Roy’s last chance
England to give batsman final shot at opener’s role in third Test
Jason Roy will be given one more chance to prove he can be a Testmatch opener at Headingley this week with England reluctantly sticking with the same top order.
Roy is averaging just nine as an opener but will stay there, despite Trevor Bayliss, the England coach, admitting he believes the Surrey batsman’s best position is at No4.
“Personally, I think he [Roy] is a middle-order player, but we’ve had a set middle order – yes, some of the combos have changed, but the one spot available was at the top [opening],” said Bayliss. “Yes it hasn’t worked yet, but he could easily come out and blast a quick hundred. Long-term he’s more middle order, he’d feel more comfortable there, and he’s doing a job for the team [at the moment].
“There’s one or two spots batting in the wrong positions, but we’re trying to do the right thing by the team. I wouldn’t make changes for the sake of changing, because it hasn’t worked a couple of times. I’d like to see players in the one spot so the team knows who is following who, rather than changing around.”
Bayliss has only three more Tests before he leaves and sorting out the batting order will be the responsibility of his successor. “There might come a time when we have to put a foot down and say, ‘No, this is what’s happening. Like it or lump it,’” he said. One option for the future is a return of Ben Foakes to keep and bat at seven, but that would mean Jonny Bairstow moving up the order and giving up the gloves and England do not want to mess with the mindset of such a key player during an Ashes series.
Clearly, in selection meetings there have been discussions over the batting order and there appears to be a disagreement between the top decision-makers, leaving England in a muddle over their best batting order. Joe Root has not looked happy at No3 and collected a first-ball duck at Lord’s in the second innings. Joe Denly has more experience than Roy opening in first-class cricket but is batting at four, where Roy would be a natural fit and able to play his attacking game against an older, softer ball.
Denly has been gifted the plum spot in the order, but is still struggling to justify the support of Ed Smith, the chief selector, who has backed his instinct and believes he can be an international cricketer.
The lower order is more fluid and Ben Stokes could move up from six to five, as in the second innings at Lord’s when he scored a century, depending on how much bowling he has done. Bairstow and Jos Buttler could also swap at six and seven. Fluidity or confusion?
“We could be flexible and that’s why Stokes has been five and six at times, it’s part of why Jonny is five, six and seven at times – to spread that workload,” said Bayliss. “I’d like to see the guys stick to a position, but it is one of the difficulties.”
England will pick the same XI for this Test and none of the front-line pace men bowled in the nets at Headingley yesterday as they recover from their Lord’s workload.
Jofra Archer bowled 44 overs in the match and the temptation for England will be to lean too heavily on their strike bowler and risk aggravating the side injury he sustained in the World Cup. Former West Indies paceman Michael Holding criticised Archer’s workload at Lord’s. “It’s abuse,” Holding told The Independent. “Archer bowled a third of all the overs bowled. That’s a spinner’s quota.”
James Anderson bowled for Lancashire seconds yesterday, increasing his chances of being available for the fourth Test at Old Trafford. Chris Woakes’s workload has been carefully managed and he bowled only three overs in the second innings at Lord’s, despite his fine record at the ground.
“What will happen over time is we will start to work out what is the best for him [Archer]. He is a fairly fit, young bloke,” said Bayliss. “To get through what he was able to without losing pace – in fact, he went up in pace the longer he was bowling – was a very good sign. If he is putting that type of pressure on at one end, it helps the guy at the other end.”
Steve Smith’s absence from the third Test tilts the odds in England’s favour and Archer’s emergence has at last given Bayliss a fast-bowling weapon. At the end of the last Ashes series he bemoaned England’s lack of quick bowlers after being outgunned by Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins.
“He [Archer] just adds another dynamic to England’s attack and something Australian batters will have to deal with,” he said. “With some of the young fast bowlers England are starting to get together, it could be a juicy series in Australia in a couple of years if you have got Archer, Stone and Wood all fit.
“That would pit three good fast bowlers against them. It will add another dynamic to an Australia tour on fast, bouncy wickets.”