Martial tells Jose: family comes first
ANTHONY MARTIAL will return to Manchester today following a public spat with Jose Mourinho for leaving Manchester United’s tour of the US to attend the birth of his son. Martial has not been seen for more than a week since leaving United’s training base in LA against the wishes of manager Mourinho to fly to Paris. Mourinho called on Martial to return to America after his partner Melanie da Cruz gave birth to their son, Swan. Martial, who has not trained for eight days, broke his silence on Twitter last night, stating: ‘Sorry but my family will always come first . . . back tomorrow in Manchester.’
As Dawid Malan dragged himself from the middle, lbw to Mohammed shami for eight, a dark thought might have crossed his mind. Come England’s second innings, he will probably be playing for his Test place.
That may sound harsh, for a couple of reasons. First, it was not so long ago that Malan was making a vivid 140 at Perth, so often the venue where English batsmen go to die. second, this five-Test series is only a day old.
But one of the early hallmarks of Ed smith’s tenure as national selector is a willingness to make a tough call. If Trevor Bayliss has been accused in the past of taking too long to decide about the virtues of England’s latest Test cricketer, smith appears to be coaxing the coach in the other direction.
Just ask Mark stoneman, who was ditched one game into smith’s reign after making four and nine against Pakistan at Lord’s at the end of May. It is inconceivable that the 31-year-old stoneman will be back — and Malan, 31 next month, risks suffering the same fate.
His problem has been an unusual one: he prefers the pace and bounce more common to overseas pitches to the swing and seam usually found at home. His failure here took his Test average in England to 20, as opposed to 35 abroad. It is a shaky basis for a long-term career.
so Malan was left in no uncertain terms before this series that more is expected of him if he wants to fill the coveted No 4 role. He responded well, making a pair of fifties for England Lions against India A at Worcester. The question, though, is whether that merely papered over the cracks.
Malan has not always been treated well. His Twenty20 record boasts four fifties in five innings, yet he couldn’t get a game against Australia or India this summer. And he missed out on a one-day debut because he was obliged to prove his red-ball credentials with the Lions. Both decisions are understood to have irritated him.
But his predominantly back-foot game is in danger of holding him back. Because if it is clearly suited to Australia, where he was England’s top- scorer in the winter, and south Africa, where England will next tour in 2019-20, then it leaves him vulnerable elsewhere.
since this winter’s tours are to sri Lanka and the West Indies, both of which produce pitches favouring front- foot batsmen, Malan’s prospects are not bright. His dismissal on the first day of this series was a case in point. In the second over of a new spell from shami, he pulled him fine for four. But that is one of his shots, and when shami pitched fuller in his next over, Malan was rooted to the crease. Like Gary Ballance before him, he is giving the ball every chance to move off the seam.
He asked for a review, which seemed fair enough to the naked eye. But the ball-tracking technology suggested umpire’s call both on impact and height, so Chris Gaffaney’s decision remained.
If Malan fails in the second innings here, further eroding a Test average of 28, there is every chance he will follow stoneman back to county cricket. And that means yet another rearrangement for the batting line-up.
Moeen Ali will return for the second Test at Lord’s. That, though, will be in place of Ben stokes, who will be facing charges of affray in Bristol. Which leaves another place up for grabs.
With smith more inclined to be bold than conservative, that could pave the way for surrey’s 20-yearold Ollie Pope, who has averaged 85 this summer.
Pope made an unbeaten 50 in the second innings of the Lions game against India A, and has inched ahead of Worcestershire’s Joe Clarke, who netted at Edgbaston yesterday. selection at Lord’s would allow Pope 11 Tests to bed in before next summer’s Ashes.
It’s a harsh game that can think of discarding a player so early in a major series, but sentiment seems low on smith’s list of priorities. When England bat again, Malan may need the innings of his life.