Ballance is all wrong in Root’s first team

IT was supposed to be the start of a bold new era when the innate conservatism of alastair Cook was replaced by the dynamic leadership of Joe Root at the helm of a vibrant young England side. what happened?

England’s squad for the first Test of the Root reign is anything but. For bold, read uninspiring. For dynamic, read pragmatic. For vibrant read, well… dull.

It does little to suggest that England under Root will be the extension of their exciting one- day side that coach Trevor Bayliss craves and ECB chief executive Tom Harrison almost demanded earlier this year.

Perhaps the selections of Gary Ballance and Liam Dawson for the first Test at Lord’s on Thursday in a squad that also includes five fast bowlers merely represents early insecurity from an inexperienced captain.

Make no mistake, this is Root’s squad. The selectors who made so many mistakes last year, notably in picking Ballance to face Pakistan, cannot be blamed for the negative make-up of an underwhelming first Test squad.

a captain is never stronger than at the start of his reign and if Root, who said when appointed how much he believes in the captain having a say in selection, strongly advocated Ballance and Dawson, as believed, then he had to have them.

The third coming of Ballance represents a huge gamble by England, particularly as it seems he will bat at No 3 where Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel will be licking their lips in anticipation at bowling to him.

Perhaps aptly for a man whose colour blindness provides difficulties in seeing the pink ball, with three day-night Tests coming in the next nine months for England, it looks like a shortsighted selection. It had been no secret that Root wanted his Yorkshire captain alongside him and Ballance could do no more than begin this season so brilliantly that he is averaging more than 100 in the County Championship.

Part of the art of selection is looking ahead and even if Ballance confounds the odds and succeeds against south africa, it is mightily difficult to see him flourishing on australian pitches against their attack.

Dawson, meanwhile, is a very capable county cricketer who equipped himself well, mainly with the bat, when he made what looked certain to be a one- off appearance in Test cricket at the end of England’s chastening series in India last winter.

But he is not the seventh best batsman in England and is not even the best spinner in Hampshire, let alone the country. If he is destined to be 12th man, why not pick his county teammate Mason Crane instead?

The presence of those five fast men is another negative move. There is a reason England have not picked five fast bowlers in a home Test since 1993. It doesn’t work. It can only mean they are worried about injuries, but they should not be taking anyone into a Test with a cloud over them.

The most worrying thing is this is the second successive year Bayliss has publicly advocated bolder options — last year Jos Buttler, this time Dawid Malan — only for the squad to be greeted by a groan rather than a gasp.

If it is true that England’s Test side has stagnated, then they have to adopt the same methods Bayliss has so successfully employed in one-day cricket.

The clock is ticking towards the ashes and England cannot afford to waste any time in the seven Tests that Root will have against south africa and west Indies to settle into the role.

and that makes this selection such a crying shame, whatever happens at Lord’s, where pragmatism will rule over a potential brave new world.