England in Tests in 2016 (so far).

[Arthur Crabtree]

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.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Joe Root...8.

11 Tests: 985 runs at 54.7. Hundreds- 2. Fifties- 6.

The year began with Joe Root nominated by a contemplative press among a new wave of world great bats, and as a recent number one in the ICC rankings. He has been admirably consistent facing either coloured ball, but perhaps Root has been treading water a touch in the longest format; mainly because he has proved exemplary in getting a start in a batting order which usually ensures he is operating under pressure, but has only converted two of those into hundreds. Even so, he was top scorer on either side in the series against Pakistan (having moved from four to three in the order), and second highest on the winning side in the D'Oliveira Trophy. Not quite the scampering enthusiast of his early appearances, he has been a Test player for four years now, and he seems to be an accommodating and analytical leader.

Root's impact as a fielder gets little attention, but he has ten more catches (19) than the next most successful outfielder, Alastair Cook. He is frequently criticised for playing too many shots (he has scored at a strike rate of 65 this year, though with only two sixes) but he has fought off an ambush on the top of the order with regularity, and the only five batters to average more than him for England having played as many as his 46 Tests, are absolute legends of the game.

Key innings: His 110 in Johannesburg was a brilliant century knocked up in a little over two hours, with shots all around The Wanderers, which belied his side's precarious position and saw them to a small lead on a track where South Africa were about to be bowled out for 83.

[Arthur Crabtree]

James Vince...2.

7 Tests: 212 runs at 19.3. Hundreds- 0. Fifties- 0.

Plucked from England's winter coaching programme and thrust into the Test side, Vince seemed to be miss-sold as an international player. Long described as an elegant stroke player, he looked anything but, his feet seemingly always in the wrong position and reliant for runs on a hazardous cover drive which exposed a flawed judgement on, or often well outside, off stump. He was bowled twice at Lord's to the Sri Lankan pacemen, but was otherwise repeatedly caught behind or in the slips; and finally, looping a catch on the drive to Misbah at cover at the Oval.

And he dropped too many chances himself in the slips. As the summer progressed, he wore a hunted look. With his stubble and his hollowed eyed, haunted desperation he resembled a prisoner in a chain gang drama. Particularly when ending with a single and a zero in the last Test. And then, he was dropped from the limited overs teams his technique looked like it was designed for. It was right that having been picked, he was given a good chance to show his qualities, but he needs to score first division hundreds before getting another opportunity.

Key innings: His colleagues praised him for his 42 in Birmingham against Pakistan which helped build a winning lead in the third innings, a painstaking knock compiled off 123 balls, scored mostly to leg. The critics praised his watchfulness on off stump. But he still nicked a wide ball to second slip a couple of cover drives short of a landmark.



Gary Ballance...4

4 Tests: 195 runs at 27.9. Hundreds- 0. Fifties- 1.

After being dropped a summer earlier with a Test average of 47.8 following a traumatic series against New Zealand's Trent Boult in 2015, Zimbabwe born Gary Ballance was exposed by ECB friendly journalists for refusing to change his technique, and it seemed he would endure a long sojourn from the international side. Like Vince, it was suggested that his selection this year was down to Andy Flower, certainly there was little in his domestic performances that hinted at a return. With only one fifty in the series against Pakistan and no sign that he had changed much from his crisis of a year before, Ballance was often bracketed with the Hampshire batter to highlight the failings of an England middle order showing few signs of recovering from the loss of Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen.

And yet, the Bunterish Ballance didn't quite cut the same figure as the gaunt James Vince. He was usually at least obstructive and got to 20+ in over half his knocks, averaging 65 balls faced per innings. He usually took some getting out, though worryingly for his winter hopes in Asia, he was removed four times by Yasir Shah. He didn't justify his recall, but probably did enough to retain his place on tour. And no one says he doesn't care; his devastated response to his dismissals was a recurring motif of the series.

Key innings: He top scored with 70 out of 297 in the first innings at Edgbaston, but oddly the one that stayed in the mind was his batting for ninety minutes in a lost cause in the second innings at the Oval after Yasir Shah had knocked the top off England's batting. It took a good ball to move him, for 17. And an optimist could imagine he and Jonny Bairstow batting well together in the future, as they did for periods this summer.



James Taylor...4.

