While Cook,
Root and Bairstow helped themselves to fifties, Ben Stokes at last demonstrated
that he can apply himself to proper Test cricket batting, and Moeen Ali
incredibly clinched the game with his first ever hat-trick, much of the talk
will be about the debutants.
I can’t
remember when England last presented first caps to three players in the same
match. I’m not convinced by Dawid Malan’s credentials as a Test batsman but of
course he plays for one of the London counties, which undeniably helps. Like
team-mate Eoin Morgan, he is more suited to limited-overs cricket. However, his
performances for the Lions can’t be ignored and so probably deserved an
opportunity.
Tom Westley
has in the past few years excelled in an Essex side brimming with young talent
battling to follow in Alastair Cook’s footsteps. At the age of 28, he has had
to bide his time. Like Malan, he averages around 37-38 and owes his call-up to
a century in the Lions cause, in his case an unbeaten 106 against the South
Africans a month ago. An assured Test debut including 84 runs should mean he
keeps the likes of Ballance and Compton out of the team for a bit longer.
Toby
Roland-Jones, of course, made a name for himself in Middlesex’s march to the
Championship last summer, and in particular that final-day hat-trick to deprive
Somerset of their rightful title. Naturally, he received the nod from the
friendly Lord’s selectors but it’s taken another year to finally get on the
pitch, thank to Mark Wood’s injury. His late-order batting is solid enough, but
his career tally of 347 first-class wickets at only 25 is impossible to ignore
any longer. And how he stood up to be counted! His first-innings five-for, including
a top-four featuring Amla and De Kock, finished South Africa’s chances of competing
effectively in this Third Test. Should either Anderson or Broad pack in any
time soon, on this evidence, TR-J can perform the role of swing and seamer
admirably. The only problem is that he is not far short of 30 himself.
But back to
The Oval. Moeen Ali becoming the first England spinner to claim a hat-trick
since 1938 wasn’t in the script. That Ben Stokes should heave four Maharaj
deliveries into the stands was less surprising. The stats say that the Durham
all-rounder became the first English player to strike three consecutive sixes
since Wally Hammond in the 1930s. Hammond?! He is a genuine all-time great but not
renowned for six-hitting in Test matches, what with having to bat with a plank
of wood and boundaries defined by the position of spectators’ seats not
sponsors’ adverts.
People have
rightly questioned the ability of Stokes, Ali, Bairstow et al to bat to the situation
and not merely play their natural attacking game. Bearded Ben answered his
critics in fine style, even holding back those sixes until his century was in
sight and nine wickets were down. Now those same criticisms are being made of
the South Africans. At the very least, Faf du Plessis needs to learn when not
to shoulder arms! At least we know Dean Elgar has the strength and ability to make runs in the second innings. The prolific pre-series practice for Somerset has reaped dividends.
England
should now progress to winning the D’Oliveira Trophy, but if they lose the toss
and bowl first, their recent record is very poor. If Joe Root can be as
consistently good at guessing the side of the coin correctly as he is at
accumulating runs, England will do very well indeed.
