The question should really be: what can the England selectors and coaching staff learn?
Jon Lewis’ response after a loss by 85 runs was for the players to go harder. An interesting response after the intense efforts they put in. I would prefer him to have said: ‘I must think harder’.
In one sense there is nothing he and his assistants can learn, because tests remain one-offs. The rest of a gruelling series will be short-format games. But here goes:
This was Lewis’ pick:
Tammy Beaumont, Emma Lamb, Heather Knight (captain), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Sophia Dunkley, Danni Wyatt, Amy Jones (w-k), Sophie Ecclestone, Kate Cross, Lauren Filer, Lauren Bell.
The batting choices were more straightforward than the bowling. The first big decision was to ask Emma Lamb to open with Beaumont. This was a justified call, and helped reduce the average age. In the event her returns (10 and 28) were modest, and, as will constantly be the case, the only chance she would have to prove her worth till the next test comes round in 2066 (I exaggerate by a year or two).
The only other big call was Danni Wyatt, her first opportunity to prove herself at the top table after thirteen years of service to the cause. With scores on 44 and 54, she did herself and her nation proud.
In the event, neither Dunkley (9 and 16) nor Jones (13 and 4) pulled their weight. Jones’ showing was an especial disappointment, given her long experience and quality behind the sticks. Strangely for English cricket, an immediate successor to the gloves is not obvious. There are classy operators, but they do need to have proper batting credentials.
The problems stack up when we move to checking the balance of the side. How many front-line bowlers were sensible for a 5-day marathon?
All-rounders, please!
First, let’s consider the Australian approach. It has been to encourage players to extend their range and not worry too much about achieving the maximum in their srongest suit. In other words: be true all-rounders.
That is where they held all the trump cards.
Annabel Sutherland, Ashleigh Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Jess Jonassen and Tahlia McGrath (strictly alphabetical order only) are just five players Alyssa Healy could turn to with bat and ball, either to save a situation or exploit an advantage. As they had to withstand England’s spirited first innings reply, she asked eight of them to turn their arm.
At the same stroke, that shortened their batting tail almost to vanishing point. Sutherland’s debut 137* from No 8 is a useful guide.
Lewis’ bowling choices
By contrast, England’s bowling attack looked thin on the ground from the start. Only three quick bowlers to use the shine; two highly promising 22-year-olds, Lauren Bell and Lauren Filer, and the greatly experienced Kate Cross, now happily recovered from a nasty illness.
Filer’s selection was greeted with more surprise than Bell’s, who had been capped for Berkshire by Knight when she was 15. Yet it was Filer who provided the fireworks, twice dismissing the greatest player of the past fifteen years, Perry, and taking four wickets in total. She showed real fire.
By contrast, Bell bowled only six overs in the last innings for reasons that will be known to the captain and coaching staff, but not to me.
On a flat track, Cross’ average pace in the low to mid-60s couldn’t cause the batters enough disquiet. Even Bell’s higher pace seemed blunted as the game wore on.
Add to them NS-B’s medium-quicks (plus a heap of experience) and the one and only spinner, Sophie Ecclestone. But NS-B suffered knee-trouble.
The match returns demonstrate how the transition from England’s great opening partnership of Katherine Sciver-Brunt and Anya Shrubsole, was not well handled. Who were their equivalents in their mid-twenties lined up to replace them? Freya Davies and who? Davies couldn’t convince Lewis that she was worth selection for the test. She took her place in the A team.
None of the possible left-armers found favour: Freya Kemp, Grace Ballinger or Katie George for example.
Slow, slow, quick, slow, slow
Did Lewis expect Ecclestone to bowl 77.1 overs in the game? She had undertaken a similar marathon in the test against India last year. Did Lisa Keightley, then in charge, also assume she would have to suffer such a marathon stint? Neither of those head coaches was a spin-bowler. Do they know about the stresses and strains they can suffer? It isn’t only the quicks who can undergo tortures of physical pain from relentless bowling in the heat of the day.
Of course Ecclestone produced the goods, 10 wickets was a massive achievement, but they came at a cost, 192 runs to be precise. It means she conceded nearly as many runs as Tammy Beaumont scored.
Once upon a time spinners operated in pairs, just like pace bowlers. Not in the current English scheme of things.
The alternative options left to Knight were Dunkley, whose leg-spin was put on the back-burner as she developed her promising batting skills, and the skipper herself. She had undergone hip surgery a year ago and had done little bowling since. Like many batting captains before her, she had used herself sparingly in the past.
Was it part of the plan that she should bowl in the test to reduce Ecclestone’s burden a little? If so, why did she come on so late? If not, why did Lewis not bother to include another front-line spinner?
The likeliest options were Sarah Glenn (leggers), Charlie Dean, Alice Capsey and Bryony Smith (offers) and a pair of capable left-arm slows, Kirstie Gordon and Linsey Smith. The three off- spinners would have strengthened the batting.
By contrast, Lamb’s off-spin has been shunned like Dunkley’s leggers. How would Aussie coaches have guided their progress?
That leaves the Player of the Match, Ashleigh Gardner, Ecclestone’s obvious equivalent. She took 12 wickets for 165, and added 41 runs to the harvest.
A Chance missed
England had Australia 238-6 on the first day, the cream of the batting back in the bottle. From there a further 235 runs were added. Ecclestone bowled 37% of the overs; NS-B and Dunkley bowled seven in total.
And that was only one of two innings in the field. In the second England did well to restrict Australia to 257, but that added up to a total far beyond reach. And this time the world’s most successful bowler returned 38% of the total overs bowled.
Injuries or no injuries, the balance of the attack was wrong.
If and when we get more tests lined up, players will grow more used to them. The batting being as strong as it is, the 5-dayer is here to stay, and the use of top grounds like Trent Bridge means bowlers will have to find methods of deceiving and dismissing batters more cheaply than England managed in this enthralling match.
It would help if any future head coach could ensure that the bowlers are given a fair chance to produce their best.
Did Charlotte Edwards apply for the top job?
