After England’s disappointing treble defeat to Sri Lanka,
here’s the top 25:-
On the bubble – Adam Riley (with every wicket he takes he
looks more like the Ashes 2015 spinner), Scott Borthwick (needed wickets, got
runs), James Harris (swings the ball but needs a fitness run), Graham Onions
(injured, and that could be that for him), Monty Panesar (the best spinner in
England needs to behave himself), James Taylor (Seems destined to be solid eighth
choice), Jonny Bairstow (getting the run of keeping opportunities he needs),
Nick Compton (still there abouts but needs the spectacular)
25 (20) – Simon Kerrigan
He would have been hugely disappointed not to get the nod
for the Test side, and it was a bit of a kick in the teeth for all the spinners
to see an all-rounder chosen as the Test spinner. His bowling has been solid
for Lancashire in unhelpful conditions, and he has a working relationship with
Peter Moores. It seems Ali will be entrenched for the rest of the summer, and
as Kerrigan doesn’t play white ball cricket for Lancashire, he doesn’t have a
route into the ODI side. England tour the West Indies in April after the World
Cup, and they will need a spinner there. Kerrigan needs to keep himself ahead
of Adam Riley the rest of the summer.
24 (RE) – Michael Carberry
In some cases criticising the England management has proved
terminal, so when Michael Carberry opened up on his perceived poor treatment
during the winter, it was assumed his international career was over. However,
he got another chance in the white ball sides, but failed to impress in both
innings. With Sam Robson making a Test hundred, and Darryl Mitchell having
exploded, it’s hard to see Carberry making the Test side, but with Cook in
horrible form, and under heavy criticism, a World Cup spot is probable, and a
starting spot possible.
23 (NE) – James Vince
A player marked out from an early age for England honours,
Vince has always benefitted from the “Bell effect”, where a player’s ability is
over-estimated due to the quality of their stroke play. With Vince in 2014, the
occasional glorious innings and large number of cameos has become a tidal wave
of runs, and he is the top run scorer in England and the first to 1,000 runs.
Added to that a captaincy role which he has taken to well, and a high strike
rate, and it seems a case of when and not if for Vince with international
honours.
22 (RE) – Samit Patel
Vince is the top run scorer in the country, and Samit is
second. 20 innings, 2 hundred, 6 fifties and 4 ducks tell a story of
inconsistency, but Patel has done the business for Nottinghamshire, and has
done it in Division 1. His bowling has plateaued slightly, and whilst he is
accurate he doesn’t offer much of a wicket taking threat. He spent the Sri
Lanka series on the outside looking in, but must have pushed Ali close for the
role in the Test team, and is another player with the game to push for a spot
in all three sides.
21 (NE) – Harry Gurney
A slightly uninspiring selection, Gurney made the most of
his opportunity and bowled strongly against Sri Lanka, whilst also maintaining
his form for Nottinghamshire. Gurney is not particularly quick, and doesn’t
offer a huge deal of movement, but he bowled accurately and to his field, and his
slower ball caused Sri Lanka problems. The key for Gurney is that slower ball
stays a mystery until the World Cup, because if players work it out he could be
fodder in Australia. He deserves to be in and around the ODI squad for the
future and his World Cup chances are good.
20 (25) – James Tredwell
If England don’t like the look of any of the young spinners,
and Moeen Ali doesn’t work out, could James Tredwell receive a second Test cap?
He bowled extremely well during the ODI series, and is currently in the envious
position of being the only full-time spinner that England are selecting. His
major problem is that Riley has pushed ahead of him at Kent, giving a nudge to
the England selectors.
19 (21) – Alex Hales
It was all beginning to look a bit grim for Hales before the
t20 match against Sri Lanka, as England didn’t seem to fancy him for ODIs, and
Nottinghamshire seemed to be losing patience. 66 that day highlighted his
ability, and Cook and Carberry’s subsequent struggles in the ODI series pushed
for involvement in that side. Since, he’s returned to Nottinghamshire with a
big hundred and two nineties (Hales is a real nervous nineties merchant) and
everything is looking rosy again. The World Cup might come too soon but if
Cook’s and England’s ODI form continues there will be a vacancy at the top of
the order at the end of that tournament.
18 (17) – Tim Bresnan
Bresnan was finally dropped from all formats for the Sri
Lanka series, but with Chris Woakes only playing one game and Plunkett only the
Tests, he’s still in with a strong shout with his multi-format game. Has a huge
advantage as he goes back to play for the best side in county cricket, so his
wickets and runs are likely to contribute to a successful Division 1 side,
which always counts for that little bit extra. Might not feature this summer
but a winter tour spot is certainly achievable.
