Following England’s success in the first Test against South Africa, there was so much positivity surrounding Joe Root’s captaincy that many immediately wrote off England’s opposition.
However, one Test later and the tourists are suddenly level and hold all of the momentum. England collapsed twice in two innings and looked a pale imitation of the side that won the first Test. England were only able to notch 338 runs for the loss of 20 wickets as South Africa cruised to victory by a margin of 340 runs.
It was an embarrassing Test for England and means Root has now tasted the two contrasting sides of victory and defeat as captain.
Admittedly, Root’s batting is not something that should be highlighted here, as he scored 78 runs in the first innings. The entire spine of the team around him largely failed, with only Alastair Cook and Jonny Bairstow coming close to registering half centuries in either innings.
In the end, South Africa highlighted England’s frailties. If they truly have aspirations of becoming the best team in the world, they must find a way to grind out a result in a Test that looks like it is getting away from them.
When things are going well for the Three Lions, they are great. They have some of the most explosive and fluid batsmen in the game today, meaning that when England are on top, runs come freely and they are able to out their opposition under a lot of pressure.
However, when a few wickets fall, England have a tendency to collapse. With Keaton Jennings and Cook struggling to dig in for elongated periods so far this series, it has highlighted and exposed the weaknesses of Gary Ballance.
The number three made starts in each of his innings in the second Test but fell cheaply. Perhaps this itself is more unforgivable than failing to score at all. When a player takes the time to get in and face the most difficult period of their innings which is slowing the momentum of the opposition following a wicket, they must take their chance and go on to post a score, which Balance is yet to do this series.
Further down the order, Ben Stokes struggled and Moeen Ali was unable to save England. Both players are astoundingly powerful and very good on the front-foot, however, when they are under extreme pressure and having to dig in to save an innings, they do not look like the most solid of players.
England are really missing a player like Jonathan Trott at three. Trott was the perfect player to have coming in after the openers, happy to dig in after early wickets had fallen and eager to do the same when he was coming in with the score in excess of 100. In his prime, Trott was one of England’s most dependable batsmen.
This is what England seem to be lacking of late; a player in their lineup that is just a run machine and happy to stay in and slow the opposition’s momentum. Number three has been a problem area of late and Balance has not made it his own. His injury gives the selectors the chance to try out someone different, and until England stop carrying passengers and become a side that has a real backbone when things are going badly, they will never be the world’s best team.