4 Tests: 186 runs at 26.6. Hundreds- 0. Fifties- 1.

Like Nick Compton, James Taylor started the series well in South Africa, before becoming distracted by the existential abstraction of what being a new-England batter really means and he forgot what it was to be himself. Sadly illness means he will ever get the opportunity to unravel this conundrum.

Key innings: Easily his 70 in Durban, almost as impressive as his 76 on return to the team in Sharjah, as he and Compton got England to 174-4 after the loss of Cook, Hales and Root for not many.

[bigfluffylemon]

Good stuff Arthur.

It's frankly amazing that England have had so many wins with such a poorly performing batting line up. Thank goodness for Cook, Root and Bairstow.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Mo has had a good year with the bat, and Stokes did well in SA until his injury. It's obviously a problem when two of the batters do so badly though. 4&5 should be your batting bankers. Bairstow was a bonus though.

Cheers!

[Arthur Crabtree]

Ben Stokes...6

6 Tests. 457 runs at 50.8. Hundreds- 1. Fifties- 1.
15 wickets at 29. 5w- 0. 10w-0.

Curious that after a run of performances in which Ben Stokes averaged over fifty with the bat and under thirty with the ball, he doesn't feel much more established as an international player than he did last summer. That may be because so much of his success was settled in one performance, his spectacular 258 in Cape Town. And a little that the emergence of Chris Woakes has led to a notional Stokes v Woakes debate. And it might also be because of his ongoing injury problems which led to his absence for most of this summer. It's hard not to weigh that very impressive double ton (reached in 163 balls, second fastest in Tests after Nathan Astle) against a number of dismissals caught in the ring or in the deep (in nine outs, eight were caught, only one in the slips, he was run out on 258). Sure, that's the way he plays, and that's fine. He scored at over a run a ball in this period. But while he plays that way, he will probably be on a rollercoaster in terms of results and critical approval.

Stokes' fielding has been the best for England since Paul Collingwood (and he now stands at slip to the spinner, so all the more surprising he only took four very good catches), in contrast to the chances that his teammates spill off his own bowling, which has continued to improve. He has become a more economical, though still attacking paceman and he took the second most wickets for his team in South Africa. His hostility, bounce and movement of the older ball, as well as his grizzled snarl and loquacious exchanges have become one of the instant images of the England attack.


Key innings: Obviously his 258 at Cape Town. It was a flat pitch and a game of 600v600, but as exhibition batting, it was the innings of the year so far for his team, with 11 sixes (only Wasim Akram's twelve surpasses) and mostly pretty orthodox, with his beautiful on drive and savage pull particularly prominent.


Jonny Bairstow...7

11 Tests: 1112 runs at 74.1. Hundreds- 3. Fifties- 5.
Caught- 52. Stumped- 2.

Bairstow's batting renaissance has been one of the good news stories of England's year and demonstrates the part that fortune plays in our fate. England hadn't given up on the Yorkshire keeper, the stand out run scorer in county cricket. But it indicated that their faith had slipped in that he was no longer getting picked as a frontline batter, but had settled into a role as backup up for Jos Buttler as wicket keeper, only returning when Buttler's own form had suddenly failed. With hindsight, his 74 on return, in the Ashes at Trent Bridge looks auspicious. But he still went to South Africa (after a poor tour of UAE), with a Test average of 26.4. Since then he has been phenomenal, and England's top run scorer, and leading scorer of hundreds. After his international career birthed at last in South Africa, it felt he could be exposed by early season swing back home. But he scored two centuries against Sri Lanka. And that he might then suffer against the spin of Yasir Shah. But he scored heavily against Pakistan, only dismissed twice (and rather freakishly) by the ace legspinner. He has scored over 350 runs in each series in 2016.

For batting alone, he has been England's player of the year so far, regularly turning around unpropitious situations. And yet, I scored him 7/10. Because his keeping, his key role in the side, has been so poor. He has taken many chances (he has 2.6 dismissals per innings, the leading career average is Adam Gilchrist's 2.2). But that is a statistic which hides more than it tells (the highest average career dismissals for an England keeper is held by Geraint Jones). He has missed so many more, and been untidy.

