Why England should pick two spinners for the first Test
Ever since England won the Test match against New Zealand in May 2015, a new hope emerged among followers of English cricket. Their team had reached such a low that no one was expecting even an outside chance of them drawing the match, forget about winning it. They went on to win ODI series – which inspired a huge section of people to believe that this ‘NEW’ England is capable after all of winning the Ashes.
Andrew Strauss, the new director of cricket, boosted the motivation of followers. When asked about England’s chances in the upcoming Ashes, he said: “We have very good chance. It's going to be difficult for them, whatever they think or say in their dressing room, it's going to be very tough for them and I'm very confident our guys are going to be good enough.”
Trevor Bayliss was appointed the new coach, who had just fourteen days with the team leading up to the series. The squad announced was very much on the lines of expectations – with Adil Rashid rewarded for his consistent performances at the domestic level.
England's probable team composition
There have been much discussion about who should be left out of the 13-member squad. As it turns out, the greatest decision in front of the team management seems to be: Adil Rashid or Moeen Ali. But my take would be to include both Adil and Moeen in the playing XI. Sounds surprising. But here is the reason why I would pick two spinners:
The English squad includes 5 batsmen (Lyth, Cook, Ballance, Root and Bell), 1 all rounder (Ben Stokes, safely categorized based on recent performances), 1 wicket-keeper (Jos Buttler), 2 spinners (Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali) and 4 fast bowlers (Anderson, Finn, Wood and Broad)
There is no argument about 9 players who will make it to playing XI: Lyth, Cook, Root, Bell, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler, Broad, Anderson and Finn. (Probable batting order)
If Gary Ballance is included in the squad, the decision comes down to including either one of Adil Rashid or Moeen Ali. This should strengthen their batting lineup with a probable 8 of 11 players who can bat. But do they have enough to pick 10 Australian wickets? Also, the recent batting record of Gary Ballance is not an encouraging one. In the last 10 innings, he had only passed 50 runs mark only 3 times and all three of them came in West Indies. His average stays at 41 in the last 10 innings, thanks to a century in the list. The average drops drastically vs New Zealand. His average was just 9 runs per innings in the two Test matches.
Ballance the unlucky one?
On the other hand, Moeen Ali averages 26 with the bat against New Zealand. He also picked up 5 wickets during this series. His recent domestic performance will also favor him.
Adil Rashid, who will make his International test debut if included in playing XI, returned to international cricket against New Zealand after 6 years. He was more than impressive during that series. He averaged 38 runs with the bat and picked up 8 wickets in 5 matches.
As it turns out, either of Adil Rashid or Moeen Ali can bat as well as Gary Balance (with all due respect to his talent) and are capable of picking wickets.
Remember you need to pick 20 Australian wickets in every match to win the Ashes. But Is ‘New and Aggressive’ cricket ready to take aggressive decisions. We need to wait for a few more days to know.