In the 6 away test matches in 2021 England used 18 players – but won the first 3. Then England have made 5 changes since the last India test match. What on Earth is going on?
Personally I think Ed Smith was hard done to. He picked the squad that won the World Cup. He reacted to what Chris Silverwood and Joe Root wanted, as we have seen this focus on top order runs since Trevor Bayliss moved aside. I dislike the idea of the ‘supremo figurehead’ which we now have in the form of Silverwood. I think back to Ray Illingworth in the mid 90s and some of the, frankly, terrible teams that were selected during the period when he was manager and chairman of selectors. It was just too much of a conflict of interests.
My concern with Smith was always that he over complicated selection. Perhaps a little too much focus on ‘horses for courses’. Perhaps Smith was guilty of putting ‘too many eggs in one basket’. For example, the day night test match in India when England ended up with 4 fast bowlers.
Maybe Smith was not the source of this chaos. Because we now have the latest mixture of chaos, and Smith was nowhere to be seen – he has been sent packing. We have a test match at Lords, in the middle of the hottest weather we have seen for a little while. It is expected to continue to be pretty decent weather. I would not consider Lords to be a pace bowler’s paradise. Yet we have no spin bowler, and Root bowling 11 overs. It made me think of when England dropped Graeme Swann at Headingly and Kevin Pietersen took 4 wickets.
I do understand that things are rather complicated. Firstly we have Covid and the bubbles. I do recognise the importance of mental health, and so the need to rest and rotate players is clear.
Then we have the dreaded IPL, which sadly has had to be put on hold. That means England are missing Stokes and Buttler for sure. Chris Woakes, Sam Curran and Moeen Ali might also have been in contention for this test match.
Then we have injuries. It is all a bit odd with Jofra Archer, but he clearly has an elbow problem which has to be managed. The fish tank incident is a bit of a ‘freak’ Then Ben Foakes is injured – Foakes must be one of the most unlucky England players of recent times.
Out in the future, the challenge of Australia later in the year. The 5 Ashes tests all happen within 6 weeks and irrespective of whatever disasters are occurring on tour (we have had a few Ashes tour disasters) England will not get 11 players through the 5 games. They absolutely need to build a squad, and the idea that you just pick your absolute best team is not simple.
However, the combinations of players need to be logical. At times this year, it has been just silly. Moeen’s single test match and Bairstow missing the 2 middle test matches seem the maddest, along with the battery of fast bowlers in the day night game. Some of the ideas of the last year have made sense – such as the rotation of Broad and Anderson, but we seem to have thrown that system away.
At this rate, England are going to end up in Australia trying to combine a set of players in a team that has not played together since many months before. It is turning into a shambles.
Cricketed 