England have to let young side grow together
This developing team should test their skills in different conditions – and give Banton chance
This has been the most consistent couple of weeks of Test cricket by an England side that I can remember for some time.
It is too early to say they have turned a corner. For that to happen, I would like to see them play with the same discipline and togetherness when conditions are against them, or they bat second in the match after the opposition have compiled a big total.
Can they then play with the same togetherness? That is the big question they still have to answer, but there has been a lot of progress in South Africa because the team have gone back to basics.
The top order have worked hard to lay a platform for an X-factor cricketer in Ben Stokes, and the bowlers have been disciplined.
Joe Root, the captain, has stopped being funky. He has won the toss and batted first. England have picked a spinner and abandoned the five-seamer model.
They have stopped trying to be too clever.
What I want to see now is this group developing together. I hope they do not pick Keaton Jennings for Sri Lanka just because he played well there last time.
Dom Sibley should go to Sri Lanka and open. How can a player improve a weakness against spin if he is not allowed to face it and work out a method?
Sometimes you have to look at a young batting line-up that lacks experience and accept you are building for the future. England are looking at the tour to India this time next year, so stick with these guys for Sri Lanka, where they will play on turning pitches against decent spinners with men around the bat. Obviously, the team will evolve over time and if I were in
charge I would be on the phone this week to Tom Banton telling him to give up his Indian Premier League deal and play the first few weeks of the county season for Somerset, because there is a slot available at No6 in the Test side.
Ollie Pope is not going to stay there for ever. He is going to move up. Root and Stokes are rock solid at four and five. Joe Denly has done OK, but is OK good enough when you have Pope at six who will clearly be England’s No3 by the time they go to Australia again?
I have seen enough of Banton to know he is a superstar in the making. I am not sure a stint in the IPL right now, when he might not get a lot of game time, is what he needs at this stage of his career. The IPL can wait. He has plenty of time to go to India.
He needs to play four-day cricket and score some early hundreds. If he does that, I could see him batting at No6 in the Test side this summer. It is possible.
I really think he can be a Test player at No6. In that position, you can have a player who is a little different. He has everything. He is a bit like Kevin Pietersen in the way he hits the ball and sets up. He has presence at the crease. If he switches his mind on and really commits to it, I see a kid who has a lot of talent and could fly into the Test team.
Then, England would have a top order of Rory Burns, Sibley or Zak Crawley, Pope, Root, Stokes, Banton and a keeper at seven, probably Ben Foakes. All of a sudden, that looks a pretty decent line-up.
Root has had a lot go against him during his time as captain. He lost Stokes before the Ashes in Australia, had to handle the focus shifting to the World Cup over Test cricket and then somehow rally exhausted players for the Ashes at home after the high of lifting the World Cup. He has been unfortunate. Sometimes we criticise him and rightly so. He has got some big calls wrong, but now he seems to be working out his way of captaining the side and deserves credit for that.
I hope this is a stepping stone for him as a leader. He is batting nicely. As a captain you have to work out your own preparation. I noticed last week he went to have a net on his own with Graham Thorpe before the Test started. If he needs to work on his own away from the group, then fine. Do it. Perhaps Chris Silverwood is taking the pressure off him behind the scenes, leaving Root to prepare on his own game. That is good to hear.
As a captain, you always like having young players around the group. They are desperate to do well and perform. They love playing and have no baggage or history. They lift the whole mood and you can see that happening for Root at the moment.
Banton is a bit like Kevin Pietersen in the way he hits the ball and sets up. He has presence