England in the pink ahead of massive Test
BEN STOKES says that England’s fast bowlers are ‘licking their lips’ in anticipation of getting hold of a pink ball and trying to gain revenge over India for their ordeal by spin.
The day-night third Test tomorrow gives England the perfect opportunity to hit back from their thumping defeat on a treacherous turning surface in Chennai.
And Stokes revealed the SG pink ball has been offering so much assistance in the Ahmedabad nets that practise had to be stopped because of fears it was becoming dangerous for batsmen.
‘This is going to be a completely different game,’ he said. ‘I can tell you Jimmy (Anderson), Jofra (Archer) and Broady (Stuart Broad) have been licking their lips. We’ve seen how day-night cricket has offered assistance to quick bowlers. The pink ball does seem to do more.’
Ahmedabad’s Sardar Patel Stadium will be staging its first international match since it was rebuilt to become, at 110,000 capacity, the biggest cricket ground in the world.
And the unknown factor in a stadium that will house 55,000 tomorrow is how much visibility there will be from the ring of LED lights around the perimeter of the roof which have replaced traditional floodlights.
‘When the lights went on yesterday the nets actually got really dangerous,’ Stokes told talkSPORT. ‘The quick bowlers had to stop because we were worried some batsmen were going to get injured.
‘The ball started jumping off a length and a few guys actually got hit. We had to take the bowlers out to the middle to finish their spells. Whether it will be the same in the middle once the match starts we don’t know but we’ve definitely seen a difference so far.’
With that in mind, England, who will be picking from a fully fit squad despite their problems in the nets, look sure to play four seamers, including Stokes, and only one spinner in Jack Leach now Moeen Ali has gone home.
But there could be another seam bowler in the equation along with the big three mentioned by Stokes in Anderson, Archer and Broad, with Joe Root prepared to risk a repeat of the chaotic conclusion to their Chennai defeat by considering Chris Woakes. Cracks in the rotation policy designed to help their players through this busiest of years widened when England admitted immediately after their chastening reverse that they had asked Moeen to change his rest period and stay on for the final two Tests. That led to captain Root taking full responsibility yesterday for wrongly saying Moeen had ‘chosen’ to go home while admitting he will not let the scheduled departure of Woakes after this match affect his third-Test thinking.
‘I made a complete mistake,’ said Root ahead of England’s final practice back under lights today. ‘It wasn’t a true reflection of what happened and left it open to interpretation, which was unfair on Moeen.
‘Yes, Chris is going home after this Test but that should not be factored in now. We will pick the side we think is best to exploit these conditions and win this Test.’
England remained tight-lipped yesterday about what that best team might be in conditions that look sure to be very different from the under-prepared turner of Chennai.
But they will shuffle their pack again, with Archer yesterday declaring himself fully fit and looking sure to play ahead of Olly Stone. Meanwhile, Jonny Bairstow is set to return in place of Dan Lawrence at three, fit-again Zak Crawley could replace out of form Rory Burns at the top of the order and Anderson will definitely play and take the new pink ball.
The big question will be whether Anderson features alongside old strike partner Broad in the place vacated by Moeen or Root risks Woakes making an impact and then being unavailable for the final Test. It would take a brave captain to leave out Broad with the prospect of a swinging ball under lights, especially after he reacted to being dropped last summer with some of the best bowling of his long career. But, if Broad does play, Archer could be as high as eight in the order and England would have a long tail, increasing the chances of a recall for forgotten man Woakes.
‘It’s not ideal to make so many changes but these times are not ideal,’ said Root. ‘We’re trying to build a large squad that, with the current climate and amount of games we’ve got, we’re going to need. If you look at the white-ball squad Eoin Morgan and Trevor Bayliss created, it had strength in depth. That’s something we’re trying to build now.’
Archer looks sure to play even though the performance of Stone in Chennai was one of the few positives for England. Archer said yesterday he was ready to return after an elbow injury and could have played in the second Test if necessary.
‘I was going to be rested anyway in Chennai, so I just had a cortisone injection to make sure I could build everything up in time for the third Test,’ he said.
His captain wants him back in the line-up for this pivotal Test. ‘Jofra brings something very unique,’ said Root. ‘He can do things others can’t and if he is able to operate at 100 per cent it would be great to see him back.’
This first day-night Test between the teams should give England a great chance of playing to their strengths and putting the spin misery of the second Test behind them. Victory would give them an unassailable 2-1 lead with one to play and keep them in the hunt for a place in this summer’s World Test Championship final.
The last time Virat Kohli’s men played a Test under lights, they were bowled out for 36 earlier this year by Australia in Adelaide.
‘If we can exploit what happened to India last time under lights, that’s something we will look to do,’ said Root. ‘But you have to earn that right by making early inroads.’ l Listen to the third Test exclusively on talkSPORT from 9am tomorrow.