England are running out of time to come up with Ashes plan
THERE are five Tests to go, but for an England side trying to work out their best XI, the Ashes are looming into view with alarming haste.
If Plan A is to win the third Test against South Africa, starting at The Oval on Thursday, then Plan B is to convince themselves and the Australians that the team which appears at The Gabba in November is capable of retaining the urn.
The injury to Gary Ballance, who has been ruled out with a broken finger, has not helped. The focus will be on his top-order colleagues.
For opener Keaton Jennings, time could be running out. In December, he took an assured hundred in Mumbai, but he has averaged 14 in Test cricket since that heady day.
Haseeb Hameed, who had performed so precociously in three Tests in India before breaking a finger, would return to partner Alastair Cook, while Jennings would slot in at No3. But Hameed has endured a wretched season with Lancashire.
All of this places a burden on Tom Westley, the 28-year-old Essex right-hander. Like Westley, Dawid Malan has scored 18 hundreds. Unlike Westley, who will slot straight in to Ballance’s position at No 3, Malan’s ambitions depend on whether left-arm spinner Liam Dawson is favoured.
Dawson’s main role appears to be as a comfort blanket for Moeen Ali, who does not like being England’s first-choice spinner. Perhaps Dawson is merely keeping a seat warm for Hampshire’s 20-year-old leg-spinner Mason Crane.
He is expected to play in next month’s series against West Indies, when the return of Chris Woakes at No8 will allow England to pick a spinner who does not bat (Crane’s first-class average is 10), rather than one who does (Dawson’s is 33). But it would give Crane only three Tests before the Ashes.
Another possibility would be a Test debut for Middlesex’s seam-bowling all-rounder Toby Roland-Jones, but only if captain Joe Root and coach Trevor Bayliss decide Mark Wood needs a breather after taking only one wicket in two Tests.
Meanwhile, fears the Ashes could be scrapped have not gone away after the Australian players’ union warned that time is running out to resolve their pay dispute.
New contracts mean that cricketers will no longer get a pecentage of Cricket Australia income.