After a dream start to the Joe Root Era at Lord's, England came crashing back to earth at Trent Bridge.
They were outplayed from first ball to last by a resurgent South Africa, with the balance and make-up of England's team coming under scrutiny.
On the back of that defeat and with the series on the line, Dave Tickner identifies the men under pressure and runs through some possible replacements before putting his head on the block and naming a side for next week's crucial third Test at The Oval.
The Men Under Pressure
Keaton Jennings
Made 112 in his first Test innings in Mumbai, but only made it out of single-figures twice in seven subsequent innings. Has obvious talent and temperament, but defends with a stiff front leg rather than sniffing out the ball. Is his technique tight enough at the highest level? Has been on the wrong end of some of the best deliveries – and one of the worst decisions – in this series, but yet to find a counter to Vernon Philander’s accuracy or Morne Morkel’s extra bounce as he discovers the vast gulf between county and Test cricket. Far from alone there, and may benefit from a move down the order if not out of the side altogether.
Gary Ballance
Definitely ruled out of The Oval due to a broken finger. It may well be a kindness, because had England felt forced into dropping him they would surely be ending a 27-year-old’s international career, one that once held such rich promise. His recall widely seen as a captain’s pick by new leader Joe Root, but it’s hard to argue that this was merely a case of mates sticking together; has scored buckets of runs in the Championship for Yorkshire this season, averaging over a hundred. Hasn’t exactly failed, reaching 20 in three of his four innings, but nor has he in any way succeeded having failed to pass 34. As ever with Ballance, it’s always going to look awful when he gets out with his moving-backwards-to-play-forwards technique whether he has two or 200 to his name. Injury is unfortunate, but allows everyone to dodge the issue. For a bit.
Liam Dawson
A decent cricketer but no more than that. Outside the England camp, Dawson’s is one of the most perplexing, inexplicable selection decisions in many years. Seems to be rated higher by team-mates than observers, which surely counts for something. Still hard to see how he’s anywhere near good enough to be a second-choice Test spinner, never mind nominal first-choice, while his batting, in theory his stronger suit, doesn’t look like it’s going to propel him any higher than eight in an international batting order. Brutally: just not good enough on the field, no matter how good a team man he may be.
Mark Wood
The jovial imaginary-horse-riding Ashington lad is also clearly a significant presence in the England dressing room and A Good Man To Have Around The Place. But, after proving a gun member of the white-ball attack, he has struggled to replicate that impact on his return to the Test side. His explosive, high-impact bowling action always leaves him vulnerable to the stresses of back-to-back Tests and he is already a fitness doubt for The Oval. Even if available, though, one wicket in four innings leaves him enormously vulnerable. Especially given England’s proud history of responding to batting collapses by dropping a bowler.
READ DAVE TICKNER'S TRENT BRIDGE VERDICT
The Possible Replacements
Mark Stoneman
Opening batsman who has waited patiently while a succession of other contenders have been tried and found wanting at the top of the order. Scored plenty of runs on the difficult, seam-friendly tracks in Durham, passing 1000 first-class runs in four successive seasons, and hasn’t missed a beat since moving to Surrey over the winter. Has 761 Championship runs this time out at 58.53, and only the ludicrous Kumar Sangakkara with six can eclipse Stoneman’s three centuries. Another left-hander, which might not be ideal, but his compact, play-within-the-width-of-your-body technique appears one that should be suited to the final step up in class. At 30 he knows his game, and has surely earned his chance. Could replace either Jennings or Ballance in the team, or come in for Dawson and allow Jennings to drop to three and Ballance to five. The six bowling options are starting to look like a luxury in a side that has suffered some form of collapse in all four innings of the series and has spent the last two years seemingly permanently 50-3.
Tom Westley
Westley’s name is rarely far away from the discussion when batting spots open up, and his consistent form since 2014 backs that up. Would bring a much-needed extra right-hander to the England top-order, and made an unbeaten century for the England Lions against the South Africans before this series (Westley also made a hundred against the touring Australians in 2015) to go with two Championship tons for Essex. Could feasibly bat anywhere between three and seven. Bowls competent offspin, which could be significant should England pick only five bowlers.
Dawid Malan
The suggestion before this series was that the final batting spot came down to a captain v selectors, Ballance v Malan battle. It’s not hard to spot what the selectors like about Malan, a languid, elegant left-hander who marked his long-awaited international debut this summer with 78 off 44 balls in the third T20 against South Africa last month. Can be prone to frustrating, soft dismissals and is yet another southpaw, but has often saved his best for the biggest games or TV cameras. It suggests a man who could thrive on Test cricket, an impression that T20 debut did nothing to alter, and like Westley (28) and Stoneman (30), 29-year-old Malan looks to have the experience and knowledge of his own game that England need right now. Seven Championship wickets at 19s for Middlesex this season with his part-time legspin - the greatest of all the part-time spins. Could even pick him as first-choice spinner and bat him at eight...
