With the series against New Zealand having reached its halfway mark, I’m going to give my opinions on how the new faces have been getting on.
Emilio Gay – The Durham opener has made two fifties in three innings so far. He batted very well on the spicy pitch at Lords and can hold his head up high. A mix-up with Ben Duckett yesterday should just go down as one of the things that happens in cricket when you’re playing with people for the first time. The way he got out to Will O’Rourke at the Oval is slightly worrying. He looks a little bit uncomfortable against the short ball, and this is a potential weakness that could be exploited at the highest level. It does show the difference between county cricket and international cricket in the fact that you rarely face high-quality, fast-paced, short bowling in the championship. All in all, I think he’s a better choice than Zak Crawley, and I hope he gets a good run in the side.
Jacob Bethall – 20 runs at Lords was followed by another 9 in the first innings at the Oval. He looks a bit short of red ball cricket in my opinion, and he could do with some time in the middle. He chose the IPL, which he cannot be blamed for, but he needs to get his head down and get a score sooner rather than later. He took 3 useful wickets with his left-arm spin in New Zealand’s first innings, and with the forecast for the rest of this match and the next one being hot and dry, this could be a weapon that England could potentially utilise.
James Rew – His keeping was a little untidy in New Zealand’s first innings. He doesn’t look the greatest mover against the quick bowlers, and this is something he will need to work on. Although England’s bowling was wayward at times, 22 byes is high. He looked solid on the front foot when he came out to bat and played a couple of nice shots until New Zealand went short at him. This exposed a big technical weakness; he looks to be a “happy hooker”. He was unable to leave the short ball alone, and it proved to be his downfall in the end when he was hit on the glove, taking on an O’Rourke bouncer when he had been dropped two overs earlier. If he wants to be a great player, he needs to show better judgment against the short ball, like Gay; it’s not something he’ll be used to facing in championship cricket.
Jordon Cox – A long-awaited debut has finally arrived for the Essex man. He’ll be disappointed to have only made 27 in the first innings, and it hasn’t given me a lot to go with so far. He did play a poor shot when he chipped Henry to Latham at mid-wicket, but he does look like an international-quality batter. He can also keep wicket, which could give England options in the future.
Matthew Fisher – He bowled well with the new ball in the first innings. He got movement through the air and a little off the pitch. He finished with 2/62 from 23.2 overs, which was a good effort considering the pitch didn’t offer that much on the first day after the sun came out. A battling 50* and a stand of 53 with Sonny Baker dragged England back into the game on the 3rd morning. It was a brave innings considering England were in a terrible position when they lost their 9th wicket.
Sonny Baker – He was impressive on the 1st day and probably deserved more than the two wickets he got. Unfortunately, he was part of the mad hour on the 2nd morning when England lost the plot. His paces weren’t quite up to what we see in the championship, but he did show great enthusiasm to keep running in hard on a docile surface on the first day. He finished with 2/94, but most of those were conceded on the 2nd morning when he was used as an enforcer when England were trying to bounce out the tail. He also contributed well with the bat when he helped Fisher add vital late runs.
