ENGLAND’S GREAT SPIN DILEMMA
Openers struggling to bat against it, and spinners struggling to bowl it!
AT the end of another long stint in the Galle furnace, England were taking comfort in old truths — and fighting the urge to fret about new ones.
While James Anderson and Joe Root underlined their claims to greatness on the second day of the second Test, not everyone was preparing for next month’s four-match series in India quite so adeptly.
On the evidence of six-and-a-bit days’ Test cricket in Sri Lanka, England’s problem is twofold: their openers are struggling to bat against spin, and their spinners are struggling to bowl it.
There is time for improvement, of course, and winter tours tend to throw up an unexpected hero or two. But another pair of failures for openers Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley, who between them have been dismissed in single figures six times out of six by left-arm spinner Lasith Embuldeniya, does not bode well.
Of equal concern was the fact that all 10 Sri Lankan wickets fell to the seamers, leaving Jack Leach and Dom Bess with a combined analysis of 64-7-195-0. By contrast, seven overs and one ball into England’s reply to 381, Embuldeniya had figures of 3.1-3-0-2.
At stumps, with Root sweeping as expertly and relentlessly as he did in his double-hundred in the first Test, England had at least recovered to 98 for two. He had a sparkling 67 from 77 balls and dominated a stand with Jonny Bairstow, who survived a convincing lbw shout from off-spinner Dilruwan Perera on 23. But there is work ahead if the tourists are to translate last week’s victory into a series win.
Earlier, Anderson had turned his overnight three for 24 — heroic enough in these conditions — into a magnificent six for 40 from 29 world-class overs. There are some who still bleat about his record away from home. They can be safely ignored.
Typically, Anderson began with the wicket England craved: Angelo Mathews caught behind for 110 in the morning’s second over after Root did well to ask for a review. Later, he had wicketkeeper Niroshan Dickwella caught at wide mid-off by Leach for a fighting 92, and immediately added Suranga Lakmal for a duck.
It added up to the best figures by an England seamer in Asia for more than 30 years, going back to Ian Botham’s seven for 48 in the Golden Jubilee Test against India at Bombay in 1979-80. And it was Anderson’s 30th Test haul of five or more, passing Australia’s Glenn McGrath.
There were times, though, when England’s plans seemed to amount to little more than throwing their attack leader the ball at the start of each session and hoping for the best.
Mark Wood plugged away to finish with three for 84, and Sam Curran took the final wicket. But England must be tempted to play Anderson and Stuart Broad in the first Test at Chennai on February 5. Their combined analysis in this series is 55-27-74-9. As for their combined age of 72, who — frankly — cares?
With Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer set to return for the India series, that risks leaving England with a surfeit of seam. But it is plainly their strength right now, even on the subcontinent, and they could still play two spinners without weakening the batting if they replace Bess with Moeen Ali.
Bess’s cheap five-for on the opening day of the series has looked increasingly like the aberration it seemed at the time. Two maidens in 26 wicketless overs here summed up the malaise: a lack of control.
Leach, who can plea rustiness after health and selection issues in 2020, was little better, but he worked hard for his second-innings five-for last week, and his left-arm spin ought to be more dangerous against an Indian top five made up of right-handers. Even so, Root will need more from him than none for 119.
Three times in the Sri Lanka innings, England felt one wicket away from taking control: at seven for two, then 76 for three, and finally 243 for six. Instead, their attack simply didn’t have enough wicket-takers. The last time they played at Chennai, in late 2016, they conceded the biggest total in their history — 759 for seven. More toil will lie in store if nothing changes.
And what of England’s openers? In the first Test, Embuldeniya had Sibley caught at slip for four, then bowled him playing no shot for two. Here, he trapped him leg-before for a duck as Sibley stayed back — an error compounded by wasting a review.
Crawley has looked all at sea as well, winkled out for nine, eight and five. Unless Sibley scores runs in the second innings, it is hard to see how England avoid replacing him in Chennai with Rory Burns, back from paternity leave. Crawley is another matter, since he keeps being moved around the order, and deserves a chance to prove that his momentous 267 against Pakistan in August was more than a one-off.
But England have already decided that Bairstow, among their best players of spin, will miss the first two Tests against India as part of their rest and rotation policy, leaving them with few top-order options.
As if oblivious to it all, Root spent the second evening of this game batting like an old master, and even overtaking one, too: while hitting three fours in an over from Embuldeniya, he moved past Geoff Boycott’s Test tally of 8,114 runs and became England’s sixth-highest runscorer.
One of the fours, a distinctly unBoycottian reverse sweep as stumps approached, said everything about Root’s determination to take the fight back to Sri Lanka’s spinners, and Embuldeniya in particular. By the close, though, England’s path to salvation seemed to have narrowed to one man. At some point, Root will not be able to do everything by himself.