Joe Root – aspiblog

The First Two Days in Brisbane

A look at the first two days of action is the pink ball test in Brisbane, and a photo gallery.

Having covered Tuesday’s auction I now turn to something else. Early yesterday morning UK tine a day-night test match got underway in Brisbane, the second match of the 2025-26 Ashes series. England had lost the first match by this same stage, so the fact that I am writing about a match that is still in progress is an improvement.

ROOT THE ALL TIME GREAT

Even before the events of this match no one seriously doubted that Joe Root was a great batter rather than merely a good or even very good one, but there were certain Aussies who would deny him the status of an all-time great because he had a blot on an otherwise stellar CV – he had never scored a test century in Australia. There seemed small chance of England having anything the celebrate when Root’s innings began – Duckett and Pope had both fallen cheaply, and the score was 5-2. Zak Crawley came back well from his pair in Perth, making an impressive 76 and sharing a century stand with Root. Harry Brook looked highly impressive in making 31, but his dismissal when he should have gone on to a properly big score was a shocking one, not just because the shot was one he should never have taken on, but because he did so against Starc, the only genuinely dangerous bowler Australia had. Stokes gave Root some support but got out before long. That brought Jamie Smith, facing a pink ball for the first time in his professional career (apparently it was not worthwhile to send him, and others in the same boat, such as Will Jacks, in for the injured Wood – a batting all rounder who bowls off-spin in for a specialist pacer – to Canberra to play in the President’s XI match) to the crease. Smith collected a duck to put England six down, and bring Jacks to the crease. I had to leave for work at this point, but a later check confirmed that Root, in the 70s when I left, had finally scored that first century on Aussie soil and removed any possible doubt about his status as an all time great. His best support after I had left came from number 11 Jofra Archer, who made into the 30s, and would be last out for 38 early this morning UK time. England amassed 334, Root with 135 not out being the person who made that total possible.

AUSTRALIA SO FAR

England produced a very variable bowling performance, and the fielding was far too fallible. Four clear-cut chances went down, Duckett culpable on two occasions to go with his duck, and Joe Root in the slips got a hand to ball that streaked away for four, though it would have been an absolute screamer of a catch had he held it. Brydon Carse took three wickets in the course of the day and had a chance shelled, but he was also absurdly expensive – at one stage he was leaking runs at a rate that would have raised eyebrows in a T20 league, and even by the end of the day he had 3-113 from 17 overs. Australia were 291-3 at high water mark, but then Green and Smith both fell to Carse very quicky. England got one further wicket in the day, but in the latter stages as they started to show obvious tiredness Australia got on top once again, ending the day on 378-6, 44 runs ahead on first innings with four wickets standing. England are not out of this yet – come the fourth innings the pitch will be very tricky, but they need to bowl well first thing tomorrow, and then bat well for the rest of tomorrow and well in to day four.

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My usual sign off…

England Triumph in Multan

An account of days four and five in Multan is England created history by winning by an innings margin after conceding over 500 in the first innings. Also a photo gallery.

In my previous post I told the story of the first three days of the opening test of the Pakistan v England series in Multan. I now tell the story of days four and five (please bear in mind day four was a work day for me and therefore I did not to get follow all of it).

ROOT AND BROOK DOMINANT

England started day four on 492-3. They utterly dominated the morning session, Root and Brook batting like a pair of titans. Had England scripted the session they would hardly have dared to make as good for themselves as it actually was. Not only did the Yorkies remain together throughout the session, they plundered 166 runs from 29 overs in the course of it. Both were well past 200 by the lunch interval, only the second time England had ever had two double centuries in a single test innings after Chennai in 1984 when Graeme Fowler and Mike Gatting did likewise. The partnership was worth an unbroken 409 at this point, already England’s second best ever for any wicket against all comers, also the highest ever England partnership between two players from the same county, relegating Hutton/ Leyland (Yorkshire, 382 for the second wicket v Australia at The Oval in 1938) into second place in this particular league table, with Denis Compton/ Bill Edrich (Middlesex, 370 v South Africa for the third wicket in 1947) and Ken Barrington/ John Edrich (Surrey, 369 for the second wicket v New Zealand in 1965).

