Tested?

The Test match summer came to an end a couple of weeks ago while I was otherwise engaged.  Having already won the series England were arrogant in selecting an unknown fast bowler then managed to produce possibly the worst home performance in years.  The batting was mostly awful, to lose 17 wickets for about 250 runs is simply not good enough and will mean defeat at almost any time.  When given the chance to be heroes and bowl England to victory our new attack wasn’t up to the task.  The captaincy throughout was naive at best and at worst, that word again – arrogant.  Fair play to Sri Lanka for getting the win but they should never have been allowed to get into the position to do so.  When England are on form they are the best team in the world but when they are bad they're infuriating.

Of the ‘new’ batsmen given a run this summer Lawrence didn’t take his chance and may never get another but Jamie Smith absolutely did and looks as if he could be something special.  His wicket keeping was tidy enough to make me stop banging on about Foakes, maybe.  With the bowlers Gus Atkinson looked the part right up until the final innings, Bashir done well enough and the jury remains out on Hull, I thought Potts was unlucky to be left out for the last match.

Next month we have a tour to Pakistan with three test matches and a sensible squad which has become normal in the Stokes era and is noticeable because this wasn’t often the case under Joe Root.  We’ll have the same top six that did so well last time, half a dozen seamers to choose from and three decent spinners but can we win 3-0 again?  Any win away against Pakistan is a seriously good result, as long as England don’t play anywhere near as badly as they did in the last match we have a chance and if the captain is fit we might just pull it off.