Batting riches allow tourists to choose horses for courses

In depth will bring welcome selection headaches as line-ups can be based on who is suited to specific conditions

Perhaps they just wanted to make it a little more fun. Yet even England’s harumscarum fourth-evening batting could not conceal that, in the round, this was an emphatic and comprehensive Test victory, secured with six players – Rory Burns, Ollie Pope, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes and Jofra Archer – unavailable.

England have talked repeatedly about the need to develop a squad to cope with their multifarious challenges in 2021 and beyond. As Jonny Bairstow hit the winning runs and yelled, “Get in”, Galle had witnessed a triumph of England’s squad.

The absence of three of England’s first-choice top six afforded Bairstow and Dan Lawrence their opportunities: Bairstow’s first Test since 2019, and Lawrence’s debut. Both played the turning ball with great assurance, Bairstow locating the steady tempo that had betrayed him during his unsuccessful previous five-day run, while Lawrence used his feet decisively. Bairstow made 82 runs for once out in the Test, Lawrence 94 for once out.

Their assurance contrasted with the jitters of England’s openers. Both Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley were dismissed for single figures by Lasith Embuldeniya in both innings. Before this Test, Sibley had faced a spinner with the new ball only three times in his first-class career; Crawley never had.

While both have already demonstrated a capacity to adapt during their embryonic Test careers, the schedule and circumstances – no warm-up matches in either Sri Lanka or India – amplify their challenge.

Should Sibley, who has thrived against spin in the County Championship but is becoming the latest Englishman to learn of the chasm between domestic and international spin, fail again in the second Test, he could be dropped even while remaining a first-choice player away from the subcontinent.

This is a window into the evolution of England’s thinking in recent years. For a specialist batsman, being dropped anywhere used to signal being dropped everywhere. Being left out has essentially been destigmatised, so a player left out in India need not fear that they are being discarded for good.

Yet none of this changes the looming conundrum: how will England’s top seven look when Burns, Pope and Stokes are available for the first Test in India on Feb 5?

Burns has shown considerable tenacity and skill during his 20 Tests, batting with great resolve in the 2019 Ashes. Yet an average of 32.4 from 20 Tests puts his place in jeopardy, especially given he averages only 28.4 against spin. Burns may replace Sibley in India but, given that the pair are England’s two worst players of spin among the batting contenders, it is hard to see them resuming their opening partnership until the team return home.

Bairstow embodies how, just as with their bowling attack, England’s best option in Asia may not be their best option at home. As his batting at Galle attested, he is a terrific player of spin: Bairstow’s average of 46.6 against spin in Tests is second only to Joe Root of England’s current players, suggesting that leaving him out in Asia would be a misuse of resources. But if such aptitude against spin renders him an ideal option at three in Asia, there remain doubts over Bairstow’s suitability to batting there in seaming conditions.

Pope’s sparkling half-century in England’s intra-squad warm-up game was a reminder of the effervescence of his batting and why he is likely to end up as one of the leading run-scorers in Test cricket this decade. As long as he is considered fully fit, there is no doubt he will regain his berth, with the most pertinent question being how long he will remain at six. Pope’s technique suggests a cricketer who will end up as England’s long-term No 3.

England’s top seven for Chennai appears likely to be: Sibley or Burns, Crawley, Bairstow, Root, Stokes, Pope and Buttler. Should Lawrence deliver an encore in the second Test in Galle, the conversation will become even more complicated. Something altogether more radical – such as Bairstow opening, and Pope or Stokes at three – would seem a viable option in Sri Lanka. Yet, in India, such tinkering would risk exposing the top order to India’s formidable pace attack, which would seem to make retaining two specialist openers essential.

But if the coming weeks, and beyond, promise to bring knotty selection headaches, for England they are welcome ones. For years, England’s batting problem was finding enough players who could be relied on to score Test runs, long giving a strange allure to the notion of a recall for James Vince, who averages under 25 in 13 Tests. Now, finally, England’s question might be who to leave out, not who to pick.