England 391 (Root 180*, Siraj 4/94) lead India 364 (Rahul 129, Anderson 5/62) by 27 runs

As an England supporter I have to say something about Joe Root. At the end of England’s first innings Root was left standing again on 180 not out. I have said for several years that he is without doubt Engand’s best ODI batter of all time. Now Root must be one of England’s very best test batters of all time as well.

At one point Root was criticised because he kept getting out in the 60s. I was one of those people being critical. Then a couple of years ago he seemed to be turning into a player that got massive scores or nothing (this also happened to Sir Alistair Cook).

In the last couple of years I became worried that Root had lost some of his ‘busy-ness’ at the crease in search of the big scores. During the home series in 2020 Root struggled, but it was a unique year of course.

In 2021 Root has managed to combine that ‘busy’ player who scored all those 60s with a ruthlessness that is leading to big scores. He just keeps going and going. In the first 3 test matches of the year against Sri Lanka and India he lifted himself to a new level with those massive scores.

Against New Zealand Root seemed to be weighed down by the woes of the world but in this India series has added that cheerfulness to his batting. Root is always grinning. When he plays and misses he has this little grin that must drive bowlers mad. Even in those slightly heated conversations he will grin away.

I never played cricket at any level, but I am sure Root’s secret is technical. He has the most wonderful technique. Watching the Day 2 highlights I could not help but contrast Root and Rory Burns. Burns never stops moving, though ends up up in the right sort of place (why does he not start in the right place?). Root just stands still, but perfectly lined up.

In this innings at Lords Root went past Graham Gooch and into second place in England’s list of leading run scorers, behind only Cook. It took me back to the early 1990s when I first started to get into cricket. At that time, England had one truly world class batter in Gooch. When Gooch was in, England were in the game. In 2021 it feels like Root is filling that Graham Gooch role.

That early 90s England team was not a bad one but not a brilliant one either, but Gooch did actually have some help with Mike Athterton, Alec Stewart and Robin Smith in the team (that England could have those 4 and still be a ‘middle of the road team’ says a lot about the quality of bowling in the 90s).

In 2021 it feels like Root needs some help. He cannot continue to carry the entire batting unit on his own. Atherton and Stewart talk so often about how lucky they were to open the batting with Gooch. I am sure they learned more from standing opposite Gooch than they ever learned in the nets.

It is high time that the likes of Burns, Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley and Jos Buttler learn a bit more from Root. He is an inspiration both on and off the field (he sets a wonderful example) and, with Jimmy Anderson, is just about keeping England in this series. Somebody help him please!

What could I be talking about? It could be that the Test Match between England and India women is being played on a USED PITCH, which is bad enough. But no, I am talking about the England men.

I am usually open minded. I try not to be over critical, I try to be fair. But sometimes, it is just too much. I did not see the game live but on Sunday afternoon I was driving up the M40 with TMS on. From an England perspective, nothing good happened from the moment England started batting on Day 3, shortly before tea. It was rubbish.

Let’s be fair, New Zealand are a good team. From what I can see, they have a great team ‘thing’ going. Sometimes it is hard to understand what makes a successful team, and in the case of New Zealand, we could attribute many factors to the success they have had in recent years. However, much of it must come from Kane Williamson, even though he was not involved in the second test match. Who can forget his reaction on being told he was ‘man of the tournament’ at the end of the World Cup? “Who, me?”. But really, if England had showed the slightest interest in taking some catches, New Zealand would not have had a first innings lead.

Having already mentioned the England women, they have shown England the way. We talk about England players not getting the preparation for test matches as they play so much T20. Well, the ladies have not played a test match at all for 2 years. Captain Heather Knight faced more balls yesterday than the England men top six in the second innings.

After the Edgbaston shambles, and it was a shambles, it is hard to know where to start. I think we have to look at 2 things – Selection and Technique. In both cases, a simple truth exists. It is OK to do unconventional things when it works, but when it goes wrong, do not be surprised if people complain.

Selection

When it comes to selection, it was fine in Sri Lanka when Ben Stokes was missing – because England won. By the time of the 4th test match it was not acceptable because England had started to loose. Resting senior players is no longer an option when you have lost 4 of the last 5 games played. Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali, Sam Curran, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood? Surely they all have to be made available for the India series if fit.