17 (15) – Chris Woakes
Only played in the t20 despite being in all three squads, it
was hard to get a feel for where Woakes is an international level. Pleasingly
he touched the high 80s with his speed, which suggests that the loss of speed
that hurt him chances so greatly might be gone. To get into the side, Woakes
needs to find the excellent batting form from the previous two years that has
deserted him in 2014.
16 (8) – Steven Finn
When I last wrote about Finn he was the top wicket-taker in
the country, whilst England had the untested Chris Jordan and the cheap
imitation Liam Plunkett. The past eight weeks couldn’t have gone much worse for
Finn – he’s been injured and struggled when selected, Jordan has nailed down
his ODI spot and Plunkett his Test spot. It is a fairly obvious statement, but
I am going to say it anyway – he needs to get fit, take wickets for Middlesex again
and show he possesses everything that Plunkett does.
15 (NE) – Liam Plunkett
England’s phoenix from the flames, Plunkett bowled quickly
with Lords without actually delivering much, before nine wickets at Headingley
backed the selector’s faith. This was a win for the England Lions, for whom
Plunkett was superb on the tour of Sri Lanka during the winter, a win for the
selectors who choose to take a 28 year-old on that tour, and a huge win to the
fast growing reputation, utterly deserved, of Jason Gillespie. England may be
forced to choose between Chris Jordan and Plunkett for the first Test against
India, and at the moment it should be Plunkett who plays.
14 (11) – Ravi Bopara
A good fifty at Lords aside and a t20 cameo aside, Bopara
was a disappointment against Sri Lanka. His bowling, so effective over the
winter in positions of weakness, was completely ineffectual when he often found
himself bowling in a position of strength. That said, Bopara has, and deserves,
credit in the bank for his performances over the winter and in white ball
cricket for Essex seems unstoppable.
13 (14) – Chris Jordan
Superb in the ODI series, Jordan bought some real aggression
and pace, along with a slightly wonky radar. His Test performances could be
summed up as acceptable, although Plunkett’s emergence overshadowed him. His
performances in the ODIs, given the World Cup is in Australia, makes him a
certain squad member there and in truth only Anderson among the bowlers should
start ahead of him.
12 (12) – Eoin Morgan
Last time I wrote about Morgan he had been superb for
England and a disappointment for Middlesex. This time, Morgan was disappointing
during the white ball cricket for England, but has delivered for Middlesex,
with a blistering 191 against a very good Nottinghamshire attack. I might have
pushed him down the list further, had it not been for Cook’s continuing
struggles, and Morgan’s own pleasing captaincy for Middlesex. It would be a big
surprise for him not to be confirmed as full-time t20 captain at the end of the
summer.
11 (13) – Sam Robson
A very good hundred, and three failures. Sam Robson managed
in his second Test to do what Alistair Cook hasn’t done for 12 and make a Test
hundred, although Cook’s struggles and Robson’s low scores in the other innings
mean England still haven’t had an opening partnership of note for well over a
year. Until a pair settles down and starts making regular fifty partnerships,
and whilst Cook remains captain and out of form, there is going to be pressure
on the second opening spot and Robson is currently in the hot seat.
10 (19) – Moeen Ali
Sometimes necessity is the mother of invention, and that was
certainly the case for Moeen Ali at Headingley. Three awful shots in the first
three innings of his Test career, his spin bowling good but not making a case
for a full time role, Ali was under big pressure but produced an innings of
real substance. It gets quite irksome to hear professional commentators
marvelling at the attractiveness of Ali’s stroke play – it’s no secret on the
county scene – but innings of substance have occasionally been lacking, and
here Ali delivered.
His bowling and hundred leave England with a big problem.
His bowling is good but not good enough to be the full time spinner. The simple
call before the final innings at Headingley was to drop Ali for Stokes, and
Jordan for a full-time spinner, for the first Test against India - now that’s
all up in the air. Ali’s performances should mean however that he gets a chance
in the ODIs later in the summer, as an alternative to Tredwell this winter
could be playing Ali at three, and using him and Root as the spinning options.
9 (7) – Ben Stokes
England’s new dawn got off to a staggeringly hypocritical
start when Stokes wasn’t selected for the Test series against Sri Lanka, having
played two First Class games for Durham, whilst Matt Prior was selected having
only played once for Sussex. It gives rise to the feeling that for all his
talent, England don’t really fancy Stokes as an individual, which is extremely
concerning. He does have black marks against his name, but he also has a rare
talent. For Durham, the batting hasn’t really fired, but the bowling has, with
great comic timing – as England laboured on the 4th day at
Headingley, Stokes took seven wickets for Durham.
