(Photo: Getty Images)
By Harvey Burgess
Despite victory in England’s first Test against Bangladesh, criticism of the touring side’s poor performance has been rife in the few days since Ben Stokes wrapped up a 22-run win. This was Bangladesh’s narrowest defeat in Test history and they remain without a win against England in Test cricket. However, it was the weak batting in England’s close-fought victory that prompted considerable criticism.
For a start, all of England’s bowlers were outshone by a 19-year-old debutant in the form of Mehedi Hasan, who ripped through an out-of-form batting line-up with considerable ease. Of particular concern will be the way Hasan dismantled a supposedly strong middle order in the first innings, taking the wickets of four of England’s top five batsmen.
First-innings figures of 39.5-7-80-6 will make compelling reading for India’s top two spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, whose scintillating current form and considerable experience in the subcontinent leaves England’s batsmen vulnerable to similar collapses to those suffered in Chittagong.
Despite rallying by the lower-middle order in both innings, it cannot be ignored that collapsing to 21-3 and 28-3 in the first and second innings respectively highlights a worrying tendency in the England side. Their inability to start strongly was emphasised by Michael Vaughan, who told the BBC: “England for such a long time are always 30 or 40 for three. If they’re 30 or 40 for three against India they’ll get blown away.”
As for the pitches that the Indian groundsmen produce, they will undoubtedly be similar to the dry and dusty track that England faced in Chittagong. The amount of turn that was on offer surprised even the experts, but England coach Trevor Bayliss will hope that his side will have learnt their lessons from the first Test.
Not only did England’s batsmen prove to be decidedly weak playing against spin, but also their own slow bowlers failed to enjoy anything like the same success as the triumvirate from Bangladesh. Gareth Batty, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid are without doubt the three most accomplished spinners on tour, however they conceded runs far more often than England’s fast bowlers and took 12 wickets compared to the 19 that Bangladesh’s less experienced trio achieved.
Zafar Ansari has the opportunity to stake his claim when he starts in the second Test against Bangladesh, beginning tomorrow in Dhaka, however his relative inexperience may count against him when England name their line-up to face the world’s best Test side. Another option that Alistair Cook can count on is Joe Root, whose presence in the batting line-up frees up a spot further down the order for specialist bowlers.
Adil Rashid was not particularly impressive with the ball in hand in Chittagong, while Moeen Ali was also guilty of conceding too many runs in Chittagong and will need to improve if he is to threaten India’s higher-quality and more experienced batsmen. There is no doubt that Ashwin and Jadeja will almost certainly not be as profligate in the five-Test series; this leaves Bayliss with plenty of thinking to do before 9 November, when the first Test begins in Rajkot.
The 27-year-old Ravindra Jadeja comes into the series in fine form, having picked up the man of the match award in the first Test against New Zealand and performing well across the series overall. A Test-match bowling average of under 24 is the best of any currently-active spinner in the world and puts him ahead of his compatriot Ashwin and even the great Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne. England’s spinners would do well to learn from the accuracy and variation that Jadeja provides, while they face a similarly significant challenge in facing his more experienced countryman.
Currently ranked as the world’s best Test bowler, Ashwin is exceptionally adept at taking the wickets of the opposition’s top five batsmen. In the last decade, the 30-year-old has the best average of any spinner (with at least 50 wickets) against the opposition’s top five batsmen, a statistic which will not be music to the ears of the struggling Gary Ballance and Ben Duckett.
The right-arm spinner has picked up four Man-of-the-Series awards on the spin, equalling the record set by Malcolm Marshall and Imran Khan, and will be looking to go one better when England and India face off in a demanding schedule of five Tests in under six weeks. Who would bet against him?