The exception is Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson. One aspect of the rotation policy that made 100% sense was to rotate these two greats of the game. It worked in the Covid Summer of 2020 and in Sri Lanka. But it seems to have been ‘binned’ since then, and England have started loosing. It make no sense. Rotation is not a crazy idea, but you have to be consistent with it. For me, England should look at it like this:

• Number 8: Woakes or Curran, or Dom Bess if 2 spinners needed and Stokes is fit to bowl
• Number 9: Archer or Wood
• Number 10: Broad or Anderson (I would not play Broad and Anderson or Woakes and Anderson together)
• Number 11: Jack Leach (you do not need to rotate the spinner)

Olly Stone, Ollie Robinson, Craig Overton all fit around that, probably at 8.

And of course, I have picked a spinner and considered picking 2 spinners. The idea that you do not pick 2 spinners in India is stupid. The idea that you do not pick 1 spinner at Lords is pretty dubious. The idea that you pick 4 fast bowlers and then win the toss and bat? I just do not know what you say about that, or certainly, I cannot find words that would be acceptable to share. Bring back Ed Smith!

The worst thing is that England have become arrogant. They think they are so good they can play half a team. Well – they are not. How many games will it take them to realise it?

Technique

Nasser Hussain has developed a real skill for ‘nailing it’. He did it again on Sky Sports. The England batters are saying that they are right, and everyone else is wrong. Hussain is right and it will not do. However, Sir Alistair Cook was keen to remind us that these techniques have got these players into the England team, but agreed with Michael Vaughan who says it is all about mindset. Jeremy Coney was delighted to see the New Zealand win, but kept asking how this type of failure can occur when you have the resources of English Cricket. Certainly nobody is wrong.

For me, the greatest failure comes from Rory Burns, who would benefit from looking at the bowler. Burns played loose drives in both innings. If Burns converts his 80 into 150, England dominate the game. After his innings at Lords though, Burns had some credit in the bank. But to play that shot in the second innings just before tea, exposing Zak Crawley who is woefully out of form? By the way, Crawley has a proper technique, but is just loose outside off stump. He needs to tighten up.

Technique is not the big deal. Cook had a strange old technique, and Graham Gooch was ahead of his time when he picked his bat up. But they made more than enough runs to make up for it. They did that by having a trusted defensive technique. They did it all over the world. They won games, they saved games. But they knew when to keep the ball out. On Sunday, England just needed to get through a few hours. They didn’t.

Time to wake up. England are loosing test matches and without some improvement, we will be back to the 90s, and Chris Silverwood will be the new Ray Illingworth.

Second LV= Insurance Test, Edgbaston (day one of five) – England 258-7: Burns 81, Lawrence 67*

For several years England looked for an opener that did not exist. The selectors finally gave up on trying to turn Alex Hales or Jason Roy into David Warner, and started picking genuine openers. Guess what? The ‘fans’ still moan.

I understand that the pundits have a job, and that is to evaluate what they see. To highlight poor decision making or poor technique is part of that job. But the pundits also bemoaned the lack of ‘gritty’ openers since Sir Andrew Strauss stepped down. So I find it quite galling when they criticise the England openers for doing what we have have asked them to do – which is to ‘dig in’, Mike Atherton style. I have been really disappointed at the criticism by David Lloyd (on Sky) of Dom Sibley at Lords and Edgebaston. We cannot criticise Roy for playing loose drives then criticise Sibley for doing the opposite. What is it that we actually want?

As for the fans, well they can say what they like, it is a free county after all. Players claim to not be influenced by the media, but that was rubbish years ago and is rubbish now. Some players, such as Sir Alistair Cook, avoid social media entirely, but even Cook knew when social media was calling for him to be sacked as captain. The noise gets through eventually. And that is why I am sad to see criticism of England for doing the opposite of what we used to criticise them for doing. The problem is that the players get to the point where they do not know whether to ‘stick or twist’.

The other problem is that we were rather spoiled, pretty much from 2004 through to 2013, perhaps to 2015. Look at the quality of batting line up England could put out through that period. Consider Marcus Trescothick, Michael Vaughan, Mark Butcher, Nasser Hussain, Graham Thorpe, Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Ian Bell…

In 2021, England just do not have that level of technique and temperament available. Instead, England have to pick the best options available and give them time to grow. Having picked Sibley, we know we are going to get someone who will bat and bat, whatever his strike rate. Root correctly chose to back his players at Lords, rather than pretend they were another set of players that could have chased 270 on the last day. All of the pundits seem to have chosen the same pretence. In my view, that Lords chase was never even worthy of consideration. People compared it to England at The Oval in 2013, but the situation bares no comparrison. In that game, The Ashes were safe (though not for long once the next series began).

