England's underwhelming top four, Stokes at the helm and the resurgence of the BBC's cricket coverage

HUW TURBERVILL: In the absence of Joe Root, England's batting line-up lacked star quality at The Ageas Bowl. Where have all the red-ball specialists gone?

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It was one of the most dramatic moments in Test history. Despite his magnificent record, despite being Australia Test captain, Steve Waugh was under massive pressure to retain his place after this final Test of the 2002/03 Ashes, at the SCG. The tension was showing. He called his counterpart Nasser Hussain “a smart-arse pr**k” for manoeuvring the strike to expose him to Steve Harmison early on. After a display of maximum cussedness, he reached 98 not out with one ball of day two remaining. Richard Dawson bowled it flat, Waugh punched for four, and the crowd exploded in joy for their local hero. He had won the right to depart on his own terms, playing another 12 Tests.

Why was Waugh under so much pressure? Well he was 37, and as had been the case for decades, Australia had a conveyor belt of young talent knocking on the door. They have always been hot on succession, planning for the future, ensuring a batting unit is collectively not too callow. His scores during that series had been relatively moderate by his own high standards: 7, 12, 34, 53, 77 and 14, before he made that 102.

England’s top four in the first Test defeat against West Indies at Southampton that has just concluded seemed the most inexperienced and unproven in my 38 years of watching Test cricket avidly, however. (Update: Andrew Sansom informs me that it was actually the most inexperienced since the fifth Test against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1989 – Tim Curtis, Martin Moxon, Robin Smith and Mike Atherton had 23 caps between them, this quartet had 43).

Of course, there were mitigating circumstances. Captain Joe Root – with his 92 Test caps – was on paternity leave. Going into the Test, Rory Burns had 979 runs at 33.75; Dom Sibley 262 at 40.22; Joe Denly 780 at 30; and Zak Crawley 164 at 27.33.

But can you recall an England top four without at least one, established great? Someone of the ilk of Root, Sir Alastair Cook (who bowed out awfully young in 2018), Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Strauss, Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Graham Thorpe, Mike Atherton, Alec Stewart, Robin Smith, Graham Gooch, Allan Lamb, David Gower... and so on.

Johannesburg 1999/2000 springs to mind when England were rebuilding under Hussain and Duncan Fletcher and handed Vaughan and Chris Adams debuts at No.4 and 6 respectively. After being left 2 for 4 at the hands of Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock, it was like being in the top four. But they had Mark Butcher, Atherton and Hussain in the top three so that doesn’t really count.

^{England's top order at The Ageas Bowl lacked real class}

This is not really anybody’s fault. 

It’s not as if England have not tried to blood openers or top-order players to succeed Strauss and Cook. They also let Bell go in 2015/16 (possibly a mite prematurely), and Jonathan Trott in 2014/15, so they haven’t been holding on to too many players for too long.

Burns and Sibley are actually showing the makings of a promising partnership. They look well-organised despite their eccentric techniques (the way Sibley lifts his bat resembles a gnome holding a fishing rod); they are leaving the ball well, and they put on 72 in the second innings on Sunday. 

Crawley also looks to be a player of plenty of promise, although he is a bit of an lbw candidate. 

Denly has tried his best, performed a handy role in ensuring Root has not been exposed too early, and if he does depart he has nothing to be ashamed about.

West Indies’ top four did a decent job on the whole, but they too lacked the star quality of years gone by, with Kraigg Brathwaite (averages 33 from 60 Tests); John Campbell (30 from seven); Shai Hope (26 from 32, Headingley heroics to one side); and Shamarh Brooks (30 from four).

Could England have slotted an experienced player into this top four as a locum for this Test, though?

Stokes is good enough, and batted at No.4 in last summer’s Ashes, after the Leeds miracle.

Or what about Moeen Ali? He was in the overall party of 555. Sorry, 55. He made 146 and 44 at No.4 at Chennai in 2016/17. No? Well, it was worth a thought maybe.

Could they have popped Ollie Pope up there? That must certainly be the long-term intention... but then he’s still learning himself: this was only his eighth Test.

There were even some who thought Cook could be hauled out of international retirement. He is still an Essex player after all, although how long that will last now he is the BBC golden boy remains to be seen. He was in the bio bubble… but such notions were probably fanciful.

^{Jonathan Agnew would have added to the BBC's superb highlights packages}

Here’s another question.

Can you recall a county scene with so few (former) international players still around? 