Key innings: Forming partnerships with England's lower order has been Bairstow's forte, and often after the middle order has failed. In the first Test at Headingley against Sri Lanka, he took guard at 83-5, and after losing Alex Hales (86) at 224-6, he added fifty with Steven Finn, falling himself on 140, with the next best score after Hales, Finn's own 17.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Moeen Ali...6

11 Tests: 23 wickets at 51.2. 5w- 0. 10w- 0.
621 runs at 51.8. Hundreds- 2. Fifties- 3.

Moeen didn't quite take his excellent Ashes batting form into the win in South Africa (via an unsuccessful trial as an opener in UAE), and his fifty in the dead rubber at Centurion wasn't all that meaningful. But he had a superb home summer with a ton against each of the tourists, and another two fifties versus Pakistan; though his attacking method meant that his longer residences were punctuated with luck as he rarely kept the ball on the ground in the gully region and occasionally looked uncomfortable against pace. But he bats like a dream, and the exquisite timeless reverie of his strokeplay feels like a window into a less pragmatic time...

But... he's in the team as a spinner. His team's only spinner, and he took a giant step backwards in that respect this year. Not only that average, but conceding runs at 3.7 runs an over. Which means England lose control when he bowls, and can only hold on to it if he takes wickets. But his previously surprising strike rate (58.6) extended to a wicket every 83 balls in 2016. He has lost his impressive drift by bowling with increasing pace on pitches designed to help seam; England were reluctant to give Sri Lanka and Pakistan conditions to aid their world class slow bowlers. Moeen may become a Test class bowler, but now is the time to look for a senior spinner to take the pressure off this likeable all rounder.

Key bowling: On a helpful track in Durban, Moeen took 4-69 and 3-47 and exerted pressure by stifling the scoring rate. And they were proper wickets (not caught on the slog, which is a common criticism aimed at him), mostly taken by skidding the ball on quicker. That was about a third of his wicket haul for the year though, with ten matches to go.



Chris Woakes...8

8 Tests: 36 wickets at 21.7. 5w- 2. 10w-1.
336 runs at 30.5. Hundreds-0. Fifties- 2.

Another contender for England's player of the year (so far). And with Moeen, the second likeable Birmingham born all rounder in the England late middle order. Woakes came back into the England team in South Africa with the reputation for having put on yards of pace and making the England batters a bit wary in the nets. And he tanked both in the first Test, replacing James Anderson and in the last substituting for Steven Finn (averaging 98.5). It looked like that might be his last chance for a while. The experts claimed his action was too conventional to succeed... And he went back to county cricket with little likelihood of being selected any time soon. But credit to the selectors, when Ben Stokes was injured (and with a great early season for Warwickshire) Woakes returned and was England's leading bowler over the home summer.

And it's only one summer, and in particular conditions. But Woakes was impressive, particularly with the jarring pace that hit the bat hard even on the slower wickets. He got bounce from a full length, much like a peak period Andrew Flintoff. Against Pakistan, he took 26 wickets in four Tests, and took ten wickets in a match for the first time. While a little awkward looking with the bat, he can play orthodox innings but risks being wasted down at number nine. Woakes can still be viewed as being in the team as a replacement for Ben Stokes, and when Stokes returns, Woakes must challenge Steven Finn for a bowling berth. But on the evidence of the home summer, the Brummie is now the more hostile and dangerous bowler.

Key bowling: He took eleven wickets in the defeat at Lord's, but just as good was his 4-67 on his home ground at Edgbaston, when his short of a length bowling helped dismiss Pakistan for 198 in reply to England's 589 (Woakes made a fifty) and drew his side level in the series. His shorter ball was at least as much of a wicket taker as the fuller swinging delivery more conventionally associated with him. He took three in the second innings too.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Stuart Broad...8

11 Tests: 43 wickets at 24.1. 5w- 1. 10w- 0)

Since the end of the last home season Stuart Broad and James Anderson, typically statistically inseparable, are the leading wicket taking pace bowlers in world cricket with fifty scalps. Broad has survived a year free from injury having turned thirty, and that is something that wouldn't have been counted on 2-3 years ago. He was England's leading bowler in their most impressive series win in South Africa, and produced one of his thrilling trademark matchwinning spells at the Wanderers, with 5-14, leaving South Africa 35-5. Broad finished with six and the hosts were flattened for 88 runs in 33 overs. Probably the best bowling for England this year.

As ever with the senior England bowlers, there is a suspicion that at times tiredness takes the edge off their threat; while Broad remains economical, the pace drops and he seeks lengths that are harder to hit rather than likely to induce an edge, and the fields edge back. Seven wickets in the last three Tests against Pakistan suggested the superb performance in South Africa wasn't sustained to the end of the English summer. But as the key bowler in their stand out win of the year, he peaked at a critical time. His fielding has been consistently good for such a big fella too.

