Calm Westley reminds me of Vaughan
When I first saw Michael Vaughan and Marcus Trescothick I was struck by how calm and composed they were at the crease and Tom Westley similarly impressed me with his temperament on Test debut yesterday.
Technique is important, of course, but the most crucial thing at the highest level is character and, watching him play at The Oval, talking to him and seeing him go about his business, Westley does seem to have a bit about him.
Westley is making his debut at what I think is a good age of 28 because he has been round the traps, knows his game inside out and, unlike someone like haseeb hameed, has been through the ups and downs before arriving at the top.
The essex man averages 37 in his career but it is higher than that in the first division this season and he has scored runs against international sides for the Lions which suggests he improves his game when the level goes up.
he couldn’t have asked for a bigger occasion on which to make his Test debut, with a full house in for The Oval’s 100th Test and against this high quality South African attack, but he acquitted himself well before lunch.
There was more than a bit of the last englishman to make his Test debut at three in John Crawley about the way Westley opened up and targeted the leg side and there were a lot of positive things about him.
But, as with any batsman, people will look at the best ways of getting them out and I think everybody knew before this third Investec Test that there is an area just outside off stump where Westley can be vulnerable.
I was interested to see some comments from the wise old essex sage Keith Fletcher this week in which he said he liked the fact that Westley hits the ball back past the bowler through mid-on with a slightly closed bat.
That’s fine but when the ball is swinging away that slightly closed bat face does bring the slip cordon into play and that is an area where Westley will have to make sure he is very tight.
he did just that before lunch and let the ball come to him but then he made the fatal error of not starting again after the break — he didn’t give himself an over or two to see that the ball had started to swing.
It’s very easy to build up a lad who got 25 so let’s not get carried away but as far as composure and character are concerned he showed that in abundance alongside a man he knows so well in Alastair Cook.
You can argue about personnel but england picked the best balanced side. There are fragilities in the top order and they are not scoring the runs they should so it was right to play the extra batsman in Dawid Malan.
And you cannot judge the Middlesex man on his dismissal yesterday because he got a fantastic inswinging yorker from Kagiso Rabada that would have got some very good people out. It came from nowhere, too.
Keaton Jennings, in contrast, looks horribly out of nick. I saw him have a horror net session before play and then he had a horror time in the middle and he needs runs in the second innings now if he is to play next week at Old Trafford.