On Day 1 at Edgebaston, the problems faced by England batsmen was when they made poor decisions, with the exception of Sibley who got a good ball. Zak Crawley was really done by the ball before he was out, but he looks all out of sorts. Root was a bit loose and Rory Burns aimed a big drive when he had another hundred ready for the taking. Ollie Pope was out on the cut shot having edged a cut earlier in his innings and James Bracey played an awful shot. Bracey is not ready yet, but lots of players were not ready when they started at test match cricket, including Graham Gooch who did ok in the end. We are not going to criticise Olly Stone for his 20, but he only got out when he aimed for a big sweep. Even Dan Lawrence was played some risky shots, but perhaps he had no choice, and by the time Day 1 finished he was looking very good, though he does get in odd positions at times.

It seems to me England are confused in approach. Sibley and Burns have curious methods, but they have methods they have developed. Crawley has a method that worked against Pakistan but we have not seen since – I think he is too loose too early. He needs to go back to Kent and work with Rob Key to tighten up. Pope and Lawrence both look like ‘cats on hot tin roofs’ when they start. If they could start better, they would probably benefit a great deal. Lawrence would do well to develop a clear method tomorrow morning – if he gets 3 figures England will go past 300 almost certainly.

England need to pick the players and given them clear instructions of the role they fill. The strength of the 2010 team was clarity of role. Having given that clarity of role, we all need to respect that and allow the players time to make the role work. Yes, players need to adapt to situations – but let’s adapt to not loosing games first. These players are the best available, let’s back them for once.

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.

It already seems a lifetime ago that the Cricket Season ended. I wrote about England’s One Day players a while ago and never got around to publishing the article. So the below thoughts were largely written in late September.

As we have been saying all summer, things were different in the Summer of 2020. We make allowances for that but I think England will be slightly disappointed when it comes to One Day Cricket.

Yes, England were in a ‘bubble’ for weeks. And yes, because players could not move between bubbles easily, England fielded second string One Day teams for much of the summer. Eoin Morgan has also spoken about the decision that was taken to give priority to mental health of the team – especially when in a bubble. This is absolutely right, and vital.

A further challenge is the one of not knowing what to plan for. England knew when World Cups would be, and planned to get another run from most of the World Cup winning players. Now it is likely the team will change greatly before the next round of world cups. And who knows when the team will next play?

But England lost a game to Ireland and lost a series to Australia. For me, this has to be considered a failure.

Ireland are allowed to play well and Australia are a good team. The ‘bubble’ slightly worked against England for the Australia One Day Series – as players were jaded by the bubble environment. Whereas Australia were just getting going by the time of the One Day Series.

I thought I would look at a few of the key players. The alliteration seemed like fun…for a while….

Absent Alex Alex Hales messed up and obviously played no games this year for England. His decision to only play one day cricket looks a poor one. But I am not sure England can continue to overlook Hales. In the lead up to 2019, one thing that worked for England was having options at the top. When Jason Roy had a poor run of form, Jonny Bairstow came in. Roy actually only got back in because of the Bristol incident.

In the World Cup, Hales would have been a far more effective replacement for Roy than James Vince. Eoin Morgan needs to move on now – he is perhaps getting a bit carried away with himself in his continued rejection of Hales. Hales is too good not to even get a look in. And I want Hales to keep Roy and Bairstow honest. Competition for places is actually a good thing.

Amazing Adil or Ropey Rashid? Adil Rashid is 32. He is a spinner, but clearly still struggling with the impact of a shoulder injury. At times this summer he looked like the bowler that has had such an impact on England’s One Day Cricket over the last 5 years. But at times, particularly against Australia, he looked devoid of ideas and went around the park. England have to assess how well they can manage Rashid and if they can get him through to 2023.

(Potentially) Brilliant Banton How do England get Banton in? We have not yet seen the best of Tom Banton, but he played one good innings against Pakistan. England may need to be ruthless as I think he has to be in the squad for the T20 World Cups.

It reminds me a bit of the England test match team in 2004 when Andrew Strauss came on the scene. England knew they had to get Strauss in so some good experienced players would have to make way. It may be the case here that some good players have to make way for Banton.