After lunch the pair continued the assault, taking the total past 700 while they were still together. Both passed 250 along the way, Root first, closely followed by Brook who in spite of having given his partner an 80-odd run head start was threatening to overhaul him. Finally, Pakistan gained a measure of relief, when Salman Agha trapped Root LBW for a new test best of 262 to make it 703-4, ending the stand at 454, England’s record for any wicket in all test cricket, the all time fourth wicket record for all test cricket, and the fourth biggest partnership in test history, beaten only by Martin Crowe/ Andrew Jones 467 for the third wicket v Sri Lanka, Jayasuriya/ Mahanama 576 for the second wicket v India and Jayawardene/ Sangakkara 624 for the third wicket v South Africa, which means that this was also the biggest ever partnership in a test match not involving Sri Lanka.

Brook kept going, ticking off a few more milestones. At 270 he claimed possession of the highest test score by any member of this XI, a four taking past Crawley’s 267 also against Pakistan. Then came Cook’s 294, the highest score for England in the 21st century, then the triple century. It was at this point that I headed off to catch the bus to work, having made all my preparations and decided that I would take my leave either when Brook was out or when he reached 300, whichever came first, so I missed the last period of England’s charge towards a declaration. Later checks revealed that the declaration had finally come at 823-7, with Brook’s innings ending on 317, the second highest ever score for an England batter abroad behind Hammond’s 336* v new Zealand in 1933, and that Saim Ayub, pressed into service due Abrar Ahmed being ill (ill enough to hospitalized) had become a record breaking sixth Pakistan bowler to concede 100 or more in the innings. The previous was five, although in the first such instance of that happening, when Australia scored 758-8 declared v West Indies back in the 1950s, a sixth bowler, Sobers, avoided joining them by the narrowest possible margin, going for 99.

Pakistan thus began their second innings 267 runs adrift. It would appear to be in the early stages of their second innings that their hopes of escaping with a draw were killed. Abdullah Shafique was bowled by the first ball of the innings, and Pakistan somehow lost six wickets in the space of 24.2 overs, for 82 runs. The seventh wicket pair stopped the collapse to the extent of taking Pakistan to the close of day four on 156-6.

WRAPPING THINGS UP

Day five started with Pakistan needing 111 to avoid the innings defeat, with three wickets standing (it was confirmed that Abrar Ahmed was still ill in hospital and would not bat, though as a regular number 11 he was unlikely candidate for becoming a latter-day Eddie Paynter, rising from his hospital bed in his country’s hour of need and becoming the batting hero, as the Lancashire left hander did in the fourth test of the 1932-3 Ashes). Salman Agha and Aamer Jamal took their partnership past the 100 mark, but at 191 Jack Leach pinned Agha LBW for 63. Shaheen Shah Afridi resisted for a time, but after an over in which Brydon Carse gave him a tough time he drilled one back at Leach who took a superb return catch to make it 214-8. Naseem Shah got off the mark with a six, but missed another huge heave at the next ball and was stumped by Smith to end proceedings with Pakistan 47 short of avoiding the innings defeat. Leach’s polishing off of the tail gave him innings figures of 4-30, the stuff of miracles on this pitch, and match figures of 7-190. To put those figures in their true perspective, it means he took his wickets in this match at 27.14 each, while outside of his efforts the total score was 1,409-19, an average of 74.16 per wicket. Pakistan’s 556 is the highest first innings total by any side to lose a test match by an innings. There have been two higher scores in the first innings of a match by a side who ended up beaten: Bangladesh 595-8 declared v New Zealand quite recently, and Australia’s 586 at Sydney in 1894, when overnight rain at the end of the fifth day of a timeless match saw Australia caught on a vicious sticky and spun to defeat by Bobby Peel and Johnny Briggs, 113-2 becoming 166 all out and a loss by ten runs. Pakistan under Shan Masood have now lost six successive matches. The second match of this series starts, also in Multan, on Tuesday.

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My usual sign off…

Pakistan v England So Far

A look at developments in the first test of the Pakistan v England series, currently taking place in Multan, a link to an important campaign and a photo gallery.

The England men’s test side are currently in Pakistan, contesting the first match of a three match series. Multan is the venue.

