by Arthur Crabtree » Thu Sep 08, 2016 1:55 pm
With three series down and two to play in 2016, England are showing further signs of recovery from the Peter Moores era. A series win in South Africa (following on from an Ashes win, and a predicted loss in UAE which wasn't without redemption) was more than anyone expected, even if facilitated in some measure by the absence of Vernon Philander and a fit Dale Steyn from the home attack. The win against Sri Lanka was a mismatch in favour of England. And if they only drew against a Pakistan team we were told would be dull and attritional, but proved as stereotypically mercurial as their image promises, and much more likeable, their frailties seemed isolated to a particular organ, the middle order, rather than systemic.
Curiously England proved most fallible at the end of series, losing the final Tests heavily to South Africa and Pakistan and labouring to a draw with Sri Lanka. The impression this gives me is of a side well coached to play mostly at its maximum, but when they collapse, they fall away completely due to a lack of quality in depth. Though rarely mentioned and probably the most anonymous coach England ever had, their first Australian supremo Trevor Bayliss has to be recognised for the sharp upturn in England's fortunes since he took over (allowing for some eccentric public relations); but his hardest examination lays ahead at the end of the year in Bangladesh and India, for contrasting reasons. After the gloom of the late Flower and Moores regimes, there is a little optimism infusing this England side, particularly in its younger players, save the ominous off field presence of Andrew Strauss.
Those player scores (including the December Test in SA):
Alastair Cook...7.
11 Tests: 819 runs at 45.5. Hundreds- 1. Fifties- 5.
Cook is pretty good at keeping his stats buoyant, and his form in that respect is good. But he has only made one century in the year, and in the toughest series in South Africa, he made only one fifty, reached with the pressure off in the dead rubber at Centurion. One century isn't a good return from eleven Tests for Cook, and a truth which was questioned by his magnificent 263 last year in Dubai, reasserted itself: when he reaches three figures, he no longer makes big hundreds. His form has been fluctuating for the past few years like a deflating balloon. His slip catching has regressed and under pressure his captaincy still appears insipid.
And yet an average of 45 for an opener is a weakness most other Test teams would love to have. His batting against Pakistan was more fluent at times, and while not the machine he once was, he was reliable in that series. And he will be crucial in India and Bangladesh. Six scores of fifty plus in 21 innings is an adequate minimum Test return.
Key innings: His 105 in Manchester against Pakistan when he began to play the drives that usually indicate his best form. A good batting pitch for sure, but his most convincing knock.
Alex Hales...4.
11 Tests: 573 runs at 27.3. Hundreds- 0. Fifties- 5.
Uncertainty still compromises Hales' tenure as the latest first wicket partner of Alastair Cook, a position that continues to provide all the sense of security of the buddy of a patrol officer on his last shift in a cop film. Yet, in two of the series he outscored Cook. He was England's second highest scorer against Sri Lanka and passed eighty in each Test, and it is a touch unfair that these runs were shrugged off with a dismissive assessment of the Sri Lankan attack. And yet the image persists of an opening batter with a tragic flaw, an uncertainty on off stump. Surely he must go on tour, but he hasn't yet surpassed the records of the many who have been called and discarded as Cook's fellow opener.
Augmenting his yet unfulfilled performances with the bat, Hales' fielding has been poor and his catching unreliable; and his rather anguished visit to the umpires' room after his spurious lbw review at the Oval appeared to lose him some prestige with the back room staff.
Key innings: Swing friendly conditions (and a stunning debut spell in Tests from Dasun Shanaka) left England 83-5 on the first morning of the opening Test against Sri Lanka at Headingley. Hales made a chanceless 86, seeing off the seamers and batting out the opening day before lofting Herath into the outfield with his first Test ton just beyond his grasp.
Nick Compton...3.
7 Tests: 296 runs at 24.7. Hundreds- 0 Fifties- 1.
When another of Cook's opening partners Nick Compton was dropped in 2013, it provoked an ongoing conspiracy theory at the abandoning of a player who had just come home from New Zealand with a pair of Test hundreds. Among many there was a sense of a hard won opportunity suddenly and undeservedly sawn off. Rather sadly, after his second chance, no one is wondering if Nick Compton will be back. Not actually dropped, Compton stood down from the game for a while for personal reasons, further mystifying the reputation of this enigmatic cricketer. Probably Compton jumped before being pushed, his later absence of runs, or any luck, proving quite difficult to watch.
His early innings in South Africa offered a reminder of why many wondered why he had been cast aside two years earlier, dogged and obstructive. When he rejected that approach to be more expansive in the style of new-England batters, he floundered, and couldn't find his way back.
Key innings: His excellent, top scoring 85 in the first Test against South Africa in Durban, compiled over six hours and seeing England to a match winning total on a tricky batting track.
More to come.
I always say that everybody's right.