England plan to back up victory over SA
THE Oval has extracted every last drop of publicity from its 100th Test but even the famous old ground’s public relations department would have struggled to dream up an ending so dramatic it may be talked about 100 games hence.
After an unremarkable morning, Moeen Ali bounced up to the crease as the third English bowler to be on a hat-trick in South Africa’s second innings of the third Test.
After a frenzied appeal, nail-biting review and final finger of doom, Ali became the first player to achieve the feat in a Test at The Oval and the first English spinner to bag a hat-trick since Tom Goddard in 1938.
The celebrations were all you might expect of such a deed. This was the third time a test had been completed with a hat-trick and the first for 115 years. Three balls, three wickets, one never to be forgotten moment.
Ali has taken 18 wickets in the series at an average of under 15 in 2017. These impressive statistics reflect the newfound confidence in England has in their all-rounders. This is reflected in the England team selection for the final Test.
Steven Finn has replaced injured fast bowling colleague Mark Wood in the only change to England’s squad for the fourth Test against South Africa, starting on Friday at Old Trafford.
Toby Roland-Jones made his debut in the third Test victory and was part of England’s pace attack alongside James Anderson and Stuart Broad, while Finn, whose last Test appearance was in October last year, was added as standby for Wood.
Finn’s Middlesex team mate Roland-Jones took eight wickets, while fellow debutant Tom Westley, batting at number three, also shone with a 59 in the second innings as the hosts took a 2-1 series lead.
With the inclusion of Westley and another debutant batsman in Dawid Malan, England moved Ali down to number eight at The Oval but that could change in Manchester.
England coach Trevor Bayliss feels the side can cope with a batsman less as all-rounders Ben Stokes and Ali have both contributed runs for England.
“I’m still of the view that we don’t need more than seven batsman,” Bayliss said.
“We’ve got three guys like Ben Stokes, wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali who give us a lot of options, so on this occasion, we looked at the conditions, saw the pitch was a bit green so we played the extra batsman. There wasn’t a great deal of spin, but that could be different somewhere else,” he said.
Malan, only managed a score of 11in his first match, while opening batsman Keaton Jennings spot has recently come under heavy scrutiny due to his lacklustre performance. Either of them could be dropped if England opts to include second spinner Liam Dawson.
Current Roster: Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings, Tom Westley, Joe Root (captain), Dawid Malan, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (wicketkeeper), Moeen Ali, Toby Roland-Jones, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Liam Dawson, Steven Finn. – Reuters