Jofra has fight on hands to reclaim a place
LATEST WIN LEAVES SILVERWOOD WITH SELECTION DILEMMA
ENGLAND coach Chris Silverwood must ponder his best bowling attack for the deciding third Test that starts at OldTrafford on Friday.
Jofra Archer, banned from the second Test after breaking lockdown protocols to go home, is available again to join the England side after passing his second coronavirus test following his five days in isolation.
Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran all contributed to the 113-run victory that tied the series on Monday, while James Anderson and Mark Wood were rested.
It means Silverwood must decide whether his best strikeforce is the one that is rested or the one that is in form – not least because spinner Dom Bess is likely to retain his place in the side.
Add in the emotions of Old Trafford, boosting those who played there, and the rarefied air of the ‘bio-secure’ environment and there are definite shades of England’s footballers awaiting their fate in La Manga ahead of the 1998World Cup.
Infamously,
Paul Gascoigne trashed his hotel room after being dropped by Glenn Hoddle. Silverwood said jokingly:
“Nobody’s done that... yet! Jofra will integrate back into the squad as usual.
“He has done his five days and got his test back negative, which is great.
“I will speak to Ed [Smith, chief selector] and obviously Rooty and we will make a plan from there. I have still got those conversations to have. “We want to go into this Test match and we want to win it, so we have got to put out the strongest attack that is available to us.
“They are good conversations, a great headache to have.When you’re leaving out world-class players, from my point of view it’s a very good place for English cricket to be. “It’s never easy and you’re always going to get pushback. But you try to be as honest as possible. “And it is harder. Usually, players who are dropped go back to their counties and there would be cricket on. Here you have to provide an opportunity for them to train.
“So there’s a lot of organising that goes on behind the scenes.”
The one player in the England team who will not be rested is Ben Stokes.
After his stoic 176 in the first innings and swashbuckling 78 in the next during the second Test, the all-rounder also took two vital wickets to help seal victory on that final day. Coach
Silverwood said: “We want him out there as much as we can to see how good he is.
“We have got to make sure he is OK but if he is fit and healthy and raring to go, he will play.
“We rein him in during practice. At times I will say to him, ‘You’ve done enough, off you go’.
“Otherwise he will keep pushing himself.
“That is probably why he is as good as he is, to be honest.”