A great start but collapse is a concern

LoRD’S was about as good as it gets for a new captain, but that doesn’t mean Joe Root won’t already be thinking of ways to get better.

The challenge of captaincy is to balance the short-term need of winning the next Test with the long-term desire to improve your team — and while Root would love to make it 2-0 against a fragile South African side at Trent Bridge, he will also be aware that questions remain.

I don’t mean this to sound critical, because England did everything they could in the first Test after a winter in which they lost 4-0 in India and a year in which they lost eight Testssts in total.

It was a great start to the Root era.

But the manner in which England collapsed in the second innings has to be a concern. Collapses playedd too big a part in theirir cricket in 2016 andd I thought some of the criticismicism of their slow batting on the third evening at Lord’s was justified.

It was all very well for Trevor Bayliss and Root to point out that it was tough for England’s top order that night as they chugged along at two an over. But if it was as tough as they said, then you could argue they should have tried to score more quickly before the pitch started to become unplayable.

That brings me back to my argument that Root should go in at No 3, and Gary Ballance at No 5 or No 6. And that’s what I mean about thinking long term. Fast forward to November and England are 10 for one in the first Test at Brisbane. Who do the Australians want coming in next? Root, who can counterattack and take an innings away from you, or Ballance, a guy who they have done well against before and who is not going to make the fielding captain fear he’ll lose control? Sometimes there are moments in a Test where you have to seize the initiative. Yes, England ended up winning easily at Lord’s, but a better side might have punished them for failing to put their foot down on that third evening. Then there’s the spin-bowling question. After India, the concern was that English cricket wasn’t pproducing world- class slow bowlers, or batsmen capcapable of playing the tuturning ball. Are we suddenly ssaying that concern has vanished simply because Moeen Ali played out of his skin? I was delighted to see hhim prosper — it’s a rereminder that he is one of the best things to happenhappe to English cricket over the past few years. The question is whether, when England next encounter the conditions they faced in the subcontinent over the winter, Moeen (below) and Liam Dawson will be the answer. What, for example, is going to happen with Adil Rashid after all the investment England have made in him? And will Mason Crane get a look in? Root’s leadership was impressive at Lord’s but I’m not sure he ever needed to do anything out of the ordinary because the bowlers were always in the game. The real test will come when he’s faced with a flat pitch, with no lateral movement or variable bounce. That’s when a captain earns his corn. There were moments at Lord’s where Root sat in well, but he didn’t need to sit in for long. That test will definitely come this winter in Australia. South Africa are unlikely to stretch England in the same way, but it would be nice if they did. Then we’ll find out more about where this team are heading.