A year from now England will be in Australia, hoping to reclaim the Ashes. We may attach too much importance to this famous contest. At times it blinds people to the challenges presented by the other Test-playing countries, but the selectors have made it clear they are working towards next winter’s series.
In the current topsy-turvy world of Test cricket it is difficult to declare anything with confidence. England, beaten in Pakistan, have just thrashed New Zealand, who walloped India 3-0 in India. The Indians, meanwhile, made short work of Australia last week in Perth. It’s a merry-go-round.
England needed that victory, after the way they folded to Pakistan’s spinners. Brydon Carse took 10 wickets, Harry Brook made another robust century, and Jacob Bethell, asked to bat first wicket down on debut, knocked off the winning runs in the fourth innings with an unbeaten half century. There were useful runs, too, for Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope, batting at No 6.
Carse’s arrival on the Test stage is a boon, particularly as so many English bowlers find it hard to pull on their boots. Mark Wood, Carse’s team-mate at Durham, has only ever been an occasional contributor, and the new boys, like Paul Potts and Josh Tongue, struggle to raise a gallop. Saqib Mahmood, once so promising, has settled for life as a one-day bowler.
In an ideal world England will go to Australia with Jofra Archer back in the ranks. The world, though, is never ideal. Beyond the rooms where Rob Key meets Brendon McCullum few folk believe that Archer will be on that plane. He has not played Test cricket for nearly four years, and it’s asking a lot of a bowler with serious injuries to bowl as he once did. One-day cricket, possibly. Test cricket, not a chance.
Carse and Gus Atkinson have taken their chance, and belted a few runs as well. They appear to be well set at 8 and 9. But there are problems up the order. Pope has never looked like an authentic No 3, and then there is the Case of Crawley.
In 51 matches the Kent charmer has made only four centuries, and none in a winning cause. His average is stuck stubbornly at 31, which confirms the story of his first-class career, and there is no reason to suggest it will rise with the years. They have taken a punt on a curio, the match-winner who doesn’t win matches.
In Christchurch he made 0 and 1, and now averages 9 against New Zealand. But he’s not going anywhere fast. When they said ‘Crawley is our man’, they meant it. He will open the innings against India next winter, and strap on the pads against the Aussies. It’s that flowing cover drive, you see. Knocks ‘em dead, like Frank Randle on the north pier at Blackpool. The Tonbridge Indispensable!
In the two Tests before Santa brings his gifts there is time to make amends. It would be no surprise if Crawley made 43 and 16 at Wellington, followed by 12 and 73 at Hamilton. Scores like that butter few parsnips but as the selectors prefer to feast on cabbage it doesn’t matter. He’s in the XI as long as he likes.
There are other matters to resolve. Three wickets should not offer Chris Woakes the key to the highway, and ‘Basher Bates’, the offspinner, is not the best slow bowler available to Somerset, never mind England. Yet gather ye rosebuds. It was a notable win, even if Brook has used up all his lives for the next six months.