Bearing in mind the scale and manner of England’s brilliant victory over Pakistan in the second Investec Test at Old Trafford it seems bizarre to be considering the weaknesses in Alastair Cook’s side.
But if the goal is to be the best on the planet, there is always room for improvement, and even though a win by 330 runs to square the series at 1-1 suggests more than enough wallpaper to be going along with, the obvious cracks will again come under scrutiny when battle is rejoined at Edgbaston next week.
First the good news: Cook’s contribution with the bat has always been the real strength of his captaincy and he looked at the peak of his powers in scoring his 29th Test century in Manchester followed by an unbeaten 76 at very nearly a run a ball in the second innings.
Since the start of 2016 he has made 659 run at nearly 55, and with nine more Tests to be played before the end (two versus Pakistan, two in Bangladesh and five against India) this could well be his most prolific calendar year to date.
The naturally cautious style of his leadership did come under attack when he chose not to enforce the follow-on after his bowlers had given him a first innings lead of 391. Yet he was right to be supremely unconcerned for, from that position, at no stage was his side in danger of failing to win. They did so with more than a day to spare and, no matter how sorely one or two of the commentators missed a possible extra day on the golf course, he had earned the right to indulge in a bit of what Steve Waugh used to call mental disintegration on the opposition.
Cook now also seems so settled in his role that, whether by accident or design, he let it be known that he disagreed fundamentally with the decision of the selectors to block James Anderson’s return for the first Test at Lord’s. That spot of muscle-flexing appears to have done the trick and while all concerned should take care not to let it get in the way of the needs of the side, the re-establishment of the principle that the skipper gets the team he wants should be applauded.
Joe Root’s 254 was the innings of his career, settling the thorny issue of the No.3 spot, securing his status not only as England’s best current batsman, but potentially one of their best ever with the best average of any of them for nearly half a century (only six England batsmen who have played 20 Tests or more had a higher average than the 56.16 he took home last week – Herbert Sutcliffe, Eddie Paynter, Ken Barrington, Wally Hammond, Jack Hobbs and Len Hutton, the most recently retired of whom packed up in 1968).
Furthermore, should anyone but Graeme Swann have harboured doubts over his suitability to take over the captaincy from Cook in due course, the application, determination and maturity he showed in compiling his second double-century must surely have removed them now.
Anderson may arrive in Birmingham having just turned 34 but his ability to take what sounded like a serious injury in his stride suggests he remains on course to become the highest ever Test wicket-taker among pace bowlers.
Stuart Broad is only ever one magic spell away from devastating, Jonny Bairstow’s batting goes from strength to strength and the emergence of Chris Woakes as a genuine all-rounder means, while irritating for England and frustrating for Ben Stokes, the likely absence of the Durham all-rounder from the remainder of the series is nothing like the blow it would have been beforehand.
And now the bad news, which, as always, comes in threes, namely the rest of the batting order, the continuing doubts over Bairstow’s glovework and the fact that England’s first-choice spinner would be nothing more than a part-timer in any other Test side in the world, not to mention no-one, least of all Moeen Ali himself, seems to know quite what role he is supposed to be performing in this one.
Despite his unconvincing form as Cook’s latest opening partner in South Africa, the selectors have been right to persevere with Alex Hales and, though unable to convert scores of 86, 83 and 94 into what might have been a breakthrough hundred, there is no arguing with his 292 runs at 58.4 against Sri Lanka.
Against the immeasurably better Pakistan seam attack, however, he has looked tentative and temporary with scores of 6, 16, 10 and 24 and needs to buck that trend soon or risk a return to the ranks of the ODI specialists.
James Vince has shown he can unfurl a cover-drive with the best of them, but a top score of 42 in seven knocks means it was no surprise that Trevor Bayliss fell some way short of offering him his full support in his post-victory comments at Old Trafford. “It does not matter what you look like or what you might do in the future,” said Bayliss,“runs will count in the end.”
Gary Ballance’s return was championed by national selector James Whitaker but while Cook said he liked what he saw in his second innings of his comeback at Lord’s, the Yorkshire batsman has shown little sign of correcting the technical flaws that brought his career to a halt last year.
A batting average of 45.2 shows he has the temperament for Test cricket. Whether he has the game remains to be seen.
Bairstow’s work behind the stumps has shown glimpses of improvement and no one should question either his desire to do the job or the effort he is prepared to put in.
But the suspicion remains that the best he will ever be behind the stumps is adequate and, free of the responsibility, he could develop into the world-class top order at No.5 or higher, for whom England are so desperately searching. As for the question of spin, England are hopeful that more work with coach Saqlain Mushtaq can speed up the education of Moeen, but surely the time has come to see whether Adil Rashid can cut it against Test batsmen, particularly as the winter schedule will demand the inclusion of two spinners on the subcontinent.
If he can, that might also solve the conundrum of how to get the best from Moeen, by allowing him to concentrate on what he is clearly better at, stylish middle-order batting, rather than going in anywhere from No.7 to No.9 and only being used to buy wickets against Pakistan batsmen hell-bent on self-destruction.
England have parity, momentum and every chance of going on to win this series.
But they also have major issues to confront and if they are to achieve their stated aim of returning to the top of the world rankings, they had better start solving them soon.
This piece originally featured in The Cricket Paper, Friday July 29 2016
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