London: Joe Root, the captain, said England “need to learn the lessons quickly” from the Nottingham defeat against South Africa. Yet Trevor Bayliss, the head coach, said the batsmen had to stick to their way of playing but just do it better.
Bayliss appears to want more of the same. There was no talk from the boss asking his guys to adapt, show a bit of restraint and patience or stay in and wear the South Africa fast bowlers down. So, there is a difference of opinion between captain and coach about the style of batting needed this week at the Oval. It is anybody’s guess what England will dish up.
Over the past two years, England have increasingly resembled Pakistan. How they bat depends on which side of the bed they get out of. If Pakistan had lost so convincingly at Nottingham, and failed to last 100 overs in two innings, many people would have been muttering and hinting the match was fixed.
England are two teams. One gives us exhilarating highs, and the other depressing collapses because the culture within the England team is to attack and attack and keep attacking whatever the situation.
If Bayliss and his staff keep telling the players to be positive, and the players keep telling each other to whack the ball, then they are never going to understand that there is an ebb and flow about Test cricket. There are periods when the opposition bowlers are on top, so you should try to stay in, play through it, show some patience and determination and wait until they take a break. When you get the lesser bowling, or the second stringers on, then you take advantage.
England’s coaching staff and players cannot, or will not, grasp that a Test is like playing chess. It helps if you use your brain and try to think two moves ahead, rather than our lot allowing their egos to get in the way of common sense and trying to hit the ball all the time. Too many of our guys have deluded themselves into thinking being swashbuckling and cavalier is the only way to play. A good defence and good shot selection are imperative, but why can they not do that better?
Talk is cheap. England need to put into practice what the captain is now saying. So many of the young batsmen come into Test cricket with poor techniques. They have scored a lot of runs in county cricket on flat, easy pitches with these new huge bats that hit the ball further than ever. If the Test pitch is flat, they can get away with technical flaws by hitting through the line of the ball. But if there is a bit in the pitch and quality bowlers using the new ball, their flawed technique is exposed. Hence, the list of young batsmen who have come and gone quickly, flattering occasionally but eventually spluttering and getting dropped.
Opening the batting England have had Sam Robson, Adam Lyth, Moeen Ali, Jonathan Trott, Michael Carberry, Nick Compton and Alex Hales. Look at Keaton Jennings and Gary Ballance. When playing forward, Jennings is too upright, with a straight front leg, which means his head is behind where it should be when he plays defensively. The bat goes in front of his pad, leaves a gap and he “gates” himself. He should have been told long ago to take a bigger stride, bend the front knee more so the weight of his body comes forward and his head is over the ball, as well as on the line of the ball, so the bat plays it just a fraction in front of the pad, not way in front.
Ballance goes back so deep in the crease that when he moves forward, his front foot is still on, or slightly in front of, the batting crease. The idea of playing forward is to get your front foot nearer the pitch of the ball. The less distance the ball travels from where it pitches to when you play it means there is less chance of you missing it or nicking it. You have only 4 and a quarter inches of bat and you are trying to hit the ball in the middle so, actually, you have only two inches for margin of error. And that is with someone bowling at 90mph, so you have to get nearer to the ball to improve your chances.
Ben Stokes is a fantastic player on good pitches but, as soon as there is rough outside his off stump, and spinners bowl at him like they did in India, or Keshav Maharaj is at the moment for South Africa, he plays defensively towards cover point. It is very simple.
Technically, if you can play the ball whence it came, almost in a straight line, there is more chance of you playing it in the middle of the bat. Batting is all about angles, so he needs to be taking guard towards middle-and-off stump and playing the ball straighter, back towards the bowler. Play with the spin, use softer hands and let the ball come to you. It is obvious that, as soon as the ball turns out of the rough, Stokes is in great discomfort. Someone should solve it. That is what batting coaches are there for.
Traditionally, the Oval pitch is the best batting surface in the country. If England are looking to redeem themselves in the eyes of the public, there is no better place to bat. It is a true pitch with a high bounce and a fast outfield. There is usually not a great deal of seam movement, so there should be no excuses for our batsmen this time.