Busy Buttler. Brilliant Buttler. Jos Buttler is an incredible cricketer. Not everyone agrees about his place in the Test Match Team (though for me he is guaranteed a place). In the One Day arena, he is another level. I do not think I would use him as a T20 opener, but if that is England’s plan, they need to commit to that and stick to it. But they also need to look after him – I think the final few games against Australia were a bit too much for Buttler after playing in all the test matches. He is not going to play every game so maybe he could rotate with Banton in T20. But for the World Cups – he will be huge. Future England Captain?

Competitive Currans I love the attitude of the Curran brothers. I think they will be regular England players, though perhaps not playing every game. Tom Curran could be the answer to the Liam Plunkett role. Sam gives the left arm option – but I would pick David Willy ahead of Sam Curran.

NB – The ongoing IPL perhaps has changed this! Sam Curran seems to have performed well.

Just Jofra I do not know why, but Jofra Archer bowls better in One Day cricket. It is often said that Eoin Morgan lets the bowlers do what they want. I am not so sure. Perhaps he does not micro manage, but I suspect he is very clear about roles and responsibilities. That clarity of role made it easy to decide who would bowl the super over in the World Cup Final. Perhaps it is easier for Archer to bowl at his best for 10 overs. Perhaps he has more One Day experience. But I think for whatever reason, Morgan knows how to manage Archer. Joe Root needs to have a chat with Morgan.

Lost Liam Something odd has gone on with Liam Plunkett. The way he has been unceremoniously dropped is very strange. Looking back to that World Cup win, they seemed to be pushing Plunkett out – but they found they needed him more than they needed Moeen Ali. Plunkett was amazing for England in the middle of the innings. They really missed him against Australia.

Missing Mo Speaking of Moeen Ali, something has gone really wrong. Everytime he comes to the crease, you have no idea what might happen. In some ways this is a good thing, and Moeen did play one amazing T20 innings this summer. But at times you need to play to the situation. He gets out playing loose shots too often. Have England messed him around? Perhaps. Give him a clear role going forward and see what happens. Or move on.

Mighty Malan Again, Eoin Morgan has some issue with Dawid Malan – his comments in New Zealand about Malan not taking that extra run was just weird. I am not sure what he was driving at with that – because normally a T20 hundred guarantees your place in the team.

In 2006, Duncan Fletcher played an unfit Ashley Giles in the Ashes. In the grand scheme, it probably made no difference. But Giles dropped the Adelaide Test Match when he let Ricky Ponting off the hook. I always felt that Fletcher was clinging onto the team he had built for 2005 – and that caused some team selection mistakes. Monty Panesar should have played (though he probably would have dropped the same catch!).

I hope that Eoin Morgan will not make Fletcher’s error. The team he built for 2019 will never play again. Malan is now one of England’s best T20 players.

More Morgan I mean, I have been a bit critical of Eoin Morgan in this article. But he is still a fantastic captain. His batting also is remarkable. He does not seem to need practice. He seems to be hitting the ball harder than ever, and the reverse sweeps are back too. When you consider the impact he has had and his style of play even in the bad days of English One Day Cricket, he is the best One Day player England have had.

Rusty Root, Rusty Roy Jason Roy is not like Morgan. He gets rusty – like during the Champions Trophy. This summer he was injured and it took time to get going. At the end of the summer, he clicked for Surrey. England have to accept that Roy is a player who has times out of form. But when in form he makes up for it.

Joe Root is a bit of a worry. All summer, something did not quite look right when batting. He normally looks so natural at the crease. This year, he looked out of sync with bat in hand. He needs to step away and rediscover his touch. At his best, he scores runs so naturally. He is also vital for England at number 3 in the 50 over game. For me, he should leave the T20 format now – though he was crucial in 2016. He just needs some time away. Hopefully linking up with Peter Moores for The Hundred will help – though I would sooner he left that for the youngsters.

Simply Stokes Against Australia, the absence of Stokes was shown. England could not quite get the batting order right, and with Ali failing to contribute looked light on batting. Stokes of course delivers the over all package, even if he lost the ability to field in 2020. But we all know that his biggest impact is with the bat. Those consistent scores around 70 (against South Africa, Sri Lanka, India and in the Final come to mind) in the World Cup last year were vital.

Against Australia we were not looking at massive 400+ totals. Those scores around 280 seem to bring the best out of Ben.

Wonderful Woakes It felt like Chris Woakes came of age in the summer of 2020. We will remember his batting in the first Pakistan test match at Old Trafford. But all summer he bowled well. Along with Archer, he looked consistently a cut above the rest. He needs to be looked after as England will need him in all forms of the game – though not every time.

