It’s no time for players to take the safe option

ANOTHER week, another Test approaches and still all the noise before the match is about player behaviour and not cricket.

My view is simple: as a tourist with England, yes you are in a stressful environment but you are in an incredibly privileged position and you need to be extra careful about how you behave and how and where you let your hair down.

There is no doubt Ben Stokes and Alex Hales have caused the team a bigger problem than the leadership imagined. This is the reality and the players know it. If they didn’t they are aware of it now!

With so much going on off the field and every move being scrutinised by the press, it is easy for players – and I am thinking particularly of lesser players, unsure of their place in the side – to become very insular.

The tendency is to ‘look after No1’, try to make a decent score to keep yourself ‘safe’.

That is understandable but in times like this it cannot be the mindset. England need to change the batting order and get on the front foot.

For me that means Joe Root moving to No 3. Yes, there is a case to be made that he is a brilliant No4 but this team needs a result.

I was quite shocked to hear Jonny Bairstow say on the radio this week that only two matches have been played so there is no need to change for this Test. We are 2-0 down and about to lose the Ashes.

England need a win and aggressive cricket is needed. If Moeen is not fit to bowl because of his injured finger then Mason Crane must play. If the management decide he isn’t good enough then why is he on tour?

I would move James Vince to No 4, which might take the pressure of him a little, and Bairstow at five, with Dawid Malan at six, Chris Woakes, below, at seven and Moeen back to No8.

I think Woakes has a very good technique which allows Moeen to come in at eight and play his natural game.

Personally, I would leave Bairstow to keep wicket even though Ben Foakes can offer a right-hand option, in light of Nathan Lyon’s success against left handers.

Jonny has kept well for 18 months and he wants the job, and I’m not sure it would be wise to drop a player for a debutant at seven just because Vince, Malan and Stoneman are light on runs.

It may not win us the series – but there may be a better cause for a few cold ones!