PAKISTAN’S FIRST INNINGS

Pakistan won the toss and chose to bat. Abdullah Shafique and skipper Shan Masood shared a s second wicket stand of 253, and there were further major contributions from Saud Shakeel (82) and Salman Agha (104*) to boost the total to 556. Leach had 3-160 from 40 overs, Atkinson and Carse each claimed two wickets, while Bashir, Root and Woakes took one each. Though he was the most economical of the bowlers, going at precisely three runs per over, Woakes did precious little to suggest that he is worth his place overseas. Ben Duckett injured a thumb taking the catch that ended the Pakistan innings.

ENGLAND’S REPLY

Pope opened in place of Duckett and fell for a duck, but Crawley and Root saw things through to the end of the second day with the score 96-1.

Crawley donated his wicket with a really poor shot off Shaheen Shah Afridi, to make it 113-2 early this morning, but Duckett, now fit to bat, came in at number four and played excellently in partnership with Root. The third wicket stand had reached 136 when Aamer Jamal trapped Duckett LBW for a splendid 84 to make it 249-3. That brought Harry Brook to the crease, and neither he nor Root ever looked in any trouble from the Pakistan bowlers, though the Multan heat caused Root problems, in the form of cramps. By the time Brook joined the fray Root had already established himself as England’s all time leading test run scorer, having started the innings needing 71 to overhaul Cook’s tally, and now the milestones clocked up frequently: 50 to Brook, 100 to Root, 100 to Brook, 150 to Root. By the time stumps were pulled England had reached 492-3 and the partnership between the two Yorkies was worth an unbroken 243. Abrar Ahmed had bowled 35 overs for 174 and was wicketless. That included one spell of 23 overs, the longest wicketless spell by anyone against England since Old Trafford 2005 when Shane Warne bowled w=a wicketless spell of 24 overs. Root had 176 not out by the end of the day, having faced 277 balls and hit 12 fours, and thus run 128 of his own runs. Brook was 141 not out from 173 balls, with 12 fours and one six. The pitch has not yet shown any signs of breaking up, and Pakistan’s bowlers have by and large looked clueless. A draw would seem likely to because the pitch is emasculating the bowlers, but I could see an England win, if they bat well tomorrow, and Pakistan after a long time in the field and facing a large deficit, not to be expected after scoring 550, become dispirited and their second innings collapses. In total 250 overs have been bowled so far – 16 fewer than should have been allowing two overs for each innings break. Current scorecard here.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Just before my usual sign off, I have a link to share. The British sugar beet industry is seeking an ’emergency exemption’ from the ban on the use of Neonicitinoids for would if granted be a fifth successive year, hence the use of the use of speech marks around the key phrase. These pesticides are more poisonous gram for gram than DDT. It is time for two things:

The government needs to stand up to the sugar beet people and refuse them their exemption.
The right to apply for an emergency exemption then needs to be officially removed – the sugar beet industry has blatantly been abusing it, requesting such exemptions year after year rather than getting used to life without dangerous pesticides.

Butterfly Conservation are running a petition against the granting of this emergency exemption, which you can access here. There are four days left to do this. Image link below.

Now for my photographs…

England Go 2-0 Up Over Sri Lanka

A look at the closing stages of the test match between England and Sri Lanka at Lord’s, and a photo gallery.

Just after 5PM on a sunny Sunday (the first day of meteorological autumn) Lahiru Kumara hit a catch to Olly Stone off the bowling of Chris Woakes and the second test match between England and Sri Lanka was over, with England comprehensive winners. This post looks the final stages of the match (see here and here for previous posts about the development of this match).

BAD LIGHT AND CUNNING PLANS

Sri Lanka lost the first wicket of their second innings just as I was preparing yesterday’s post for publication. Karunaratne and Nissanka resisted for a time, but Stone had Nissanka caught by Root to make it 43-2. The light was dodgy by then, and although there was potential an hour and 41 minutes before the final cut off time Sri Lanka sent in Prabath Jayasuriya, hoping that the light would close in quickly. This strategy had the disadvantage that it would mean that Kamindu Mendis, Sri Lanka’s best batter of the series to date would be coming in at number eight, and it could have backfired far worse than it actually did, though it cannot honestly be accounted a success. The light did close in as Sri Lanka were hoping, and they went in to today needing precisely 430 more with eight second innings wickets standing.

