The test match summer begins tomorrow with the English management under high scrutiny. They have cut their 15-man squad down to 12, with James Rew, Matthew Fisher and Rehan Ahmed being omitted. Emilio Gay is set to make his test match debut when he opens the batting with Ben Duckett. This leaves two players for one place in the bowling department.
Sonny Baker and Gus Atkinson look like they are vying for the final place in the squad. Atkinson offers England control with the new ball and an extra batting option at number 8. Whilst Baker is the all-out pace option in the squad, as England wait for Lord Archer to make himself available. I believe England will go with Atkinson. He’s got a good record at the home of cricket, and with conditions set to be overcast and wet, it should suit his style more than that of Baker’s. If the weather had been hot and the pitch flat, Baker may have got the nod due to the extra pace.
With Shoaib Bashir being picked ahead of Rehan Ahmed, it looks to me that England have gone for control in the spin department. Ahmed could have offered another batting option, but if Atkinson is to slot in at number 8, he’ll be wasted at number 9. Bashir has bowled plenty of overs for Derbyshire so far this summer without any fantastic returns. If we’re to be honest, the fact that he’s even made the test squad shows that England are very short on spin bowling options at the moment. The last time he was selected, he didn’t bowl a ball in the Ashes, as he was dubbed “unselectable”.
Jamie Smith is to bat at number 6, which is a good decision. He’s had a good start to the summer for Surrey and has long been touted as someone who could bat higher up the order in the future. After a difficult Ashes, it’s going to be interesting to see how Smith copes in the international arena again. His promotion shows that the management has faith in him. Ben Stokes will bat at 7 as his returns with the bat seem to get less and less as his career continues. He has always been great at batting with the tail, and this move could suit his style better than batting higher up the order.
Jacob Bethall has recovered from the finger injury that ruled him out of the closing stages of the IPL and will take up his position at number 3. It will be interesting to see how Bethall goes on, considering the last time he played a red-ball game was in the final test match of the Ashes, due to his IPL commitments.
New Zealand are going to offer a stiff challenge to England in these 3 test matches. They’re a team full of talented players, and they recently ruthlessly and effectively brushed Ireland aside last week to win their test match by an innings inside 3 days at Stormont. It’s not the ideal starting series for England after what happened in the winter, and with only one real change to the 11, with Zak Crawley finally being dropped, the squad has remained pretty much the same.
Will they stick with their ‘run towards the danger’ strategy? Will they be able to adapt if they get themselves into winning positions? Will Archer bother to return from Barbados? I hope we get answers to all of these questions in the following weeks. It won’t be easy for England, but when has anything been easy for England under McCullum in recent times?
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