8 (10) – Jos Buttler
If you are looking to get your name up in lights, then a
chanceless, brilliant, near match winning hundred at Lords is probably the best
way to do it. As England’s top order poked and prodded England to defeat,
Buttler boomed and blasted his way to a superb 121, an innings described by
some as England’s best ever ODI innings. His wicket-keeping was at best
average, and was seen as the main reason for his non selection from the Test
team. After Prior’s performance behind the stumps against Sri Lanka and more
runs for Lancashire, Buttler is knocking on the door.
7 (9) – Gary Ballance
It was perhaps a surprise to see the best number five in the
County Championship batting three for England, but maybe only Liam Plunkett
comes out of the Test series with as much credit as Ballance. After a middling
ODI series, Ballance produced a hundred of real quality (whether England should
have let him get it is not a question for him), and backed it up in the 2nd
Test. His fielding could do with a little bit of refinement but he’s in the
England team for the long haul.
6 (5) – Matt Prior
If Peter Moores was hoping for the Matt Prior of 2011 and
hoping not for the Matt Prior of 2013, he got neither – he got the Matt Prior
of 2007. Flashy, and perhaps lucky to get the runs he did (the review system
played into his hands), Prior produced the runs of a front line batsman. The
problem was his keeping, which was decidedly dodgy. Prior was bought back to
provide Cook with support, but that is reaching a lost cause now. It’s hard not
to get the feeling that Prior is on the downward slope whilst Buttler’s star
rises.
5 (6) – Joe Root
Having avoided the World t20 disaster with his broken thumb,
Root had a very similar series to Ballance. A very middling ODI series was
followed by an excellent double hundred, then nothing else. Root has a lot of
credit in the bank, and rightly so, but are England going to continue to flog
him to death by picking him for every game in every format?
4 (4) – Stuart Broad
It’s hard to avoid the obvious conclusion that England need
to stop mucking about with Broad and send him for the knee surgery he admits he
needs. England needed the spectacular from Broad and got average, bar a
hat-trick, but with a World Cup around the corner, it seems foolish for England
to force Broad through a Tests with bits floating around in his knee, giving
the long term problems suffered by both Graeme Swann and Kevin Pietersen.
3 (2) – Ian Bell
This series was Ian Bell at his very worst. Looked in
dazzling touch from the first ODI, Bell produced several fantastic shots, and
not a single innings of note. As Ballance, Robson, Root and Ali showed, England
do not need the pretty at the minute, but the runs, particularly in ODI cricket
where given Cook’s form and Ballance’s inexperience, Bell might just be
England’s most important batter. Last summer’s Ashes mean Bell is well in
credit, and he destroyed India last time around – England may well need that
again.
2 (3) – James Anderson
Subdued during the Ashes, quite possibly due to the broken
rib he suffered at the hands of Mitchell Johnson, Anderson was back to
somewhere close to his best against Sri Lanka. Almost forced an unlikely win in
the 1st Test, and an unlikely draw in the 2nd, Anderson
re-iterated his importance to this England attack in home conditions. Also gets
bonus points for the funky field setting that perhaps led to Sangakarra’s
dismissal in the 1st Test.
1 (1) – Alistair Cook
This was supposed to be the series where everything got back
on track for Alistair Cook, where demons could be laid to rest, runs could be
scored and wins could be had. At the end of the series, all of the troubles
that were there before are still not only present but magnified. This was not
Australia, with bowlers like Harris and Johnson and batters like Clarke and
Warner. This was Sri Lanka in England in June, and England and Cook couldn’t
get the job done.
The excuses are running out. Critics of Cook’s captaincy
have been told to just look at his results, and then we started losing. We were
told he was good off the pitch, and then things got so bad the ECB sacked Kevin
Pietersen. We were told it was Andy Flower creating the negative mindset, and
then we started giving the mighty Angelo Mathews one against the new ball. We
were told Cook would do his talking not with his tactics, but his runs, and
it’s now 12 months without a Test hundred.
Why is he still number 1? That’s because the ECB have backed
him for the long term, and he is refusing to resign. English cricket’s success
remains inexorably linked to Cook, he is the basket that the ECB have placed
all their eggs in, and several reputations are based on his appointment and
success as a captain. This really is make or break for Cook – England can win
this series and he can score runs against this Indian attack, giving him
momentum before the World Cup. If England lose, and Cook fails to deliver with
the bat, it’s hard to see how his position would not be untenable.
