Controversial choice shows he can thrive Down Under

SECOND chances do not come along too often in top-level sport and when they do, history probably records them missed more often than taken.

Yet James Vince’s opening effort in this Ashes campaign not only proved he belongs at this level but went a long way to vindicating the biggest gamble taken by selectors on this tour.

The 26-year-old’s courageous 83 at The Gabba on a charged opening day of this series stands not only as a personal best at Test level but also an eloquent response to all those who had questioned his choice as the work of chancers.

Satisfyingly, for England fans of a certain age, they include former Australia opener Matt Hayden, who earlier this week claimed he had not even heard of Vince or his fellow Ashes debutants Mark Stoneman and Dawid Malan.

“If he didn’t know who we were at the start of the day he does now,” said Vince after he made it to the foothills of a century, Stoneman made a composed 53, and Malan closed the day unbeaten and looking increasingly at home.

“Reading comments like that gives you an extra incentive to go out and make a statement – a little more fire to go out there and prove people wrong.”

Vince himself has openly admitted doubters had good cause following his call-up given an underwhelming first stab at Test cricket in 2016 when seven Tests, against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, yielded an average of just over 19 and a high score of 42.

It also revealed a worrying propensity to flash outside off stump, which Australia clearly thought was hard-wired into his DNA given the tempters on a fifth stump line IN BRISBANE they served up repeatedly here. Yet it is worth thinking about those figures and what they say about the England brains trust’s belief in Vince’s talent, because if it was an application for the job of an Ashes No3 it would be the first CV crumpled in the bin.

“I said last month when I got the call-up I was a bit surprised and if I could have my first go at Test cricket again I would,” he said. “But since then I have just been focusing on this to try to capitalise and get myself nailed down in the team.”

Vince’s innings came at a high-pressure moment, walking to the wicket at 2-1 to join Stoneman after the fall of Alastair Cook to Mitchell Starc in the third over of the day and with the entire ground thinking, ‘Here we go again’.

Yet he reined in some of his more attacking flourishes, travelling with a foot lightly touching the brake until his 40s before easing into some elegant off-drives later.

Vince had a touch of fortune on 68 when wicketkeeper Tim Paine could not organise his hands quickly enough after Nathan Lyon found the edge of his bat. But otherwise he made his own before it ran out when he was run out on 83.

Stoneman struck before getting a belter of a ball from Pat Cummins which rushed through the

gate with a halfcentury unseemly haste and clipped middle. Joe Root fell to the same bowler, pinned with the in-swinger after a series going the other way.

Vince was only undone by a moment of brilliance in the field, Nathan Lyon pouncing from point and throwing down the stumps after he pushed into the off-side and ran.

It meant Lyon and Vince crossed the line together in the race for the day’s most significant contribution with the spinner 0-40 from 24 overs, but as Cummins pointed out, “unlucky not to end with a six-for” let alone go unrewarded.

This, at least on day one, was not the pitch Australia envisaged at the Gabba as it absorbed much of the energy put into deliveries from the much-touted pace duo of Cummins and Starc.

It should speed up as the match goes on, although who will get the benefit is anybody’s guess.

Vince, Malan and Stoneman will be wary having seen up close the Aussie pair reach shoulder height with bouncers, but will now believe that they have the tools to cope.

For Vince in particular, day one suggests his game is particularly suited to the Kookaburra ball, which does not swing as much as the Duke’s ball used in home Test matches, and Australian wickets where the ball comes on to the bat.

“It is good to get off to a good start but hopefully I can kick on and make some big contributions as the series goes on,” he said. Vince also deserves credit for his patience when it was put to him that he was surely disappointed not to have reached three figures.

“It is a bit obviously,” he said. “But no matter what score a batter gets he always wants more.

“It would have been nice to be there at the end of the day but stuff like that happens in cricket.”