ATKINSON TO THE FORE

Jayasuriya did not last massively long before Woakes had him caught by Brook to make it 60-3. Angelo Mathews joined Karunaratne and they put on 55 together, in the course of which Karunaratne become the first batter in positions 1-3 on either side to top 50 in an innings in this series. Unfortunately Karunaratne, a left hander who featured in my all time Ks XI and has moved his test average to the right side of 40 since then, did not go on much beyond 50 on this occasion. He had reached 55 when a ball from Stone took his glove on the way through to keeper Smith and it was 115-4. Chandimal now joined Mathews and proceeded to bat as though he was looking for a quick win, rather than facing a target that was still over 350 runs away. It was Mathews who was the first of the pair to go in the end, inexcusably for so experienced a player he allowed a sequence of dot balls to get to him, essayed a lofted drive against Shoaib Bashir and picked out Woakes to make it 174-5. Not long later the final instalment of the Atkinson show began, when Chandimal turned a ball from him round the corner, straight into the waiting hands of Dan Lawrence to make it 192-6. He had scored 58, but it was not the sort of innings that Sri Lanka needed in that situation. Kamindu Mendis, who should have been further up the order rather than a place down on his usual number seven, played his worst test knock to date, surviving a mere five balls and scoring four before he edged Atkinson to Duckett at third slip to make it 200-7. The effect that the promotion of Prabath Jayasuriya had on him is the main reason I rate the move a failure overall. Dhananjaya de Silva and Milan Rathnayake now shared the best Sri Lankan partnership of the match, making merry against an old ball that was doing precisely nothing on a pitch that never displayed any demons. The coming of the new ball was always likely to change things, and it did. The first ball of the fourth over with it, bowled by Atkinson found its way into the stumps by way of Dhananjaya de Silva’s bat, dismissing the Sri Lankan skipper for 50 and making it 273-8. Rathnayake hit some impressive shots, including successive boundaries off Atkinson, but the ball after thex second of those shots, the third of the 86th over found the edge and Smith did the rest to make it 288-9, and give Atkinson his fifth wicket of the innings, his seventh of the match and his 33rd in the five test matches he has played to date. It was the first time an England player had combined a century and a five-for in a test match since the last of Ian Botham’s five such games, at Wellington in 1984. Four more runs accrued before, like a ham actor stealing the last line from an Oscar winner, Woakes got the wicket of Kumara as described in the introduction and England had won by 190 runs. Atkinson was named Player of the Match, correctly in my view – he and Root both had outstanding matches, but Atkinson’s was the more impressive, and Root’s copybook was blotted by a couple of dropped catches. A shared award between Atkinson and Root would have been acceptable, but I would have been annoyed had it gone to Root on his own. Scorecard here.

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My usual sign off…

England Poised For Victory

A look at developments in the test match between England and Sri Lanka at Lord’s, including a history making innings by Joe Root.

This post is mostly concerned with goings on at Lord’s where England and Sri Lanka are engaged in a test match. It follows on from the post I put up yesterday.

YESTERDAY

Sri Lanka lost their eighth wicket as I was preparing yesterday’s post for publication. The final two wickets offered a little more resistance, but Sri Lanka were all out for 196 in the end, giving England a lead of 231. Each of the four seamers had two wickets, Bashir one and there was a run out. England could have enforced the follow on, but even though they had not spent that long in the field and the chance of two shots at Sri Lanka, overnight and this morning, offered extra reasons for going for the quick kill they followed standard 21st century practice and declined to do so. Lawrence was out in the mini-session of batting they gave themselves. To his credit Pope did not shelter behind a nightwatcher, he came in himself. England were 25-1 at the close, 256 ahead overall.

TODAY

Duckett was first to go this morning, caught by Mathews off Rathnayake for 24 to make it 36-2. That brought Joe Root to the crease, and he carried on where he had left of in the first innings. Pope was third to go, to a really terrible dismissal, playing a ball from Asitha Fernando straight into the hands of Prabath Jayasuriya. Brook and Smith each played well briefly, making 37 and 26 respectively. Woakes made just 5. Atkinson made 14 before suffering what was easily the most bizarre dismissal of the match, reverse swishing (the only way the shot he played can be described) Asitha Fernando straight into the hands of Lahiru Kumara. Root was approaching the century that would move him into sole possession of the record for test hundreds for England, but he lost another partner, Matt Potts for just 2 before the landmark approached. Appropriately when the historic moment came it arrived with considerable style – no snatched single for Root to reach this ton – he stroked a four through the covers to move from 98 to 102. A declaration at that moment would have attracted little criticism, but England batted on rather purposelessly (if ever the cliche ‘after the Lord Mayor’s show’ is justified it is for this period of play) until they were all out for 251, setting Sri Lanka 483 to win with time not a factor, since there are still two full days to play. Only once has 400 been scored in the fourth innings of a Lord’s test and that was in a losing cause, though there have been two huge run chases at this ground in the past – Cambridge University chased down 507 v MCC in 1897 and four years later in the marquee fixture of the season (no tests that summer) The Players chased down 501 to beat The Gentlemen. Sri Lanka have just lost their first wicket, with Root taking a catch off Atkinson to get Madushka for 13 and make it 19-1.

