No rest for Anderson and Broad
England pass up chance to give Porter experience Rashid, Stokes and Woakes fight for places
A conservative selection. The times are a-changing, as Alastair Cook will be playing his 161st and final Test, but they are not changing fast enough for England to be ready for the first Test of the 2019 Ashes – their next challenge at home.
England have become too heavily dependent on James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who cannot be expected to expand their combined total of 990 Test wickets indefinitely. After the series against India had been safely banked, this was the time to give the new ball to somebody else – such as Jamie Porter, who was in the England squad for the first three Tests.
But no. If 68 years catch up on Anderson or Broad before next summer, or during the Ashes series, someone new will take on the job without sufficient experience.
It is not as if the Oval is Anderson’s favourite hunting ground. It is his least successful in England, the one where his Test bowling average is highest, 33. His one field-day was against India in 2014, when the grass was long because England were only 2-1 up going into the final Test. India were soon 44 for six.
Broad is too canny a customer to bust a gut when a series is not at stake. The last time England went to the Oval with an invincible lead, against Australia in 2015, Broad was basking in the glory of his Asheswinning spell of eight for 15 at Trent Bridge – and Australia’s opening batsman, Chris Rogers, did not have to play a ball in Broad’s first over except one going down leg side.
The Oval has been Broad’s second most unprofitable Test ground at home, after Cardiff.
The impression is that England’s new selectors, while bold at times, are also reluctant to make big decisions. Thus Ben Stokes should not have played in the third Test at Trent Bridge, because he was too hyped-up, as well as the fact that Sam Curran’s full-length swing was more suited to the conditions. And they have yet to announce whether Jos Buttler or Jonny Bairstow will keep wicket on Friday.
Now Anderson or Broad should have been rested, in accordance with the selection policy announced before this series.
Promoting Moeen Ali to No3 at the Oval can again be seen as a big decision deferred. Ishant Sharma has dismissed Cook cheaply three times in this series, Keaton Jennings cheaply twice, so picking another left-hander of less than watertight technique to bat at three against the world expert in bowling at left-handers is no brain-wave – except if England have advance information Sharma is not playing.
It would have been building for the future if James Vince, who was in the squad for the fourth Test, had batted at No3 at the Oval. Playing for Hampshire against Worcestershire, he was caught behind off a loose drive as England’s squad was announced, so he would have known he had not been retained: but no Test attack has got the better of Vince yet, only his own shot-selection, and he could open in Sri Lanka and the West Indies and learn many ropes before the Ashes.
No right-hander is better qualified for the post until Haseeb Hameed makes runs again.
At this stage it looks as though England will make Ollie Pope 12th man – he does not join the squad until tomorrow morning, after playing the first two days of Surrey’s game against Essex – and will select two of the following three, depending on injuries, the pitch and overhead conditions: Adil Rashid, Stokes and Chris Woakes.
Stokes was limited by a left knee injury in the fourth Test at Southampton, while Woakes – who played in the second and third Tests – will have a thigh injury assessed.