Yes there’s Cook, and Bell has thankfully signed up for another year at Warwickshire. There is James Vince, but his record after 13 Tests – 548 at 24.90 – is no better than those of the top four England did have.

And England are unlikely to go back to all those openers they tried who are still playing: Sam Robson, Adam Lyth, Mark Stoneman and Ben Duckett. Keaton Jennings still seems to be on the scene, ready for the next subcontinental challenge, and we are all praying for a Haseeb Hameed renaissance at Nottinghamshire.

The selectors seemed to have passed on Sam Northeast, while Dan Lawrence awaits his chance.

So why is there such a dearth of red-ball candidates? Probably because of the proliferation of white-ball formats. England prioritised the 50-over World Cup. Triumphantly. Players are also retiring earlier. And county squads are finding it difficult to cater for red-ball specialists.

Let’s hope a Burns-Sibley-Crawley-Root combo can bed in sufficiently in the 16 Tests left or so before they go down under again.

 

I wonder if Stokes still wants the job when Root relinquishes it?

If England lose in Australia again under Root in 2021/22 he may well step aside – that will be three Ashes in a row under him without a series win.

Stokes will still be a contender despite the loss at the Ageas Bowl if he stays fit. But why would he want it, with so much else on his shoulders as a player in all here formats?

We had this discussion at The Cricketer.

^{The world-class figures who have dominated England's batting order are no more}

Ego was one answer. “Harsh!” somebody cried. But it’s true. Stokes, like Andrew Flintoff, Sir Ian Botham and Tony Grieg, is one of those irrepressible, indefatigable allrounder types that England are fortunate enough to produce (and yes I know Stokes was born in New Zealand and Greig was fired in the kilns of South Africa, but still).

They feel they can do anything. They also feel that it’s their entitlement as the best cricketer in the squad.

Botham wasn’t such a bad captain and was unfortunate that nine of his 12 Tests in charge were against West Indies (and the other three were against Australia). 

Flintoff had a nightmare Ashes in 2006/07 but had a few highs – Mumbai 2005/06 and the ‘Ring of Fire’ win was great.

Greig led England to an exceptional series victory in India in 1976/77 before Kerry Packer tempted him away.

There’s also the commercial factor. Being England captain must add £1m to your annual earnings.

The prospect of teaming Jofra Archer and Mark Wood together was intoxicating for Stokes.

And to say that we need to build an attack that can win in Australia and elsewhere overseas is valid, with Stuart Broad, 34, and James Anderson, 37, not going to be around for all that much longer in all probability anyhow. Clearly Chris Woakes (70 wickets at 23 apiece at home) and Broad (305 at 26.69) may have been more effective than Wood in this match, though. Perhaps Stokes will have two years to reflect on this before he gets another go.

 

Speaking of Cook, his presence on the BBC as cricket made a welcome return on its channels was rather comforting – like he was batting for England all over again. He is improving as a broadcaster.

The highlights packages were pretty good, although I wish they hadn’t slapped voices over Soul Limbo in the opening credits.  A poll on Twitter agreed with me on this, 87 per cent plays 13.

BBC highlights - Soul Limbo 🤔

— Huw Turbervill (@huwzat) July 10, 2020

I wonder if they also missed a trick by not having Jonathan Agnew on there. He is still very good on the radio, the stand-out in the absence of Vic Marks.

Unlike his colleagues occasionally, he can make an anecdote seem genuinely funny, even if it isn’t worthy of the belly laughs that greet it from the back of the box.

If you look on the iPlayer the BBC’s power to rehabilitate cricket is there for all to see.

I watched BBC Bitesize Daily for five to seven-year-olds and the presenters introduced their “friends at the England and Wales Cricket Board”. Hina Mistry, the organisation’s city programme executive, talked about hand-to-eye coordination, and England’s Fran Wilson did some catching/clapping. 

“You don’t have to be an amazing athlete to play cricket,” we were told. Thank goodness for that!

Then Mistry did a section on dealing with conflict. If only Javed Miandad and Dennis Lillee had been able to watch that in 1981!

I also watched another show for young ’uns, Maddie’s Do You Know? They had a section on ‘how to make a cricket bat’.

There is no way these programmes would have been on if Channel 5 still had the highlights.

The factory Maddie Moate visited makes 600 bats a week, and it was interesting watching the blades popped into the dehumidifying kiln, and so on.

The only frustrating thing was trying to work out which bat makers they were at, thanks to the BBC’s policy of no advertising (although you could see the NatWest logo on Mistry’s shirt).

Where was it, I wonder?

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