Haseeb Hameed
Precocious young Lancashire opener who impressed everyone with his technique, talent and application in India. But a hand injury and rotten start to the season have stalled his progress, and two things appear certain: 1) Hameed will return and have a fine Test career, and 2) that will not be just yet. Made a hundred for Lancashire twos this week, which is welcome given the current absence of Championship cricket, but we've surely not quite yet reached the point where hundreds in the stiffs earn England recalls.
Samit Patel
If England are going to stick with six bowlers, then clearly Dawson can’t be one of them. Time for the selectors to be honest about a player that has been consistently overlooked, or picked then swiftly discarded, because he doesn’t look like someone’s idea of a 21st century cricketer. But the facts are these. Patel is a better batsman than Dawson. Patel is a better spinner than Dawson. If England want a tidy finger-spinner to bat at eight, then it’s crazy to pick Dawson over Patel, who has 744 first-class runs at almost 68 apiece this season, and 16 wickets at 24.56.
Adil Rashid
Another spinner-who-can-bat who is ahead of Dawson in any sane world. Hasn’t cracked Test cricket by any stretch, but still took 30 wickets in the winter and yet is seemingly nowhere near a side that now wants to pick two spinners in home conditions. The argument that Dawson is preferred due to his ability to keep it tight holds no water when he is leaking over four an over. If runs are being scored, then they might as well be coming from a leg-spinner who might conjure something out of nothing.
Mason Crane
The balls-out pick for England if they genuinely do want a ‘first-choice’ spinner to complement Moeen Ali. Crane isn’t a bits-and-pieces all-rounder. He wouldn’t do a job at number eight. He is the most exciting legspinner England has produced in a long, long time. Has been earning plaudits for his white-ball efforts all season, earning an international debut along the way. Achieved the near-impossible last winter by performing so well in Sydney Grade cricket that at just 20 years old he became the first overseas pro to represent New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield since Imran Khan over 30 years earlier. However, this year his red-ball efforts have not matched the white, with only 12 Championship wickets and figures of 0-89 against the Proteas for the Lions.
Jake Ball
Notts seamer is returning to fitness at just the right time to pile the pressure on Mark Wood. Bowled okay in two Tests against Pakistan last summer without getting the rewards he perhaps deserved, but has become a regular in the one-day squad. Fourteen wickets at 24 apiece in four Championship appearances for Notts is enough to keep him in the frame.
Toby Roland-Jones
Uber-consistent Middlesex beanpole may have leapfrogged Ball in the pecking order since last summer, and has been the unused member of England’s squad for the first two Tests. Gets bounce from a repeatable action and looking further ahead could be a very useful option for Australia. England may have missed a trick not giving him a run on his home track in the first Test of the summer, but back in London the Middlesex man looks primed for a deserved chance. No seamer has more top-flight Championship wickets than TRJ since the start of last season. More than useful number-nine or 10 batsman as well, with a first-class hundred to his name and an average around 22.
VERDICT
The one thing England cannot do is nothing. Yes, they won the first Test handsomely but right now that result is the blip; they’ve lost six of the last eight, and seven of the last 10.
Six bowlers looks an unnecessary luxury when the batting is so fragile, no matter how much they wish to avoid calling Moeen Ali the number-one spinner. Dawson has to go; neither he nor the team are good enough to continue like this.
There will be an understandable reluctance to jettison Jennings, but it seems prudent to at least move him slightly out of the firing line. Stoneman, thoroughly deserving of his chance, will be the latest man to attempt to fill the Andrew Strauss-shaped void alongside Alastair Cook at the top of the order.
Westley just gets the nod over Malan – if nothing else because it gets another right-hander in there.
Form and fitness count against Wood, and I’m narrowly favouring Roland-Jones to replace him. He’s been in the squad this season, looks a good option for the challenges ahead over the coming months, and England are likely to want to maintain as much continuity as possible when making enforced changes elsewhere.
That leaves us with a team in which Bairstow, Stokes and Moeen are probably all one position too low at six, seven and eight. But better that than having players one position too high and, frankly, after three successive scores below 250 and a first innings at Lord’s that was in dire straits before Root rode to the rescue, England’s batting needs all the depth it can get.
Our England team for third Test
Alastair Cook
Mark Stoneman
Keaton Jennings
Joe Root (capt)
Tom Westley
Jonny Bairstow (wk)
Ben Stokes
Moeen Ali
Toby Roland-Jones
Stuart Broad
James Anderson
