England 2 India 2, probably a fair result? This series is already being hailed as the best since 2005 and I won’t argue with that, it has been brilliant with two top teams trading blows for six weeks. Yes I’d say the best since 2005 but it wasn’t better, one thing it lacked was a world class spinner and the stakes could never be so high. But for fine margins India could have been 3-0 up after Lords and the statistics imply India were the better team. Despite this I feel this is a series England should have won and would have done so had they planned better and got a few more of the basics right.
Dissection
Off the field – The selection of the top seven can’t be questioned,
even if it should be. To be fair all of
the players chosen justified their selection at the very least and most had
good a summer. I do think we got it
wrong in choosing the bowlers or more accurately the brains trust got the
rotation wrong. If someone had been
rested for Manchester, we could have done without Overton at the Oval. Also choosing Dawson when Bashir was injured
seemed a good fit at the time but in hindsight Rehan Ahmed would have been a
more BB selection. He could be our next
great all rounder. One feature of the
early years of the BB era was selection, England consistently selected the best
XI. For the last couple of years I don’t
think they’ve got it quite right, starting with Bairstow in 2023. To be fair I don’t think England have been
able to select their best XI this summer but the same could be said of India.
What was going on with the pitches this year?
The first four suited India’s bowlers better than it did our own, did we
try to beat them at their own game or was there no communication with the
groundsmen? We know bloody well that
Australia would never serve up pitches that would suit the opposition.
Then there’s the bloody toss; We all know England like to chase but there will
always be times when to do anything other than bat first is just fucking stupid
or even arrogant.
On the field - England went into the summer telling us BB had been refined and
they would change the pace when necessary. This was the case at Lords and we
sneaked over the line but there was little sign of this at the Oval where we
gave away too many poor wickets.
Injuries affected both sides but England suffered most, Stokes is irreplaceable
as a player and captain but should he manage himself better? I can’t believe England would have allowed India
to score as many runs in the second innings at the Oval if Stokes had been on
the field. Pope may develop into a
decent Test batsman but, like Root, he isn’t a captain. In the same match, if Woakes had not fell
awkwardly, England would have won comfortably.
Individually England’s players mostly done okay, Stokes
showed super human all round brilliance again, then broke down once more. There were times when for me his captaincy
wasn’t at his usual standard, he allowed the game to drift more than I’ve seen
before but on the whole he is still a damn good skipper.
As a unit it is difficult to fault the batsmen; Root, Brook,
Duckett and Smith all scored big runs, the latter kept well throughout but his
batting tailed off a bit. Unfortunately
Crawley and Pope showed once again that they are not quite good enough when it
comes to Test Cricket. As much as I may
like them, their best days just don’t come around often enough. I have no doubt they’ll both start the first
Test this winter but that tour should be the end of the road if they don’t
perform.
That Stokes was our best bowler says a great deal about him
as a character but is also possibly a disappointing reflection on the rest of
the attack? No, to be fair we were unable to select anything like our best
attack at any time. Josh Tongue done
very well in his three matches as did Jofra in his two and Atkinson in
one. Carse tried hard but everyone would
have expected more from him in the wickets column. The same could be said of poor Woakes but I
suspect injury robbed him of his best return of the series because the Oval would
have suited him. Finally I have to
acknowledge that two of our players should really be playing for West indies
and at least one other has a Saffer twang.
India 2025 are the most impressive touring team I’ve seen in
many years with strength in every position and almost the whole squad has
performed well this summer. Rahul, Gill
and Jadeja in particular have really impressed me but for me their man of the
series was Siraj, this may be his finest hour and he deserves his success. Bumrah is an excellent cricketer but I’m not
having Michael bloody Vaughan’s ridiculous assertion that he’s the best seamer
of all time, he’s not even top ten. I
think stamina and fitness must be considered, Malcolm Marshall never needed to
miss a match for a rest and you could reasonably argue that Jasprit was out
performed by Josh Tongue who also missed two tests. Anyway, the series ended with me having
maximum respect for this Indian team who are going to be difficult to beat home
or away in the years to come.
Looking forward…
We have the small matter of an Ashes series down under coming up this winter
and I can’t stop myself speculating about who will be on the plane. Obviously if fit Ben Stokes will captain and
bat at six. Whatever reservations I may
have about Crawley and to a lesser extent Pope, I think our first choice top
seven is fixed. Those two will be joined
by the men who played all summer; Ducket, Root, Brook and Smith with Bethell as
reserve. This summer has shown exactly
what our seam bowling reserves are like; Atkinson, Archer, Wood, Tongue and
Carse are all safe picks if fit. We’ll
need a few spinners and I’d expect Bashir to be picked and I’d take Jack leach
ahead of Dawson. I’m going with a
seventeen man squad so that leaves two places.
Rehan Ahmed has already been selected for his leg spin and his county
form has been good with bat and ball.
There will always be a question mark over Stokes’ fitness, we may need
another all rounder. That leaves one
space, Pope can keep if necessary means no need for a wickie so I think I’d go
for another bowler. Even if Woakes is
fit I might not have selected him but changes down under (more to follow…) might
make it his time? If he’s not fit then…
well it won’t be Ollie Robinson so if not Woakes then maybe Overton’s height
and heart say it his way.
Strangely it seems the nature of Australian wickets has
changed drastically in recent seasons, they’ve gone from true, fast scoring batting
wickets to mean, green seamers almost over night. The cynic in me (who me?) would conclude the
colonials started planning for this series very early and they feel their best
strength is their bowling?
Finally, is it going too far to say this Ashes series is
make or break for some of the ever presents of the BB era? Cricket is a game obsessed with statistics
and most of these stats are highly relevant.
Those stats say that Crawley and Pope are not good enough at test level,
if they don’t succeed in Australia then get the whetstone out. I hate to say this but for how long can
Stokes continue? I think he has an eye
on the WTC final but if things go bad down under will he still find motivation
to keep going through the pain barrier?
Then there’s ‘Baz’ himself. For
all the obvious good he’s done for the team I’ve never really taken to him. It
has to be said, as coach and as a player he’s won nothing of note so far. I’ve previously argued that Manchester
weather aside, off field decisions cost us the Ashes in 2023 and, well as I’ve
said above, the same could be said for this summer series.
Squad – Stokes, Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Smith,
Bethall, Archer, Atkinson, Wood, Carse, Tongue, Bashir, Leach, Ahmed,
Woakes/Overton
