully collapsed again to 120 all out, with West Indies chasing 28 in 4.5 overs. There is an element of credit that the West Indies bowlers deserve - Roach, Seales, Mayers, Joseph and Holder all kept plugging away at a line and length with consistency - only Joseph and Seales had an economy over 2. In contrast, England were all over the place - Woakes and Overton giving a bad ball at least once every over, wasting the new ball. England do have a habit of making bowlers look better than they actually are - Kyle Mayers and Scott Boland are no McGrath or Ambrose.
Should Root stay? Is Root the problem?
Firstly, the captaincy is definitely an issue. While Root is a brilliant batsman, his test record as captain is abysmal - 64 Tests, of which 27 have been won and 26 lost. It is not all his fault - he has had no batsmen to support, with the 2nd highest run scorer, Rory Burns being dropped after the Ashes, and the ever-reliable 3rd highest run scorer being “Extras”; this reflects on how there have been no batsmen to stand up - the one constant throughout his captaincy has been batting collapses. England registered 50 ducks in 2021, and they have been bowled out in a single session 4 times under Root; not to say that this is Root’s fault, but I will come on to that later.
Root’s use of his bowlers and field placements are shocking - (3rd Test) when Woakes started his spell, Root kept him on for 50 minutes, despite no clear line and length being consistently bowled. When Joshua Da Silva tried a big shot, Root moved his third slip into the leg side to save the single. Even after, the singles kept coming, principally, on the leg side, keeping the scoreboard ticking. Jack Leach was picked on a green Gabba pitch against a left-hander heavy Australian side - he ended with figures of 1-102 (13) at 7.85. The only problem is - who replaces him? Stokes is only still easing back into his role as an all rounder, Broad is a pacer who may need to be rested for games, and no one else is guaranteed a spot in the team, apart from (maybe) Bairstow. I think Root keeps his role for now, but if this keeps up, I can’t see him carrying on after this summer.
How can the structural problem in English cricket be solved? How should England produce better, more effective red-ball players?
Well firstly, the quality of cricket in the County Championship is much lower than what it was, say 15-20 years ago. Players like Warne for Hampshire, Langer for Middlesex, Tendulkar for Yorkshire often helped players with technique, and so England had a better team back then. Now, even Kolpak does not exist. This results in a lower quality of cricket being played, and so England cannot pick up good recruits - success at CC level does not guarantee success at international level. A good example of this is Ollie Pope, who averages 90+ at the Oval, one of the most easy-for-runs ground in England, but who has continually failed to impress at international level.
Currently, there’s a plethora of 75-80mph county bowlers taking a load of County Championship wickets because they thrive in English conditions, but who would be largely unsuitable to stepping up to Test cricket (where conditions are different). Many of these are also over 30, so unsuitable for playing for England. (sorry Darren Stevens!).
Counties need incentives to produce better red-ball players with good techniques.
What reason is there for counties to ditch the medium-pace trundlers that do so well, and teach a 90mph bowler who will spray it around to begin with? None. What reason is there to produce red-ball batting specialists like a Pujara, when a multi-format player like Bairstow can play white-ball for you as well? None. The counties also need to make a profit (explaining the abundance of white-ball games and so the many white-ball specialists); therefore the ECB should reward counties (money-wise, maybe £100K if the player plays 10 tests or so) for each player that gets picked for the national Test side, encouraging the production of Test specialists. I believe this will provide a pathway for higher level Test candidates to come through the system.
Are the CC pitches a problem?
Yes. The current pitches swing so much with the Dukes ball, encouraging medium pacers. Batting technique is hard to hone on this, and there is very little assistance for spin. To improve this, hard pitches that offer swing with the new ball, are good for batting, and might deteriorate over a few days, to assist spin should be prepared. The Kookaburra ball should be used for at least half the season, teaching attritional cricket and at times, reverse swing. The new ball will do things, and after the shine is gone, teams will need to look for a new way to get wickets rather than hand the ball to a 75mph bowler.
Who should play for England then?