It already seems weeks ago since we had test match cricket. It seems like it will be ages until we have more, though perhaps someone somewhere in the world will make something happen in the last quarter of the year. But I find it interesting to consider what we have learned in the test match summer of 2020.

Well firstly, we have learned that cricket in England just has to do something about the weather. Sadly, even the ICC cannot change the weather, but it can get a lot more agile about how it handles the weather and bad light. Actually, cricket might just have to be played with a red ball under floodlights if we cannot get the pink ball right. However, the scenes of floodlit stadiums with players going off for bad light is a failure. I do not often agree with Michael Vaughan but on this point I do: if cricket had to pay Sky Sports back for percentage of time lost to bad light, an answer would be found. Sorry to make it commercial, but this needs sorting.

The series against Pakistan sadly fell away to a poor ending. I feel that England should have pushed for a victory at the end and if they had taken a few more catches then they might have won the series 2-0. However, I think we can attribute that partly to the impact of the bio-secure bubble. I think it was actually harder for those not playing, including players like Jack Leach, but also the coaches and media. But I think everyone was running out of steam by the end. I do not think we can blame the players for that. Instead, I think we congratulate all the players involved for making the best of it. Actually we saw some good cricket. However it is sad that it fell away after that brilliant test match at Old Trafford.

Having mentioned catching though, I think we have to talk about this. England are simply terrible at slip catching. I remember hearing that Stuart Broad had had 100 catches dropped off his bowling, and that was a couple of years ago. It was mentioned during the Pakistan series that England have dropped a greater percentage of catches of anyone other than Bangladesh since the start of 2018. I look back at England sides of the past, and slip catching was one of the few things we were quite good at. Sir Ian Botham sticks out of course, along with Paul Collingwood, but we have had a lot of decent slippers. However, since the breakup of the 2011 team (the Strauss, Swann, Collingwood cordon) England have been pretty poor at slip catching. Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain suggested they were standing too close together at The Rose Bowl. Hussain suggested England need to have fingers pointing up more often. Graham Gooch talks about concentration. In his autobiography, Alistair Cook, mentioned that cold weather leads to poor technique. Joe Root has turned into a good first slip, but back in 2015 he was ropy. I am not sure what the answer is…but in India and Australia you just have to catch them.

What about batting? I think we have surely learned by now that you need specialist batsmen in test matches. Experiments with the likes of Jason Roy now must be consigned to the bin. That being said, I agree with comments I heard by Ian Chappell where he said that England have not got to the end of the challenge of the opening batsmen. Dominic Sibley has earned a long run in the team, while Rory Burns is not so safe after a poor Pakistan series, but should probably get more games – but I worry about both in Australia. Chappell also said that Crawley should stay at 3, and with this I am not so sure – I would not be surprised to see him open. Ollie Pope is going to be a good player too for England, though he did not have a stellar series. Jos Buttler had a wonderful summer, but seems to need to bat at 6 to get the best out of himself.

With mention of Buttler, we automatically bring wicket keeping into the discussion. Buttler seems to attract a lot of criticism, but for once I agree with Shane Warne. Buttler is first name on the sheet in any England team I pick. However, perhaps not as wicket keeper. I would play a keeper at 7, with Butter at 6. Personally I would be very tempted to pick Jonny Bairstow. Bairstow was messed up by England. Michael Vaughan kept saying Bairstow could be a number 5 but he does not have the technique for this. But he has a proven record at 7. However, for India I would give Ben Foakes an extended run. England do mess up wicket keepers (shades of Jack Russell and Alec Stewart) but Foakes also was poorly treated by the selectors. He needs a long run. For me, we have learned that Buttler is not a test class keeper but he is a test class number 6.

Back to the top 5 – having put Buttler in at 6. It becomes a direct shootout between Pope and Burns when Ben Stokes comes back in. Personally, I would go Sibley, Crawley, Root, Stokes, Pope, Buttler. Burns misses out, and Root bats where he should – at 3. Root is no longer good enough to pick his position and have the team adapt around him.

So what have we discovered about the bowlers? Nothing at all about the fast bowlers. We already knew that however much Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson might struggle in Australia, they are still the best pace bowlers we have ever had. Jofra Archer could do with more wickets, but an average of 31 is fine and will improve. Chris Woakes is getting better but still has questions to answer away from home. Sam Curran has to be a 4th bowler, but we have Stokes. So I would pick Anderson or Woakes (not both in any England team), and Curran only plays for now when Stokes is not fit to bowl. That is harsh, but we are talking about international sport here. Broad plays constantly, but Archer rotes with Mark Wood – if Wood can keep fit. Oly Stone and Ollie Robinson fit in around this where possible, along with the Overtons.

