3 changes England should make for the 4th Ashes Test
After tough losses in Birmingham and London, England held their nerve at Headingley to win the third Ashes Test and remain in the hunt to regain the Ashes for the first time since 2015. A huge positive for the hosts was the fact that they crossed the line without a superhuman effort from their skipper Ben Stokes.
England made three changes ahead of the third Test in Leeds and all the players who were drafted in had a huge impact on the game. Mark Wood picked up seven wickets and scored 40 crucial runs in the game. Chris Woakes picked up six wickets and played an unbeaten 32-run knock on Day 4 to guide his side home. Moeen Ali also made a big impact, picking up crucial wickets during the course of the game.
As such, the home side will be confident ahead of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, which starts nine days from now. However, they will know that there are still areas that need polishing and could look to alter their team combination with regard to the same.
On that note, we take a look at three changes that England should make for the next Ashes Test.
#1 Dan Lawrence in for Zak Crawley
The 25-year-old Zak Crawley is a player that Stokes and Brendon McCullum have backed to the core. However, the right-handed opener hasn't really lived up to the trust and faith that has been placed in him. In this series so far, he has scored 196 runs at an average of 32.67 with one half-century to his credit.
Overall, he has played 37 Tests and has a rather poor average of 28.66, which will dip further if his 267 against Pakistan on a flat track is not taken into account. As such, England should really look beyond Crawley and look to bring in someone like Dan Lawrence into the side.
Although Lawrence is not an opener, he could be drafted into the middle-order and Moeen Ali could be made to open. The southpaw has opened the batting earlier and hence, it shouldn't be a big issue.
#2 Ben Foakes in for Jonny Bairstow
Jonny Bairstow has had a tough time so far in the series, scoring only 141 runs across six innings at an average of 23.5. To add to it, his glovework has been absolutely miserable. His fumbles behind the stumps have proven quite costly for England and there wasn't really any improvement during the Headingley Test.
As such, England should consider bringing in Ben Foakes to the setup as he is by far, the best keeper in England and one of the best in the world. Some people reckon that Bairstow is the better batter but statistics show that there is not much to differentiate between the two of them in first-class cricket.
Hence, Foakes will be a better fit, especially considering that the Ashes series is one the line.
#3 James Anderson in for Ollie Robinson
While he has bowled well in the ongoing series, Ollie Robinson suffered from a back spasm in Leeds, which meant that he could not bowl a single over in Australia's second innings. Hence, there are doubts over his fitness at this point in time.
James Anderson, who was not picked for the third game, has a good record at Old Trafford, where the fourth Test will be played. He averages 22.03 from 10 appearances at this venue, which is also his home ground.
Hence, considering Robinson's injury and Anderson's familiarity with the wicket, Stokes and Co. could be tempted to make the swap.