FROM THE CHAMPIONSHIP

A round of county championship fixtures is in progress (except for Gloucestershire v Northamptonshire, abandoned by order of the umpires on ground of a dangerous pitch and Warwickshire v Kent, where the visitors, already pretty much nailed on for relegation, have surrendered by an innings margin), and I have been using cricinfo to keep tabs on Nottinghamshire v Surrey. Nottinghamshire are making a decent fight of it, largely thanks to 19 year old left hander Freddie McCann, who came in at number three after the loss of an early wicket, and in only his third first class innings scored 154.

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My usual sign off…

England Going Well In Ranchi

A look back at the first two days of the fourth test match of the India v England series and a substantial photo gallery.

The fourth match of the five match test series between India and England got underway in Ranchi at 4AM Friday morning UK time. This post looks at the action from the first two days of play.

THE PRELIMINARIES

India had gone one up in the series following a thumping victory in the third match of the series (I was unable due to my internet situation to follow that match). England were forced to make one change to their line up, Rehan Ahmed having flown home for personal reasons. This meant a recall for Shoaib Bashir. Mark Wood was rested, with Ollie Robinson taking his place in the XI, and the England selectors failed to take the opportunity to drop Bairstow who has a had a horrible series, meaning that Dan Lawrence is still yet to feature. India made only one change, resting Jasprit Bumrah in the name of workload management, and handing a debut cap to Akash Deep in his place. I would have thought it would be better to keep him in the side for this match, aiming to settle the series early and then rest him. England won the toss, and chose to bat (choosing to bowl first on that surface and with Ranchi’s history would have made Nasser Hussain’s Brisbane 2002 howler of a decision look positively Solomonic).

DAY ONE

England reached 47 without undue difficulty, at which point Zak Crawley got himself out. Shortly after this it was 57-3, with Pope gone for a duck and Duckett also back in the pavilion. Bairstow scored rapidly but never suggested permanence, and sure enough, just before lunch he essayed one outrageous stroke too many and was on his way back to the pavilion. The interval came early when Stokes got a horrible ball from Jadeja, which shot through virtually at ground level, and hit the bottom of his pad so obviously plumb in front that the England skipper was setting off for the pavilion before the umpire’s finger was fully raised. Thus England were looking decidedly shaky with score 112-5.

However, Joe Root and Ben Foakes batted through the afternoon session together, and England took tea feeling somewhat happier at 198-5.

Post tea England continued to prosper. Foakes after initially being very slow hammered two sixes and a four in quick succession to move to 47, but then he holed out to end a partnership that had over doubled England’s score. When Hartley fell it was 245-7, and things were still very much in the balance, but Ollie Robinson batted sensibly, while Root continued on imperturbably to reach a superb century, his 31st in all test cricket, a record 10th against India and also a record third against India in India. England reached 300 just before the close, and by the end of the day were far the happier side, finishing on 302-7.