Key bowling: That 6-17 at Johannesburg, where he took out all of the top six, and confirmed his dominance over under fire captain AB de Villiers. He found the sharp bounce he gets when his pace is good, and accepted a fine return catch off du Plessis. It was the seventh five wicket (or more) spell in his career. These rich, prolific surges of momentum have perhaps been the most exciting cricket that England have produced this decade.


James Anderson...7

7 Tests: 37 wickets at 20.5. 5w- 3. 10w- 1.

2016 told us nothing about James Anderson we didn't already know. A tiger at home, and if not in fairness a pussy cat on tour, perhaps comparatively... a ferret. He provoked the umpires with his expansive verbalisation of inner discontent. He was regularly warned for following through on the pitch. Troubled by injury at the start, he appeared to run out of steam at the last. And his glorious late career blossoming as a thirtysomething (34) paceman touched on exhibition bowling at times, as he tormented the Sri Lankans in particular in helpful early summer conditions.

During three Tests against South Africa, Anderson took seven wickets on returning from injury. In three against Pakistan he took nine, mostly with the new ball. But against Sri Lanka he was irrepressible, taking 21 wickets in the three games, looting all of his five-fers for the year and providing plenty of copy for his admirers in the English press. And averaging a touch under eleven.

Key bowling: Nothing to choose between his hauls in Leeds and Durham against the suffering Sri Lankans. But in taking out the bottom half of their batting in the first innings at Headingley (5-16 from 91 all out), and the top order when following on (5-29 from a total of 119) he was particularly relentless and, gave nothing to hit. It was comparable to facing Murali in Kandy in his heyday

[yuppie]

Great write ups Arthur, much appreciated.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Thanks!

Two to go...

[Arthur Crabtree]

Steve Finn...6

9 Tests: 23 wickets at 36.3. 5w-0. 10w-0.

2016 was the year when the fluctuating possibilities of Finn's career so far became a settled, characteristic pattern of inconsistency. Rather than hoping that he would ever become the bowler he could be at his best, it felt time to accept that he would always find form and fitness unreliable and his perfect action something he would stumble upon on some halcyon day, rather than a trusted tool in his kit. He missed a Test in South Africa and one against Pakistan with injury. After returning to the England side triumphantly last summer with eight wickets in the Birmingham Ashes Test, he ended this summer in frustration, and almost certainly out of the side and waiting for another chance. The story of his career to date.

Though Finn was slightly peripheral in South Africa and at home to Sri Lanka, his figures held up, and so it was a little unexpected when some negative press began to build. When he lost his calibration in the Pakistan series, he really did suffer, with the few chances he made being fluffed by the England fielders. To his credit, he never stopped trying. While hard to watch at times, his once awkward pace became such a distant memory that he bizarrely claimed never to have had any.

Key bowling: He may have bowled better at times, but the 3-110 he took at the Oval in the defeat to Pakistan appealed to the emotions: after struggling all series, by sheer will, he produced a testing spell, and after some more missed chances, he was rewarded by a stunning catch by Stuart Broad at midwicket. Sadly, after two balls in the second innings, Finn was injured once more.



Jake Ball... NA.

1 Test: 1 wicket at 88.

Ball received a surprising amount of praise for his debut wicket at Lord's on a seam bowler's pitch. A good season for his county means that further chances will come, but he probably has six pacemen ahead of him for a slot in the Test side.

[Making_Splinters]

Who'd you have ahead of Ball in the pecking order, Arthur?

Anderson, Broad, Woakes are givens but then what. Wood in theory is the fourth option but his injury problems mean good series for other players could get them ahead of him. Finn? I'm not so sure about, despite the ECB desperately wanting him to come good. Plunkett seems to have been passed by now, so I'd have Ball up there as first choice injury replacement at present. Unless I'm forgetting anyone obvious.

[Arthur Crabtree]

I had Anderson, Woakes, Broad and Stokes (though Stokes is a bit of a cheating pick). Then Finn and Wood, if fit (I reckon if available, these would play ahead of Ball as of today). But then, Wood isn't fit... Fast bowlers often get their chances because of injury don't they, and Anderson currently isn't fit either.