Well first, let’s look at what England need. 2-3 good middle order batsmen, a good opener, an all rounder or pacer that can bat, and preferably a few pace bowlers that aren’t right-arm “trundlers” (Craig Overton). Currently, the likes of Lawrence and Crawley do not have great techniques, the latter being suckered into big, booming cover drives every time one is presented outside off stump. I’m still not a fan of Bairstow being in this side, Lawrence also needs a higher level of concentration to succeed at a higher level, but the fact of the matter is that both scored runs against a weak team on flat pitches, and when the pitch presented even slight movement, failed. England’s continuous batting failures has meant that Root has to carry the team’s batting every single time, and has had to take (some) unnecessary blame too.
2 players that have decent averages, and may play for England:
Hameed was dropped after the Ashes, and there are still loud calls for Tom Abell to be in the team. We can see here, overall, that Tom Abell does better against stronger teams than Haseeb Hameed. In my opinion, I think that Tom Abell should be in the Test side - he is only 28, with room for improvement, with his off-stump guard, and can offer an extra seam option if required.
James Vince is definitely in the considering, but the question is, should he be batting higher up the order for Hampshire? Runs are harder to come by at 3/4 rather than 5, and performances there will strengthen his case for a recall.
Alex Lees played decently in his 3 tests - grinded it out like (or even slower than) Dom Sibley. But do they need another Dom Sibley? Sibley is arguably better than Lees, with an average of 29, but takes 88 balls per dismissal (Cook took 95), which is incredibly useful for securing at least a draw (better than a loss), which is at least going somewhere for England. If at least 1 opener faces 100 balls, there is an avg difference of 78 runs in England tests since 2011. He has worked on his off-side game so to not fall into the mid-wicket leg-side trap that India used against him so often.
If England could find a way to nudge Sibley’s strike rate up, without compromising his ability to hang about, they may have an opener for the long term.
Rob Yates and Josh Bohannon primarily are both prime contenders for a spot - both were in the Lions tour, and Bohannon scored a half-century in Australia. Bohannon averages 44 at first-class level, and this is more likely to translate over to int'l cricket. He should definitely be in the reckoning for a middle-order spot. The only other batsman, who could be a backup if needed, would be James Bracey, who scored a 4th innings century against Australia A during the Ashes.
Now for the bowlers. To add variation, David Payne, left-arm pace, has taken 48 wickets at 19 in the CC since 2020. He is on the wrong side of 30, but is effective at taking wickets. Matt Parkinson, a leg spinner, has been dragged around the world by England for 5 test tours and is now a professional bench-sitter. He has 102 wickets at 23.3, and should definitely get at least a game to show his skills. Liam Norwell is a right-arm pacer (hear me out!) but took 49 wickets at 18.3 last year, and 5-58 against Australia A. He is 30, and was a reserve bowler for the WI tour, and is definitely in contention to start for England on June 2. Saqib Mahmood impressed during the West Indies tour, and he has pretty much guaranteed his spot in the squad anyway.
Lastly: England’s forgotten man. How many of you remember Sam Curran? He is only 23, averages 25 with the bat, and has 47 wickets at 35 in 24 games. There is room for improvement, and a lot of potential there.
All these players will be on show in the County Championship, trying to get themselves a ticket to England’s test squad.
Oh, and of course, Broad and Anderson ought to return. You don’t just drop your 2 best bowlers for no reason, and I am confident that they will return as good as ever.
Woakes needs to stay at home every time England go overseas, Crawley and Lawrence’s technique needs working, Bairstow needs consistency, Lees needs to make runs.
To conclude, I do appreciate that this is one of my longer writes. While Root is a very average captain, there aren’t many that can replace him at the moment. County Championship pitches need relooking at by the ECB, and fines, for example, would be a good way to ensure pitches are prepared properly. It is worth remembering that selecting a Test team is a hard task. There are links between first-class and Int’l performance, but it needs to be investigated more. There are players knocking on the door of the test team, but if something is not done, the quality of these players will only decrease, and for a scant England team like this one, that cannot be good.
Whether these players can convert first-class runs into international runs is to be seen. Bring on the summer!
Who do you think should be in the England fast bowling lineup against New Zealand?