Washout Archer forced to wait for Test debut as rain wipes out first day
Denly likely to be given the nod ahead of Curran Archer receives first cap from mentor Jordan
It will be the second four-day Test at Lord’s within a month after the first day was washed out – yet if the revised full allotment of 392 overs can be bowled, every prospect of a conclusive result remains because so many players on both sides have played so little red-ball cricket this year.
England have not drawn a home Test since the one against Sri Lanka at Lord’s in 2016.
There has to be some early nibble for the new Dukes ball because the pitch spent most of day one under covers. But whoever wins the toss out of Joe Root and Tim Paine may feel forced to bat first, as the drainage has left the soil underneath the surface bone dry. So early wickets, perhaps, but by mid-afternoon the conditions could well be at their best for batting.
In the brief respite of the early afternoon yesterday, which allowed both sides to warm up, Jofra Archer received his first Test cap from his Sussex and England mentor Chris Jordan, and Sam Curran practised nothing except fielding. The captains can still change their minds about their final XI as no toss took place, but the signs are Joe Denly will have one more chance to get his Test career up and running, and to prove he has the patience and the requisite standard of shot selection, on the ground where he played three seasons for Middlesex.
It would be the harshest treatment meted out to any England batsman in the four years that Trevor Bayliss has been head coach if Denly were consigned to the dustbin after only four Tests. Such brief trials have been reserved for bowlers, such as Craig Overton, Jake Ball, Liam Dawson, Tom Curran and Mason Crane, none of whom has been granted a handful of Tests.
Batsmen, though, are given a decent run, even if they cannot make one.
There is a fair chance that Ollie Pope, Haseeb Hameed and Ben Duckett will come again after two, three and four Tests respectively, as they are all so young. Duckett was recalled to the one-day international squad this year; Pope has recovered from a dislocated shoulder, if not premature promotion for his Test debut against India at Lord’s last summer; while Hameed, who suffered a broken finger – an even more serious injury than Pope’s – while on England duty, has scored only four runs fewer than Keaton Jennings for Lancashire in this season’s championship, even if that is not saying much.
Denly has been given four Tests so far, and only seven innings in effect, because his second innings against Ireland can hardly be counted a fair trial. Joe Root, the striker, called Denly for a single to midwicket and set off before having second thoughts, returning to his crease and exercising droit de seigneur.
It is not so much the number of runs which has put Denly’s place in doubt: in addition to his 23 and 10 (run out) against Ireland, Denly has scored 18 and 11 against Australia at No4, 20 and 69 against West Indies at No3 and six and 17 against West Indies as an opener on his debut. It is the quality of his shot selection that will be under scrutiny when he faces up to Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Peter Siddle, the last two of them experts in probing outside off stump.
Denly has edged or missed 27 per cent of the deliveries he has received in his four Tests.
His 69 in the third Test against West Indies, in St Lucia, saw him at his best and worst as he unleashed his cover drives against Shannon Gabriel: one that ticked every technical and aesthetic box would be followed by a miss, sometimes next ball.
If this percentage seems high for a top-order batsman, albeit one at the outset of his Test career, the only England batsmen to edge or miss a higher proportion of deliveries this year have been James Anderson and Jack Leach. Anderson is not renowned for getting in line and while Leach tried to do so against Ireland, and was as dutiful as a nightwatchman could be in the course of his 92, he is a No 11.
Ticket-holders from yesterday’s washout will receive a 100 per cent refund. The MCC are covered for estimated gate receipts of around £2 million.