Sadly, nothing was learned about the spinners. Dom Bess might make it one day, he has the character. Leach must go ahead in the order now though. I would keep Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid in the one day team now, though Ali might force his way back. An away series against India will be a good training ground – even in the UAE. Most desperately, England need control. Graeme Swann provided control and aggression, and when England lost that control England fell apart. Ashley Giles gave Vaughan control in 2005. Bess must focus on control, and not dropping one short every over. I think Bess is one for the future though – I like his aggression.

So finally, what about Joe Root? Well he is turning into a good captain. I think he needs a bit more steel in his management of Archer. Perhaps he needs a chat with Eoin Morgan? But he is now settled as Captain until next year’s Ashes. If he can attack, he is a better captain. I think he needs to be more patient in defence – both as a captain and a batsman. However, he has now won enough games that we will have to sacrifice some of his runs. But if he could just get a tad more consistent it would help. In 2010/1, Andrew Strauss did not have an amazing tour with the bat in the way Cook did, but he did enough (1 hundred, 1 fifty). As Atherton will tell you, captaining in the Ashes when you cannot buy a run is hard. Root could do with just making enough in Australia next year to keep the media quiet. It will still be a struggle, but Root is the most likely man to pull it off.

Stunning victory for England thanks to Buttler and Woakes but still more questions than answers. A missed chance for Pakistan. Time for Jimmy to say goodbye.

England 219 (Pope 62, Yasir 4/66) and 277/7 (Woakes 84, Buttler 75, Yasir 4/99) beat Pakistan 326 (Masood 156, Broad 3/54) and 169 (Yasir 33, Broad 3/37) by 3 wickets

I was not able to watch all of the first test match, but the bits I saw on days 1-3 did little to encourage me to watch it. I saw the players leave the field for bad light, in natural light that was perfectly adequate when spinners were bowling and the floodlights were on. This madness of bad light needs to be addressed. I saw Joe Root bowling himself before lunch on day 2. I saw a scrappy England with multiple mistakes in the field, including from the beleaguered Jos Buttler. I saw Jofra Archer not bowling at full tilt, James Anderson looking ‘past it’ and Dominic Bess dropping one short every over. It had all the signs of another first game in a series for England. Yes, England won, but it still looked like they were undercooked when the came started.

All that being said, Pakistan looked a good team, well drilled and well supported. When I say well supported, I refer to the backroom staff. However, we know that Old Trafford would have been absolutely ‘buzzing’ in normal conditions with the green and white flags everywhere. Once again, the players were able to raise above the empty stadium and play some good cricket. Shan Masood was solid at the top and made the difference between a 250 score and the eventual 326. Another 50 would have been enough. Yasir Shah evoked memories of Shane Warne in 2005 with runs and 8 wickets. Yet like Warne in 2005 (only in 2005!) Yasir was on the loosing side.

It all changed on the 3rd innings. Michael Holding observed the importance of first innings runs and batting a team out of the game and getting a big score. Masood needed a partner in crime, in the way that Dominic Sibley and Ben Stokes were able to work together in the 2nd test match of the summer against West Indies. With a low 300s score, you always need to find a few runs second time round. We know that test matches can be turned in the 3rd innings (remember Adelaide 2006 with a shudder – and Warne in his more habitual role as a winner). The Asad Shafiq run out was probably a key moment – and the carelessness moved from England to Pakistan.

A target of 277 at Old Trafford ought to have been enough. This pitch was not as good as some that we have seen in Manchester over the years, but the pitches always give bowlers a chance. At 117/5, the bowlers were taking the chance. But we finally saw why Buttler is in the team, and formed a perfect partnership with Woakes. Buttler had a bad game with the gloves, but has been showing more and more consistency with the bat this summer, and really just needs that second century. Woakes has looked unsure which end of the bat to hold though, despite possessing a Lords century. I think the situation gave Woakes some freedom with the bat, and once he was ‘in’ he showed a real ‘Woakes quality’ of calmness. It was a brilliant effort from 2 people who are really well liked in the team – and the game.

