Ahead of the first Ashes Test, there were those lamenting the absence of Ben Foakes and wondering whether Moeen Ali would last the course of a five-match series. Those feelings remain.
There will be no return for Foakes in the second Test at Lord’s with Jonny Bairstow to continue behind the stumps for that game and most probably the rest of the series, despite as many as five errors during the two-wicket defeat at Edgbaston in the Ashes opener.
“They were pretty tough mistakes,” said England coach and former New Zealand wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum when asked about Bairstow’s blemishes in Birmingham.
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“I’ve kept over here before, it’s not the easiest place to keep. I actually thought Jonny kept really well right throughout. We know what he offers with the bat, him coming in at seven is a real weapon.”
Whether Moeen slots in one spot below Bairstow at No 8 remains to be seen, with the off-spinning all-rounder – lured out of Test retirement for this series after Jack Leach’s stress fracture of the back – suffering a blistered spinning finger at Edgbaston in his first red-ball outing in almost two years.
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England hope Moeen will be fit for the Lord’s Test but were concerned enough to call 18-year-old leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed into their squad as cover for a bowler twice his age.
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Following Rehan Ahmed’s call-up to England’s Ashes squad, we rewind to December of last year when the leg-spinner became the youngest man to take a five-wicket haul on Test debut, against Pakistan
McCullum and captain Ben Stokes will have no qualms about Ahmed dealing with the occasion if he features against Australia; the teenager bagged a five-wicket haul on debut in Pakistan in December and looked utterly unflustered throughout.
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Bowling leg-spin in an Ashes Test in England is a totally different proposition but Sky Sports’ Mark Butcher says England must play a frontline spinner – to ease the workload on the seamers and also part-time tweaker Joe Root.
He said: “England might be tempted to play four seamers but I don’t think they should. Even if you think the pitch is going to be flat, you’re going to be out there for a long time and you don’t want your seamers to be doing an enormous amount of donkey work.
“If you want Root to essentially play as an all-rounder, are you adding to his workload so much that he then becomes less effective as your best batter? I think you’re going to have to pick a spin bowler.
Image: England could leave out a frontline spinner and ask Joe Root to fill the void
“They’ve gone for Ahmed and he will bowl wicket-taking deliveries – he bowls more googlies than he does leg-spinners so you’ll still have the option of turning the ball away from the Australia left-handers. He can also give it a slog, which is basically what England asked Mo to do anyway!”
Simple then: Moeen if he is fit and Ahmed if he is not. Not quite…
Will Anderson play – and is Woakes an option?
While England would surely have won the first Test without their glut of fielding errors – not only Bairstow’s but also Stuart Broad bowling Usman Khawaja off a no-ball – there was a nagging feeling that they missed the express pace of Mark Wood.
Wood for Moeen would be the change former England quick Steve Harmison would make but if Stokes’ side do select a main spinner then which seamer would drop out to facilitate Wood’s return?
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Harmison spoke to Sky Sports News about the changes he would make for the Lord’s Test
It appeared a straight choice between Wood and Broad for the final pace spot at Edgbaston. Broad won that battle and proceeded to impress, removing David Warner for the 15th time in Tests, twice nicking off Marnus Labuschagne with his new out-swinger and bagging six wickets in the match.
Ollie Robinson, around his much talked about send-off to Khawaja, picked up five wickets in the game and it was actually England’s leading Test wicket-taker of all time, James Anderson, who was their least effective seamer, with match figures of 1-111 from 38 overs.
Anderson has since said he will be “done” if the Ashes series provides any more “kryptonite” pitches with little help for bowlers but with the weather in London sweltering there is a high chance there could be a similar surface at Lord’s. Could he make way?
The 40-year-old’s record at HQ is stellar: 117 wickets, seven five-wicket hauls and an average of 24.58. But there is someone else who adores Lord’s and that is the somewhat forgotten figure of Chris Woakes – in England’s Ashes squad but barely mentioned ahead of Edgbaston.
Image: Chris Woakes averages less than 12 in Lord's Tests – could be return to the side this week?
Edgbaston is Woakes’ home ground but Lord’s must be up there as his favourite. In five Tests at the venue, he has bagged 27 wickets at an average of 11.33 with three five-fors. He also struck his sole Test century there, against India in August 2018, so his recall would add batting ballast.
Whatever line-up England opt for, they need it to produce a result. One-nil down in an Ashes series is bad enough, two-nil down could be terminal.
Watch the second men’s Ashes Test, from Lord’s, live on Sky Sports Cricket from Wednesday. Build-up begins at 10am ahead of the toss at 10.30am and then an 11am start.
Sourse: skysports.com
