With all eyes on the preparation for the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia, England announced their 15-man squad for December’s three-match Test series in Pakistan.
It’s a monumental tour for many reasons with Ben Stokes leading his side’s first Test assignment in the country for 17 years. It will also be the first away trip of the exciting Brendan McCullum era.
Uncapped duo Liam Livingstone and Will Jacks have been selected whilst batters Keaton Jennings and Ben Duckett are recalled after lengthy three-and-a-half-year and six-year absences respectively after strong County Championship seasons.
Opener Alex Lees, who endured a sorry summer averaging just 25 in 13 innings, and seamer Matt Potts were the first players dropped since McCullum took the reigns.
Jennings signed off the season, where he amassed 1,233 runs in 17 innings, in style as he reminded the selectors of his talent with a classy 199 against champions Surrey live on Sky Sports.
Whilst Jennings, who has scored both of his Test hundreds in Asia, and Duckett have rightfully been picked on red-ball form in County Cricket and their ability to play spin, England’s array of bowlers — especially their spin-bowling stocks — leave a lot to be desired.
As expected, veteran seamer Stuart Broad will miss the trip with wife Mollie King due to give birth to their first child during the tour.
But the most shocking element of the squad announcement was the fact only ONE frontline spinner was picked in Jack Leach. Livingstone and Jacks are part-time with Joe Root’s off-spin likely to be heavily called upon.
Make no mistake about it, the pitches will spin and England are distinctly lacking in that department.
Granted, Livingstone has the ability to turn the ball both ways as we have seen in white-ball cricket. He bowls his trademark leg-spin to right-handers and adopts off-spin to left-handers, to ensure the ball is turning away from the bat.
But, and it’s a BIG but, he hasn’t played a red-ball game since September 2021. What message does that send out to players plying their trade in the Country Championship trying to force their way into the Test side?
During that season’s County Championship he averaged a meagre 11 with the bat and 62 with the ball. Over the last three years he’s averaged 12.67 with the bat. It’s hardly a ringing endorsement to be picked as a potential second spinner option behind Leach.
Livingstone’s talent with the bat is unquestionable and he is without doubt one of the most destructive T20 batters in the world, but does he deserve a Test selection? No! As we’ve seen with the likes of Jason Roy and Jos Buttler, T20 dashers haven’t worked for England in the Test arena. He has also missed a large part of the year with an ankle injury.
For Jacks, he played his part in Surrey’s County Championship success, but mainly with the bat where he averaged a tidy 54. His 21 first-class wickets to date have come at 53 runs apiece.
They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
England infamously picked part-time left-arm spinner Ian Blackwell, one of the country’s one-Test wonders, for the 2006 tour of India. The only game they won was when they picked two frontline spinners in Monty Panesar and Shaun Udal, with Hampshire’s Udal taking a stunning 4/14 in the final innings to wrap up a mightily impressive victory.
In the sub-continent you need spinners, it’s like rock and roll, it just works. The catalyst for England’s only Test series triumph in India since 1974, a decade ago, was spin-twins Graeme Swann and Panesar taking 37 wickets between them.
England aren’t blessed with spinners of the calibre of Messrs Swann and Panesar. Some may say the cupboards are bare. Moeen Ali’s frustrating retirement double u-turn left the selections looking elsewhere.
But among the Division One tweakers; Dom Bess, who has played second fiddle to Leach in Sri Lanka and taken a Test five-wicket haul, took 36 wickets @ a shade under 43, Rob Keogh 34 @ 30 and leg-spinner Matt Parkinson 33 @ 30.
And the seam front is shaky as well with James Anderson, Mark Wood, Ollie Robinson and Jamie Overton the quartet selected for the three back-to-back Tests. Captain Stokes is likely to be used as and when required as he manages his ongoing troublesome knee. The likes of fast bowlers Jofra Archer, Ollie Stone and Saqib Mahmood are all on the comeback trail from injury.
With Anderson leading the attack, on what is expected to be predominantly flat pitches, at 40 with Wood only recently returning after shoulder surgery and Robinson’s previous fitness concerns they also seem thin on the ground on that front too.
History tells you to bowl teams out in Pakistan you need express pace, the ability to reverse swing the ball and good spinners. Unfortunately, England appear to be lacking in those departments.
But Managing Director Rob Key said: “The selectors have picked a squad for the conditions we can expect in Pakistan.
“There is a strong blend of youth and experience and players who will adapt well to the types of pitches we are likely to get across the three-match series.”
Rawalpindi, Multan and Karachi are the three grounds hosting the Tests, which get underway on December 1.
England squad: Ben Stokes, James Anderson, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ben Foakes, Will Jack, Keaton Jennings, Jack Leach, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Mark Wood.
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