Complex decisions await Bayliss and co for this forthcoming
test series as they look to weigh the short term interests of winning the
series against consistency of selection and not damaging the confidence of
players. It is a delicate balancing situation that will need all the management’s
expertise.
Openers spot – Moeen seems favourite. What impact opening
will have on Moeen’s bowling is up for debate and vice versa. His spin bowling
is likely to be a key factor in the series. Should he really be taking up a
tough new role at the top of the order to go with being the frontline spinner?
Will he be able to go out to bat after bowling 40 overs and be fresh. If he
gets in does he have the quality to go on and make a big score? I’d prefer
either of Hales or Bell over Moeen. Hales may have his technical failings but
he is used to opening; will be able to concentrate solely on opening; and if
(and it’s a big if) he got in he could make a defining contribution. Bell is
the third option and as a poor starter against spin but competent against pace
I feel like he could certainly benefit from moving up to opener. As a middle
order bat in these conditions Bell barely warrants selection. Selecting Moeen
only prolongs the time before they need to make a big decision about the opener
– because he certainly won’t be opening in SA.
James Taylor – In the conditions that the series will be
played in, for me, he is the third most likely of the batsmen to make key
contributions with the bat (behind Cook and Root). His short stature is well suited to the low bouncing wickets of the UAE and seems very comfortable playing spin. He also is very capable of batting long periods of time which I'm not sure the rest of the tea yet long term I don’t see
him as good enough for test cricket and I’m not sure I’d even taken him to SA
for the next test tour even if he succeeded
in this tour.
Jonny Bairstow – Related to the Taylor issue. I’d back
Taylor to comfortably outscore Bairstow in these conditions but Bairstow has
only just come back into the team, on the back of brilliant domestic
performances, and has done fairly well. Is
it fair to Bairstow to drop him again and what impact do the continual
droppings and selections have on his career and mind?
Ben Stokes – Quite how useful Stokes will be on this tour is
up for debate. Would he make the best team in these conditions? Maybe not. His
place is complicated by the lack of quality spinner. If they play 6 bowlers as
looks likely at this point (Stokes, Ali, Rashid, Wood, Broad, Anderson) the batting
is vulnerable with only 4 frontline bats (Cook, Root, Bell, Bairstow/Taylor)
and will all the bowling be utilized? Select 5 bowlers ( Stokes, Ali, Rashid,
Broad, Anderson) and there is a lot of pressure on Broad and Anderson as none of Ali, Rashid or Stokes
are proven test class bowlers. Stokes
has struggled batting in Asian conditions before especially against spin
playing with hard hands and his bowling is somewhat lacking in guile. Taylor or
Bairstow are better bats than him in these conditions, Wood, Finn or Plunkett
are better bowlers. Would the balance of the side be better off if he wasn’t
there? Cook, Bell, Root, Bairstow,
Taylor, Ali, Buttler, Rashid, Wood, Broad, Anderson looks a better balanced
team that any team with Stokes in it. But again long term what impact will this
have on Stokes and given that he is a big part of the future of English cricket
would they be better of investing in him by selecting him now (even if he
fails) so that he is better for the experience for the inevitable series’ he
will play in the future.
Jos Buttler - His
batting especially against spin is average and he seems unaware of how best he
should play as a batsman. I always had my doubts and he’s going through a tough
time. Thankfully for him his wicketkeeping for the most part was very good last
summer (especially in comparison to Bairstow who made a few mistakes in high
profile games). Bairstow for me is comfortably the better first class bat. He’s
proved his pedigree in first class cricket and scored a lot of runs and has played
some quality innings in test cricket. Buttler never really put it together in
first class cricket and has fluffed up his stats somewhat at test level with
easy runs against poor opposition. If it wasn’t for Bairstow being injured at
the midpoint of the 2014 season it could well have been Bairstow as the first choice
keeper rather than Buttler. The issue here is wicketkeeping. Do they trust
Bairstow’s keeping enough to go with him as keeper? If they do I think they
should make a change. Playing Bairstow as keeper would free up James Taylor to
play and strengthen the team.
So issues aplenty.
The team I’d go for if this was a test series in isolation.
Cook, Bell, Root, Taylor, Bairstow, Ali, Rashid, Buttler,
Wood, Broad, Anderson
But long term planning and continuity of selection must come
into the thoughts of the selectors. I will be interested to see what they come
up with. I will though be disappointed if (and it seems likely) Taylor does not
play. Panesar played last time as a second spinner due to conditions, why this
time can we not select a batsman specifically because of the conditions? Maybe like last time in
the UAE (and India) they’ll wait until the second test to go horse for courses.
