Remedying the England selection headaches

As we enter the middle of April, arguably one of the most interesting periods in the English cricketing calendar has already begun. This brief window, before Test cricket on English shores, starts in earnest, is when fringe players can either stake or bolster their claims to be involved in the England Test set-up in time for the summer’s opener at Headingley. What’s more, despite a momentous series victory against South Africa, there is still a great deal to play for when it comes to potential inclusion.

So let’s take it from the top. It’s four years since the retirement of Andrew Strauss and England still doesn’t appear to have uncovered his heir apparent. Eight have tried and all have, to some extent, failed. Moreover, the situation hasn’t yet improved since Alastair Cook’s barren run came to an end last summer.

At the time of writing, ghosts of openers past are haunting the County Championship as Sam Robson and Adam Lyth both hit tons in their first matches, but after just one away series against one of the best sides in the world, it would be harsh to drop Alex Hales from the Test team. Harsh, but not out of character — no opener has earned more than 9 consecutive caps since Strauss vacated the spot at the top of the order. In any case, my personal inclination is that, despite averaging just over 17 in South Africa, Hales deserves another series under the microscope, and thus should get the nod on 19th of May. Chopping and changing is getting England nowhere, so it may be time to give consistency a try.

Slightly further down the order, there are even more potential gaps. It seems rather crass to be even writing about prospective middle-order replacements for James Taylor after his heartbreaking retirement, but it’s certainly something that the selectors will be keeping a close eye on. Nevertheless, his spot at five is up for grabs and, with Nick Compton failing to set the world alight in South Africa in his second spell at Test level, his grip on the number three position is also under threat.

The selectors could opt for an establishment figure — new Warwickshire captain and England stalwart Ian Bell, for instance, who began the season in perfect fashion with a fluent 174 for his county. They could also, however, choose to gamble on the form of Gary Ballance, who has shown his class previously for the Test side with four hundreds and an average just shy of 48. If England fancied casting their net even further, they could do a lot worse than promoting Lions captain James Vince into the senior side’s middle-order. The classy Michael Vaughan-alike has already impressed in T20I cricket, but many may have reservations about his ability to step up.

Not me, though. I think it would make a lot more sense to go for youthful exuberance. It’s worked very well in white ball cricket, plus it’s not as if Bell would be a mere placeholder for an injured established batsman — reinstating him this summer would feel a bit like a sideways step as far as the team’s future is concerned. Undeniably a great batsman, but Bell’s form never really extends further than over the course of a series — only twice has he averaged over 50 in a calendar year of Test cricket: 2010 and 2011. His days, it seems, are numbered at international level and it appears to be a good time to usher in a new wave of talent while the going is good.

While Jonny Bairstow is set to resume wicketkeeping duties, there is still one contested place below him in the batting order to complete England’s bowling quintet. James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali require another bowler to complete the attack, and this has been a complex decision of late.

Recent incumbent Chris Woakes hasn’t done an awful lot to write home about with bat or ball but again may benefit from home surroundings. Besides him, the selectors will be tracking the fitness of injury-plagued pair Steven Finn and Mark Wood. The former can boast excellent numbers in the Test arena as well as hugely successful Ashes series while the latter was impressive against both New Zealand and Australia last summer. Both were ruled out of any cricket over the winter, but they have nevertheless proven themselves able to offer unique threats. While they both supply genuine pace to the attack, Wood, with his boundless energy and skiddy delivery, is a contrast to Finn, whose line and length has improved exponentially since his humiliating Ashes tour of 2013-2014.

Were England to select an auxiliary spinner, it’d probably be Adil Rashid. The Yorkshireman is a superb white ball player for his country, but he looked raw in the Tests against Pakistan and despite taking a five-for in his first match, didn’t quite look ready for that level yet. He does, to his credit, offer much more with the bat than both the aforementioned seamers which would come in handy if a new-look middle order failed to gel.

While precisely who England opt for will remain a mystery until the announcement of the squad, one thing is clear: yet again, England have an arguably unmatched strength in depth and the selection headaches that the selectors are suffering are very pleasant ones to have indeed.

Oh, and for what it’s worth, here’s my team for Headingley:

Alastair Cook (C), Alex Hales, Garry Ballance, Joe Root, James Vince, Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad, Steve Finn, James Anderson.

Written by Matt Cowdock

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal views and opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not necessarily reflect the views of CricTracker and CT does not assume any implied responsibility or liability for the same.