England still need to solve batting quandries

For England’s test side, the series against New Zealand was much more than a chance to show their superiority that had been called into question after the drawn series at the start of the year. It was a chance to properly test how the squad would perform before the crucial back to back Ashes series. The recent comprehensive 2-0 series win will certainly give English cricket team plenty to celebrate about. Particularly, when it comes to their much talked about bowling attack.

Every one of their bowlers has performed in at least one of the innings this series. Stuart Broad’s opening burst was, by his own admission, the best of his career. Jimmy Anderson once again showed that only the magnificent Dale Steyn is ahead of him in the test bowling pecking order and joined the illustrious 300 England wickets club that only legends Fred Trueman, Bob Willis and Sir Ian Botham occupy. Graeme Swann did the impossible by bagging a 10 wicket haul at Headingly, and Steven Finn returned to form after a problematic winter.

Yet, when it comes down to the batting, there are still questions marks about some of the top six. Most analysts suspect that the Australia series will be decided on how the respective top seven perform against dangerous pace attacks. For Australia, it’s not the personnel but the actual quality that is troubling fans and pundits alike. For the English, it’s how to best utilise their much more abundant options.

Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott are set in stone. Joe Root’s impressive performances – a top score of 71 in the first test and an inaugural hundred – have assured his place in the team in some form or another. Assuming that Kevin Pietersen will be fit to bat, he would also walk into the side. From here on in, there are problems. chief among which is Nick Compton.

After back-to-back hundreds against New Zealand in the last series, many people thought Compton was going to be the real deal. A total of 39 runs in four innings, however, have shown that his credentials at Test level remain unproven. Although he did well in seeing the new ball, he failed to impose himself on the bowlers afterwards and crawled along. More worrying is that when he did try to move on, he got out to a terrible shot trying to advance down the pitch ending up ballooning the ball in the air.

The impressive form of Root – who is an opening batsman for his club side – has seen most of the English media begin to clamour for him to opener the batting for England at the start of the Ashes. Root’s higher strike rate, greater variety of shots and simple good form would seem to support this notion. But the media, in their frenzy, have forgotten that both times Root faced the new ball, he got out very quickly. If Compton is to feature in the first Ashes Test, he needs to free his mind up and take the game to the bowlers without being reckless and most importantly score runs at  the County level whilst the rest of the team switch their attention to the ODI format.

The most worrying problem for me though is not one of the fledglings of the England team but one of the ever presents. Ian Bell’s form has plummeted ever since Saeed Ajmal turned him out in Pakistan. In the last four test series, Bell has averaged 32. A remarkable 13 runs lower than his overall test average of 45.5. In 12 tests, he’s only scored two fifties and one solitary hundred against an Indian side that had virtually given up. This is the sort of form that caused him to be dropped at the start of 2009. Bell’s class, experience and recent record against Australia will still get him in the side for the first half of the series certainly, but if his bad form continues, England must seriously consider the option of dropping England’s most aesthetically pleasing batsman.

There are other minor issues that could pose a problem for the English before and during the Ashes campaign. I’m still not totally convinced by Jonny Bairstow as a test match batsman. He’s still yet to score a hundred and there’s still a big difference from scoring big scores at your home ground against a tough but manageable attack to scoring when it matters against the third best attack in the world. If Compton is dropped for Root, Bairstow will have the chance to bat at six for the series, so the pressure will be on him. And if ‘KP’ is not fit enough in time for the start of the series, do England persist with Compton opening or move Root up and bring in someone like James Taylor?

Question marks still remain in the England setup but make no mistake, if you asked any English and Aussie fan right now, which side is in the better shape, I think even the most pessimistic Pom would say that Cook’s men still look good.