DAY TWO

England continued their revival, with Ollie Robinson completing an invaluable maiden test fifty, and Root finally ending on 122 not out, with England all out for 353. James Anderson soon had test wicket number 697, that of Rohit Sharma to a catch by Foakes. Jaiswal batted beautifully, but Gill became Shoaib Bashir’s first victim for 38, and Patidar and Jadeja were both out cheaply. At 161 Jaiswal’s innings came to an end for 73, bowled by the impressive Bashir. Jaiswal had become only the second ever Indian opener to score over 600 runs in a series, though he has a bit to do to overhaul Gavaskar’s 774 against the West Indies in 1970. Sarfaraz Khan, hugely talented (he averages 70 in first class cricket) but also inexperienced, struggled, and at 171 a fine catch by Root off Hartley ended his innings with his score on 14. Ashwin, who had done little to distinguish himself in this match either with the ball or in the field, mustered a single before Hartley trapped him LBW. Kuldeep Yadav provided one of India’s few bright spots of the day by batting through to the close in the company of Dhruv Jurel who ended the day 30* in a score of 219-7. India need this pair to continue their good work tomorrow – if England end with a big first innings lead the match will be as good as settled. Shoaib Bashir produced an exemplary spell of bowling, 32-4-84-4, keeping it tight and taking wickets. Anderson was Anderson, Hartley had his moments but also bowled quite a few loose balls, and Ollie Robinson was accurate, but lacking in pace (he was not even hitting 80mph). Ben Stokes did some bowling warm ups in the innings break, but did not put himself on, while with Bashir bowling so well Root was not called on save for one over near the end of the day. At the moment a 2-2 scoreline going to Dharamsala for the final match seems likely. England deserve great credit for the character they have shown to come back from the humiliation of the previous match and their decidedly unimpressive start to this match. I would say that after the first session on day one was indisputably India’s session England have had the better of all other five we have had so far, notwithstanding the late defiance of Jurel and Yadav.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

Ashes 2023 Underway

A look at developments in The Ashes so far and a photo gallery.

While I have been blogging about my holiday in the Lake District (I have a page with links to all the posts in this series) plenty has been happening in the world of cricket. England and Australia both had good build ups to the first match of the Men’s Ashes, although England lost leading spinner Jack Leach to an injury. This post looks at the developments since the series got underway on Friday.

THE PRELIMINARIES

England’s final XI, announced two whole days before the match started, contained several bones of contention. Foakes was dropped, as England decided that the best way to accommodate the returning Bairstow was to give him the wicket keeping gloves. When it came to finding a replacement for Leach as spinner they made the shockingly retrograde decision to recall Moeen Ali, now on a WHITE BALL ONLY contract with Warwickshire. Finally, perennial top order failure Zak Crawley retained his slot. The final XI thus read Z Crawley, B Duckett, O Pope, J Root, H Brook, *B Stokes, +J Bairstow, M Ali, S Broad, O Robinson, J Anderson. Australia’s only question mark was which two of Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc would play. In the event they opted, rightly IMO, for Hazlewood and Boland, benching Starc. England won the toss, and as they were virtually obliged to opted to bat first.

DAY ONE

Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope were both out fairly cheaply, but Crawley for once played well, scoring 61. However the feature of the innings was a glorious century by Joe Root, underlining his status as an all time great. Bairstow made 80, and Stokes surprised many by declaring at the end of the 78th over with the score reading 393-8. This set a new record – the earliest point in terms of balls bowled at which the opening innings of a test match has been declared. England didn’t manage an early breakthrough that evening, and many were slating Stokes for declaring. I was not among them, because unlike these critics I remember Rawalpindi, when Stokes was proved right about an aggressive declaration.

DAY TWO

This was a frustrating day. Bairstow more than undid his good work with the bat with some poor keeping – he reprieved Travis Head and Alex Carey, both pretty costly, and Australia reached the close at 311-5, 82 behind.

DAY THREE

The very first ball of the day should have seen England break through but Bairstow muffed another easy chance. There was another edge that failed to go to hand not much later, but I am not cruel enough to describe that one as a chance – it hit Bairstow’s boot before touching the ground, but it would have been miraculous to make a catch of it. However, in spite of these frustrations England did eventually take a first innings lead, bowling Australia out for 386. They made a good start, but then Cummins and Boland had a purple patch, and when the rain made its final intervention of the day England were 28-2, 35 runs ahead.

DAY FOUR SO FAR

Pope was third out with the score at 77, though Root was again batting splendidly. He was now joined by Harry Brook. They put on a rapid 50 stand before Root fell for 46 to make it 129-4. Brook exactly matched Root’s score before he too was out. Stokes and Bairstow are still together. Scott Boland had a naughty moment when he claimed a catch that would have meant the end of Stokes, but it went upstairs and replays showed that Stokes had hit the ball straight into the ground, a fact of which Boland must have been aware. As things stand England are 196-5, 203 runs ahead, and the match is intriguingly poised.

