England will play four Test series in 2015; against the West Indies, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. From three to seven, their batting order looks settled: Ballance, Bell, Root, Moeen Ali, Buttler. Subject to fitness, James Anderson and Stuart Broad will bowl. There are numerous players vying for the third and fourth bowling spots. Alastair Cook will open. But who will his partner be?
After seven Test matches, Sam Robson averages only 30.54, with one hundred and one fifty. He looked vulnerable outside off stump to some relatively tame seam attacks. Michael Carberry, ditched from the side after a creditable performance in the 5-0 whitewash in Australia, will have felt hard done by that he wasn’t given a chance to revive his Test career against Sri Lanka.
There are plenty of talented and hungry cricketers ready to usurp Robson at the top of the order churning out runs in county cricket. A year ago, Robson was among them, but now the likes of Adam Lyth, Daryl Mitchell and Alex Lees (even Alex Hales on the outside) lead the chasing pack. Former Test opener Nick Compton has moved counties to try to press for re-selection. However, a deeper scrutiny of England’s selection of openers since the retirement of Andrew Strauss suggests that it is about time they finally show courage in their convictions and give Robson a year in the job.
When Andrew Strauss retired from Test cricket in 2012, only one replacement was possible. Nick Compton would have joined a select group of batsmen to have scored 1,000 first-class runs before the end of May if it hadn’t been for Somerset electing to field first and then a bout of bad weather in Worcestershire. He reached the milestone on June 1. In the 2012 season, he averaged 99.25. Having just turned 29, his selection wasn’t an investment in the future, but a recognition of the sheer weight of runs he’d amassed. Compton knew he would have to knock the proverbial door down, and he did.
Despite making back-to-back centuries in an away tour to New Zealand, media pressure on Compton’s place was intense because of the Joe Root narrative. Lauded by Geoffrey Boycott and others in the TMS box, the idea emerged that it was only a matter of time before Root (who opened for Yorkshire) would replace Compton up top and partner Cook for the foreseeable future. Two bad Tests for Compton against New Zealand at home (in which Root made a terrific hundred in front of his home crowd batting at six), and fresh-faced Root was in for the Ashes.
Despite scoring more runs than Alastair Cook in the 2013 Ashes, Root did not convince many that he had the front-foot technique necessary to face top-quality new-ball bowling. He was undoubtedly a fine young batsman, but was he right as an opener? Cracks appeared in the Joe Root narrative. Cue tuts of “I told you so” from Nick Compton’s advocates.
Compton’s England career was effectively ended when Michael Carberry was picked as a reserve opener for the return Ashes series last winter. Andy Flower’s England were presented by the media as meticulous planners, but a total farce followed England’s arrival in Australia to shatter the Joe Root narrative for good.
When Alastair Cook was ruled out of the first tour match with a back spasm, Carberry out-scored Root. Upon Cook’s return, Carberry was his opening partner, and the idea that Joe Root was a decade-long solution to England’s search for an opener vanished into the mist. He was replaced by a man three years older than Nick Compton; a final insult to the Somerset batsman who was dropped so that England could built for the future with Root.
Carberry also did a reasonable job against the new ball in the Ashes. While every England batsman (with the possible exception of Ben Stokes) failed miserably during that series, Carberry at least looked brave and determined against the pace of Mitchell Johnson. In the months following the sacking of Kevin Pietersen, his supporters highlighted that he had been the highest run-scorer for England in the dismal series. Carberry only scored thirteen runs fewer than KP, in his debut series, whilst opening the batting (arguably a much harder place to bat than Pietersen’s own spot at four). No England player came out of that series smelling of roses, but Carberry was far from being the biggest stinker.
Once again, however, England were looking for a new opener, their fourth partner for Cook in as many series. Carberry’s age counted heavily against him, and there was apparently no room for a 33-year-old in England’s so-called “new era”. Robson was selected, and as early as his first Test, questions about his off-stump technique were being raised.
Opening the batting is one of the most difficult roles in cricket, and it is foolish to expect instant success from anyone. This summer, Sam Robson scored nearly as many runs in Test cricket as Alastair Cook (336 to 376).
In the winter Ashes, Michael Carberry scored more runs than Alastair Cook.
In the 2013 summer Ashes, Joe Root scored more runs than Alastair Cook.
While Cook out-scored Compton in the two-Test series at home against New Zealand, Compton scored more runs than Cook in the away series the previous winter, including two centuries.
Cook hasn’t scored a Test ton in 31 innings, but has earned the patience of the selectors with his stellar Test record. However, each of his last four partners have shown promise without being given more than nine Tests to settle in. After 26 Tests, Steve Waugh had never made a Test hundred, and went on to become an all-time great. Compton had two after nine, and was dropped.
If the England selectors picked Adam Lyth for the West Indies Tests, he would probably do a good job. But he would need the same patience that was never afforded to any of his predecessors.
It’s about time England gave someone a proper chance to prove themselves as a Test opener, and it might as well be Robson.
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