Sadly, as Root’s captainly was inept in the first innings, Azhar Ali did make some mistakes in the last dig. Woakes should have been peppered with bouncers when he arrived, and the field should have been much more aggressive. Often ex-players demand ultra-aggressive fields (Holding and Sir Ian Botham would probably be unhappy with less than 9 slips). A ball scoots through extra cover for 4 and people say ‘the bowler does not need to worry about that’. The reality is that setting an aggressive field is a risk when playing with a sub-300 target. But we knew a draw was impossible and once the target was below 50, the field needed to be in. Ali though is a young captain. It cannot be easy being a captain when your country’s prime minister is one of the best all rounders of all time! I hope he gets some time to learn. Misbah-ul-Haq pointed to inexperience as being a factor in the loss – but experience cannot just be picked up in the supermarket.

As ever, it is hard to weigh up England as a team. Yes it was a great win, but if they had played better on days 1 to 3 they would have won the game easily. It is a frustration that we have to endure really bad sessions before we see the brilliance. That means England lose far too many games. However, it is a relief to see some fight. If England cannot avoid defeat in Brisbane next year, it does not need to mean 5-0 or 4-0 as in recent times. Even the captains of the 90s and early noughties (Michael Atherton, Alec Stewart and Nasser Hussain) won one game in away Ashes series, and in 2010/11, England had to fight back from a terrible situation in Brisbane. We need to see more of that ‘fight’ from England – and Buttler has the potential to be a fighter, along with the likes of Sibley and Pope.

The question is what do England do next? The Ben Stokes conundrum goes away now as Stokes has to miss the next 2 games for family reasons. We all wish Stokes and family all the best. Given that Stokes did bowl last week, it seems that England played 5 bowlers to make sure that Stokes did not injure himself further by ‘demanding to bowl’ – in the way that Andrew Flintoff did sometimes. Stokes deserves a little bit of ‘slack’ here though given his unstinting commitment. Dan Lawrence has also left the ‘bubble’ following a bereavement which means we can be fairly certain what top 6 England will put out, with Zak Crawley coming back in at 3 with Root moving down.

I said before the series that you need a longer batting line up against Pakistan and I still maintain that England picked the wrong team for this game. Woakes is realistically a number 8 more than a number 7, and Bess at 9 and Archer at 10 starts to look better. Therefore I would bring Ben Foakes into the team to bat at 7 and keep wicket, taking the gloves away from Buttler, while asking him to nail down a spot at number 6 which is where he has the best record in test matches. With Buttler, it seems that clarity of role is essential, and he understands the role at 6. At 7, he is not sure whether to ‘stick or twist’ – particularly when batting with the tail. Additionally, England will need perfect wicket keeping in India this winter. Looking back, I wonder if Buttler at 6 and Bairstow at 7 was the test match answer all along – but many, including Michael Vaughan, talked Bairstow up as a number 5. At 20/3, his technique let him down, but Bairstow the number 7 created some mayhem. Again – clarity of role. Now though, Foakes is ahead in the line surely? An extra batsman would also make it easier for England to pick Jack Leach over Bess – despite previous heroics, Bess’ batting is superior to Leach. I would keep Bess for now though.

We are back to 1 spot and 2 bowlers again. It pains me to say it, but I would leave out James Anderson. I have always felt that Woakes and Anderson in the same team does not quite work as they both fill the same space in a bowling attack, albeit Anderson with more skill. Woakes has put on a bit of pace now, but I still think that 5 full time bowlers creates confusion unless 1 of the 5 is an allrounder. Personally, I think it is time for Anderson to move aside now. When Graham Gooch retired, he left it too late and in Australia in 1995 was a shadow of his former self. Anderson can go on his own terms, out while still performing well, allowing Broad to follow in a couple of years and allowing England to move forward smoothly. Sir Alastair Cook showed us how to retire back in 2018 – Jimmy should learn from Chef.

Having said all of that, I predict England will simply bring in Crawley for Stokes and Anderson will play on.

Expected England team for Southampton (what I think will happen): Sibley, Burns, Crawley, Root(c), Pope, Buttler(v/c, w/k), Woakes, Bess, Archer, Broad, Anderson

My team for Southampton (what I would do): Sibley, Burns, Crawley, Root(c), Pope, Buttler(v/c), Foakes(w/k), Woakes, Bess, Archer, Broad

England 369 (Pope 91, Roach 4/72) and 226/2 (Burns 90, Holder 1/24) beat West Indies 197 (Holder 46, Broad 6/31) and 129 (Hope 31, Woakes 5/50) by 269 runs and win series 2-1

This series in 2020 was totally different to any international cricket we have seen before, certainly for an England team. What can we learn from it?