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My usual sign off…

As I was preparing this post for publication Bairstow fell LBW to Lyon to make it 196-6, and new batter Ali has got off the mark with a single. Yes Bairstow has contributed 100 runs in the match (80 and 20), but his bad wicket keeping means he is no better than even for the match, and maybe even in debit – certainly any more errors behind the stumps that cost anything will put him in debit.

Should Bairstow Keep Wicket For England This Summer?

A detailed answer to a question posed by talk sport radio on twitter this morning in the form of a look at the resources available to the England test team at the moment plus a photo gallery.

Another English cricket season is around the corner (some pre-season warm up fixtures are already taking place), and it is a biggie – the Aussies will be touring later this summer. My title comes from a question that talk sport radio put out on twitter this morning, and I am using this post to give it a detailed answer – the brief answer is the single word “no”.

ENGLAND’S RESOURCES

Since Ben Stokes took over the captaincy the England test team has fared exceedingly well, and the side’s unprecedented 3-0 sweep of the series in Pakistan plus the subsequent 1-1 draw in New Zealand (with the second game lost by one run, Stokes going uncompromisingly for the win rather than shut the game down to secure the series) were both achieved without Bairstow. The only real vacancy in the batting order is at the top, where Crawley’s returns continue to be utterly inadequate for a test match opening batter. Foakes, the current keeper, played important roles with the bat in several of the wins and is without any shadow of a doubt well clear of Bairstow as a keeper. The bowling is also strong, although the spin department remains a concern. Even there, with Rehan Ahmed showing positive signs in Pakistan, the trend is upwards.

BAIRSTOW IN TEST CRICKET

While in the period immediately before injury forced his withdrawal from the side Bairstow was in absolutely white hot form with the bat, his test history, which dates back to 2012, is of blowing hot and cold, with the latter more frequently the case. He is apparently not happy with the notion of opening in test cricket, though he does so in both forms of limited overs cricket. For me the middle order is strong with the question being who to leave out. One way to accommodate Bairstow is to have Stokes, who certainly has the technical wherewithal to do so move up to open the batting, creating a middle order slot for Bairstow (WG Rumblepants suggested this on twitter in response to the talk sport radio query). None of Pope, Root, Brook or Stokes are dispensable, and I regard the notion of dropping Foakes, already on the receiving end of scurvy treatment from England selectors since his international debut in 2018, as an outrage.

THE ENGLAND TEST SIDE GOING FORWARD

With the powerful batting outlined above, plus Foakes as keeper, a slew of fine seamers available, plus outright pacers in the form of Wood, Archer and possibly Stone in the wings, and Leach and Ahmed available to bowl spin, plus Will Jacks on the fringes as a batter who bowls spin on the side, and a few county players knocking on the doors (a good start to the season for Ben Compton would certainly force the selectors to sit up an take notice to name but one) the truth is that the England test side does not need to perform mental gymnastics to find a way to accommodate an ageing middle order batter with a history of inconsistency at the highest level – they would do better to move forwards without him.

PHOTOGRAPHS

To put it mildly the weather these last few days has been less than ideal for photography, but I do have a small gallery of recent captures to share…

Photographed through the window of a bus, a pair of goldfinches using a cable (obviously very well insulated) as a perch.

England On Top In New Zealand

A look at goings on the second test between New Zealand and England and a large photo gallery.

I am writing this as Australia and South Africa do battle in the final of the Womens’ World T20 Cup in front of a packed house crowd at Newlands, Cape Town – I will cover the closing stages of this tournament tomorrow. In this post I look at the first three days play in Wellington, where England are poised to win the test series against New Zealand.

THE ENGLAND FIRST INNINGS

I missed the first day’s play entirely – this being in New Zealand it is happening overnight my time. England were 21-3 at one point, but Harry Brook (184* by the close) and Joe Root (101* by the close) put on an unbroken 294 in what was left of the day – rain called a halt after 65 overs.

Brook was out early on the second day, but Root kept going, and when he reached his 150 Stokes declared. England had amassed 435-8. Root, the greatest English test batter of the 21st century and his heir apparent Brook had scored 339 of those for once out between them (Brook 186, Root 153*).

