Not that the
old guard were disappointing. Alastair Cook, Root himself and Jimmy Anderson
were as reliable as ever, while Moeen Ali proved himself a matchwinner with bat
and ball. Maybe he can at last consider himself a genuine Test all-rounder,
having amassed 252 runs and an impressive 25 wickets at only 15.64. Jonny
Bairstow scored three half-centuries, including a 99, and didn’t disgrace
himself with the gloves, while Ben Stokes’ 112 at The Oval suggested a new
maturity with the bat.
After
sterling Championship form in 2017, Gary Ballance deserved his recall but
couldn’t re-establish himself in the England team. Keaton Jennings dominated
the run charts last summer but his
run in the national team would appear to have run its course – for now. Roland-Jones,
Westley and Malan avoided disasters in the final couple of Tests, successfully
making the transition from Lions to first team, although I have doubts over the
latter’s ability to stay in the side.
And now for
the West Indies. Sadly the outcome of the three-Test series should be a
foregone conclusion, which may explain why Jennings and Liam Dawson have been
jettisoned in favour of two further potential debutants, Mark Stoneman and
Mason Crane.
Firstly, I
reckon Stoneman deserves his place, and not only because he is one of the
Surrey boys. Five year ago, he didn’t exactly set the Durham faithful alight
but then started to reach 1,000 first-class runs regularly, causing Surrey to
splash the cash on him and team-mate Scott Borthwick, leaving Jennings behind.
In 2017 so far, only the supreme Kumar Sangakkara has scored more runs in
Division One, and he made half-centuries for England ‘A’ a few weeks ago. I did
see him at Taunton on Monday but only patrolling the rope in the field while
Abell and Davies were hitting boundaries!
The selection
of Mason Crane is perhaps a little more puzzling. English leg-spinners are
certainly in short supply and in any case tend to be used primarily to keep
batsmen guessing in Twenty20. Adil Rashid’s batting has helped him gain
international experience but he is not the player he was. Hampshire’s Crane, born
in neighbouring Sussex, is still only 20 and not exactly a first-class
specialist. His 70 wickets have come at a hefty cost of 42 runs apiece and he’s
only played five Championship matches all summer. I can only presume he is being
blooded in the squad rather than heading for the first XI, with an outside
chance of becoming the new Shane Warne in the Ashes series. Well, Warne was his
childhood idol, so a boy can dream!
I think
Stoneman has the temperament to be a decent Test player and, at the ripe old age of 30, the experience to
avoid becoming another Robson, Hameed or Duckett. However, I fear he may be
another Lyth: a decent opening batsman capable of scoring county runs for fun
but a little vulnerable to top-class international bowlers. We shall see.
