Yes, I miss playing for England... I want my place back
SAYS JAMES VINCE
James Vince expected good news when he took a call from new national selector ed smith the day after making a double century for Hampshire. Instead, he was told that, for now at least, his england career was over.
‘I hadn’t told anyone I was expecting to be in the side — I keep that sort of thing to myself,’ Vince told Sportsmail before today’s Royal London One-Day Cup final against Kent. ‘But when I saw ed’s name on my phone I did think he was calling to say I was playing in the first Test.
‘I’m normally harsh on myself and expect the worst but I admit I was quietly confident I’d get another chance after scoring runs in the last Test at Christchurch and especially after making a double hundred at Taunton the day of selection.
‘When ed said I wasn’t involved it took a few seconds to sink in. I was very disappointed and it took me a few days to get over it. I was watching the Test at Lord’s against Pakistan thinking, “I want to be there” and missing it was hard to take.’
It did seem the gifted Vince would stay in the Test side at the start of this summer to attempt to finally translate a huge natural ability into big Test runs.
after making 76 in his last Test innings against New Zealand england coach Trevor Bayliss intimated in Christchurch that Vince would play against Pakistan. Then he showed, with perfect timing, that he could bat for a long time when facing 437 balls in that unbeaten 201 against somerset just when the selectors were meeting. But smith had other ideas.
‘ed couldn’t tell me when he called who’d come in for me as it hadn’t been made public but the next day I saw Jos Buttler had been picked and Joe Root wanted to bat at three,’ said Vince.
‘It didn’t make it easier to take but Jos is in the form of his life and I did have a sense of “at least someone hasn’t come in directly to take my spot”. Instead there had been a reshuffle.’
The question is whether Vince, at 27 and after two stabs at establishing himself in england’s Test middle order, has gone for good. He remains one of the country’s most talented batsmen but, after 13 Tests, he averages 24.90 and has yet to make a century.
Frustratingly, he kept getting out for england when set — quite often to the dreamy cover drive that is one of his strengths.
‘I know I’ve got in and then got out a lot in Test cricket. have to be more ruthless to make those bigger scores,’ Vince admitted. ‘In theory, the hardest time to bat should be when you first get in but I’ve always focused on those first 20 or 30 balls. my problem was making those starts count.’
Hampshire’s captain does not believe he has to cut out that trademark cover drive to do that. ‘It’s definitely not a shot I’m going to stop playing. I wouldn’t score anything like the runs I do without it,’ he said. ‘On the flipside I know it was where I was getting out in Test cricket. It’s about judgment and execution. With that shot I can average 40 or 50 and if I’m out having hit 15 coverdriven fours, is that a failure?
‘The mistake comes if I’m playing at balls I shouldn’t do and playing with an open face.’
Now Vince, who showed his white- ball prowess with 171 against Yorkshire to earn Hampshire’s place at Lord’s, must keep making the big scores smith said would re-open the england door.
‘I feel you find who you are as a player in your mid to late 20s and these should be my peak years,’ he added. ‘Plenty come into international cricket after the age of 27. I don’t know if having been there before will make it easier but if I could get back in the team there’s no reason why I can’t play for another three or four years.
‘ I don’t keep thinkng what might have been but I do miss playing for england. I’m capable of scoring more runs than I have. I won’t look back on and say, “I’ve done well to average 24.” I feel I can be someone who averages 40 plus.’
Ben stokes was yesterday named in england’s 14- man squad for the three- match one- day series against India next month.