THE NEW ZEALAND FIRST INNINGS

By the end of day two, again hastened by bad weather, NZ were 135-7 and in all kinds of bother. A blitz by Southee, who ended with 73 off 48 balls, got NZ passed 200, but at 209 all out they had not quite done enough to dodge the follow-on. Anderson, currently the world no1 ranked test bowler at the age of 40, had three wickets as did Broad, and Leach outdid both of them with four. The next question was what Stokes would do – most current test skippers would not have enforced the follow-on, but as Stokes demonstrated at Rawalpindi not so long ago he is emphatically not most current test skippers…

THE NEW ZEALAND SECOND INNINGS

Stokes did enforce the follow-on, correctly in my view, given that this was day three and the weather was not to be relied on. New Zealand batted better second time round and reached the close on 202-3, still 24 runs in arrears. Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls committed absolutely to defence in the latter stages of the day, which is why NZ are still in debit. If New Zealand can bat through day four they may be in a position to cause England trouble, but at the moment England are heavy favourites, and a couple of early strikes to start day four would underline that status.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

England on the Threshold of History

A look at how it is that England stand on the threshold of a historic clean sweep of the test series in Pakistan, plus some photographs.

This post will be a fairly brief one, setting the scene for a more detailed one on Wednesday. The main subject is the match that is nearing its end in Karachi. No visiting men’s team has ever won every match of a three+ match test series in Pakistan, and as things stand England, already 2-0 up in the series are 55 runs away from victory with eight wickets standing (and three of those waiting to bat are Root, Pope and Brook, the latter two of whom have had outstanding series) in the final game. This match has featured three things until Stokes was appointed skipper have been in very short supply for the England men’s test team in recent years, and I tackle each in turn.

A WIN ORIENTED MINDSET

England have all too often approached test matches from a perspective of ‘must not lose’. Under Stokes that has very much become the correct ‘must win’ attitude. The first match of the current series, when Stokes boldly offered Pakistan a target of 342 in four sessions (albeit knowing that due to limited daylight both the first and fourth of said sessions would be of reduced length) exemplified this, as did the way England started their chase of 167 for victory in Karachi – rather than ‘make sure we don’t lose any wickets’ Stokes and England opted to see if they could win it before the end of the third day.

PUBLICLY BACKING PLAYERS

There have been two outstanding on-field examples of this in the current match: Harry Brook caused Stokes to be run out, and Stokes as he left the crease made a point of telling Brook not to worry about it. Brook duly scored a superb century. Today Rehan Ahmed took 5-48, a splendid performance (more on this and him in Wednesday’s post), especially for an 18 year old debutant, and when Crawley was first out Stokes decided that was Ahmed’s day and sent him in at number three to play the ‘night hawk’ role – an attacking version of the ‘night watch’ role. Ahmed only scored 10, but he hit two boundaries and helped maintain England’s momentum. Stokes himself went in at number four, but the light closed in. Nevertheless, so much of the task has already been accomplished that even if Pakistan start tomorrow sensationally it is hard to see England even getting nervous, never mind succumbing to those nerves – doing what England did is far preferable to a more conventional 40-0, and almost 130 still needed.

SPIN BOWLING

English pitches these days do not often favour spinners with the result that England have struggled in that department in recent times. Jack Leach took his 100th test wicket during this series, and in the period in which I have been an active cricket fan (mid 1980s to present) only one England spinner has taken over 100 test wickets at a better average than Leach – Graeme Swann (Derek Underwood played some of his career during my lifetime, but benefitted from uncovered pitches for much of his career – on a rain affected pitch, or at the other extreme, a dustbowl, he was truly ‘Deadly’, but on ordinary surfaces he was merely very accurate, and I don’t think he would take his wickets at much if anything below 30 each these days). In this match Leach and debutant Rehan Ahmed each claimed seven wickets, and even Joe Root had some success with the ball. This is important – many of those talking about England’s approach under Stokes are understandably dazzled by the incredible batting, but to win a match you generally need to take 20 wickets, and one reason England are poised for ninth win in ten test matches is that they have taken all ten of their opponents wickets in each of the last 19 innings in which they have bowled.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Before my regular photos I have two others that have appeared in previous posts to share for a special reason: Karachi is regarded as something of a fortress for Pakistan, and England are 55 runs away from taking it by storm, so which of the two photographs below do you think is more apt for the circumstances:

Please comment with your answer.

Now for my usual sign off…

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