1. West Indies are a ‘cracking’ bunch of blokes. For them to come to England has been amazing, but in every interview I have seen they showed courtesy, respect, humour…and just came over as really good people. We really appreciate that they have come. Cricket has a responsibility to make every effort to make sure the West Indies get cricket ‘at home’ this year. And by the way, that also applies to Pakistan who England face next week.
2. England loose far too many games for the talent they have. England ought to have won the series 3-0. Too often, England have a terrible session somewhere that gives away a game. Often it is the first game in a series, as it was in the winter against South Africa, but against India in 2018 it was the 3rd test match and at home against South Africa in 2017 it was the second game. It is a bad habit, and against good sides including Pakistan and Australia, losing the first game in the series ended up being the difference between a drawn series and a won series. England have to address this.
3. West Indies are close to making a transition into a really good team. However, they rely too much on Shannon Gabriel and Kemar Roach. Perhaps Alzarri Joseph and Gabriel should have been rotated in this series as I think Joseph will develop and Gabriel never looked fit. With those bowlers, West Indies can be a handful if the batsman can score 300 in the first innings. The problem is that they cannot consistently do it – they only did it once in this series.
4. England’s new opening pair of Dominic Sibley and Rory Burns looks like it may provide the answer England have needed. One does wonder why Burns was not picked sooner to open with Alastair Cook, as he has been performing for Surrey for years. Burns needed a big score and the only reason he did not get a century in the final game was because he was trying to score quickly. Sibley has been ‘feast or famine’, and that is because once he gets ‘in’ he makes it count, unlike Joe Denly who makes painful 30s and does not go on.
5. West Indies love playing England. Jermaine Blackwood averages 55 batting against England and 24 against everyone else. Roston Chase gets more wickets against England than anyone else. West Indies have always loved beating England! England must stop under estimating them.
6. James Anderson and Stuart Broad are both brilliant bowlers, and at test match level remain well ahead of the rest of the pack. Don’t get me wrong, Jofra Archer, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood are fine bowlers and Archer will develop into one of England’s best. But right now, Broad and Anderson are in another league and the pair can be considered in the same terms as Botham and Willis, Akram and Younis, Walsh and Ambrose….take your pick from the greats.
7. At Old Trafford you win the toss and bat first. If you pick an extra spinner you bat first.. If in doubt, ask former Australian greats Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Shane Warne about the 1997 Ashes test match when Taylor batted first in terrible conditions and won by 268 runs. Mind you, with Warne in the team, you bat first too. Just ask Ricky Ponting.
8. Joe Root is growing into the job. It has taken a while, but in South Africa and at Old Trafford, it felt like Root’s team. He played magnificently in the second innings of the last test match – I know he scored a double century in New Zealand but this innings was close to Root at his best. I was critical of the Headingley declaration in 2017 which, in my view, threw away a game that England did not need to win. Here, England did need to win but he got all his declarations exactly right. He is at his best when he can be aggressive.
9. Balancing team selection for the short and long term is tricky – particularly in lockdown. England got it wrong at Southampton by leaving out Broad. West Indies got it wrong at Old Trafford by not resting Gabriel and then played a spinner and bowled first. The lesson is surely that you pick your best team at the start of a series, but if in doubt that someone is fit, rest them.
10. Both teams deserve a pat on the back for professionalism. Playing in front of an empty stadium was surely odd, but the cricket was a good standard and was compelling viewing. We want the crowd back – but the teams showed that good cricket can be put on behind closed doors. I suspect the doors will have to be closed for a while yet after today’s announcements.

For England, we would like to have learned a couple more things, and they will hope to work out a few more things in the remaining test matches this summer. Joe Denly again has not done enough to justify his place. Zak Crawley has done better but has not quite done enough to ensure selection, however he should be restored to the number 3 slot and get a sustained run in that position now. Whether Ben Stokes bowls or not, England cannot get away with just 6 batsman against Pakistan so Jos Buttler will go back to 7 – and I am not sure it suits him at 7 – his record at 6 is better. However, at 6 he had a chance to cement his place, but did not quite take it. He will keep his place, but needs a hundred.

As for the bowlers? We knew England had strong options, but it would be good to see match changing performances from Woakes, Archer and Wood. Archer was close at Southampton and Woakes followed on from Broad’s magic and Wood was not at his best. Team selection does not get any easier in a biosecure bubble.