ENGLAND ARE GOING BACK TO BASICS
Raft of new faces with Root ready to ditch all-out attack
TOTAL CRICKET is dead.
England’s experiment with a Test team featuring multi-faceted cricketers filling square pegs in round holes, who just about do enough with either the bat or the ball, is over.
Instead, skipper Joe Root will take a giant step back to a more traditional set-up for his side as they look to enjoy the consistent success they need to challenge for the World Test Championship.
After a summer when the 2-2 Ashes series draw against Australia showed the value of players doing the right job in the right position, the all-out attacking approach, tried with some success in Sri Lanka last winter, will be tempered.
And Root, together with the selectors, brought in a raft of new faces yesterday to help with the process, as opening batsmen Dominic Sibley and Zak Crawley were picked for the first time for the Tests in New Zealand later this year.
Lancashire duo Saqib Mahmood and Matt Parkinson, who have sent down high-quality seam and leg spin respectively for some time, also received maiden call-ups.
In addition, Surrey’s Ollie Pope, the outstanding batsman in county cricket at the moment, will get another chance to learn his craft at Test level, batting at No6 before hopefully moving higher up the order as he gains more experience.
With Joe Denly set to continue his blossoming career at No3, Root can get back to his preferred No4 role where he feels he can best provide match-winning contributions.
“Joe wants to bat at No4,” said national selector Ed Smith. “And that has implications for selection because three people have to bat above Joe.
“I would say the priority is to get enough runs to win games of cricket and to get enough wickets to win games of cricket. Joe’s position in the batting order does affect how you might go about setting up a structure to do that, so we are looking to develop a top three to support that.
“This is a strong Test squad with an eye on the future. Dom Sibley has batted for a long time and scored a serious weight of runs.
“He’s very clear about his game, while Zak has impressed everyone with his skill, class and character.
“Matt is feisty and has had success across all formats and gives Joe variety in the attack, while Saqib can reverse the ball and we’re excited by his raw potential.”
There are plenty of fresh faces in the T20 squad too.
Several experienced players get a rest, which means there are first callups for batsman Tom Banton and seam bowler Pat Brown.
Mahmood, Parkinson and Lewis Gregory are the other three uncapped players in the squad, which has no room for either Moeen Ali or Jason Roy.