Brittle England batsmen fail to grind out ugly runs

Telegraph

6 days ago

Already, ahead of this winter's Ashes, this England team had been hailed as 'the most imposing' batting line-up they have sent to tour Australia. Not any more they won't, not after they lost seven wickets in an afternoon session that was only slightly extended.
India's seamers reacted well after they had been thoroughly trashed before lunch by Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett: they pitched the ball fuller and got more out of the pitch than England, as they have done for much of the summer except when Ben Stokes has been bowling. Nevertheless, the image that England wanted to take to Australia, of being a 'most imposing' batting line-up, evaporated in the time it took for them to descend from 129 for one to 247 all out with the series on the line.
The opening partnership by Crawley and Duckett was dazzling, even by their audacious standards, and threw India completely off their lengths. All that the rest of England's batsmen had to do was to keep out India's seamers – only three of them – until they had tired, and the tourists had to bring on their spinners.
An Indian spinner duly emerged after 39 overs, but by then England had lost five wickets and let India back into the game. The lecture delivered over lunch by Professor Morne Morkel, India's bowling coach, must have been an impressive one. The three seamers did not even have to get the ball changed to expose what has lurked beneath the surface of this England side: a brittleness, a reluctance to grind it out and accumulate ugly runs.
Since the last Oval Test, less than a year ago against Sri Lanka, England have been dismissed in fewer than 40 overs four times. On this occasion England lasted 51.1 overs, which forced Gus Atkinson and the two surviving seamers to go again, morning and evening.
No country has made so many runs in a five-Test series in England as this India side: Jamie Smith has therefore had an enormous task as England's wicketkeeper in the first four Tests of this series but above all in this fifth Test, because Josh Tongue and Jamie Overton have sent Smith diving all over the shop. It was a tired dab with his bat at a 45-degree angle, when Sky Sports's experts had been preaching that the bat had to be either vertical or horizontal on this lively pitch.
Why Overton was selected in the first place is a question that could be raised in the House – because he might touch 90mph in a Test this winter? Or because England think he is a useful No 8? Either way, after the call-up of Liam Dawson for the Old Trafford Test instead of Jack Leach, here is an echo of the old days when England's selectors opted for 'bits-and-pieces' players and for bowlers on the grounds that they could bat a bit.
It is inexplicable that two bang-it-in bowlers were selected for an Oval green-top in Overton and Tongue. Tongue has worked hard for his place, and he showed at the start of India's second innings that he is no one-trick pony and can pitch the ball up. But if any Overton was to be selected, it should have been the other twin. Jamie has taken two wickets for 164 runs, and had three innings, for Surrey in the championship this season; Craig has taken 27 wickets and had 10 innings for Somerset.
Jacob Bethell looked strange when he walked out in white clothes, as if they were borrowed. And since last Christmas he has played one first-class match – one red-ball game, that is, for Warwickshire. He looked a little rusty; he did not read the red ball that Mohammed Siraj swung into him. Bethell, Smith and Overton were blown away at the time when the ball was softening, and when Harry Brook required a partner to stay in.
When England last won an Ashes series in Australia, back in 2010-11, their batting line-up consisted of Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook, both to be knighted, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood and Matt Prior.
When England toured Australia in 1928-9, their top four batsmen had either reached the landmark of one hundred first-class centuries or were soon to reach it, while another couple of their batsmen scored one hundred first-class centuries but were only selected for one Test each.
Time will soon tell how imposing the line-up of this current England side will prove to be. I suspect they will be imposing in their audacity – when the going is good.