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Jennings and Dawson carry the Flower stamp of approval
- Updated: November 30, 2016
The series can still be drawn and England could still leave India as the No. 2 rated Test side but, as they head for Mumbai (or Dubai, in a few cases), it doesn’t feel much like it.
It’s not just the tour-ending injuries to Haseeb Hameed and Zafar Ansari, or the somewhat less threatening injuries to Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad. It’s the sense that, five Tests into their Asian adventure, England still do not know their best side or even what the balance of that side should be.
On the face of things, the call-up of Keaton Jennings is as a direct replacement for Hameed. But it’s more than that. It’s an acceptance of a lack of confidence in the original squad and in Ben Duckett (who has already opened in Test cricket) and Gary Ballance (who spent much of his Test career at No. 3) in particular. In retrospect, it was a mistake for England to take Ballance to India if they had decided after the Bangladesh segment of the tour not to pick him. They had the opportunity to change the squad, they failed to take it and have struggled with a lack of batting options.
One of the victims of that imbalance has been Moeen Ali. While he might well have benefited from some stability – most batsmen do – he has been shunted up and down the order to the point where his role has changed almost by the match. In his 35 Tests, he has batted everywhere in the top nine; a panacea for England’s failings, but one that comes at its own cost.
It’s hard to argue with the selection of Jennings, though. He scored more runs than anyone else (1,548) in Division One in 2016 and, while few of them were against spin, he did make a fourth-innings century against a Warwickshire attack including Jeetan Patel (arguably the best spinner in English domestic cricket).
He is well-organised, patient and, perhaps crucially, brought up with more than a hint of the South African culture that seems so popular with key figures in English cricket; more of that later. It’s probably not ideal that he is another left-hander – England may well have four in their top six against two fine off-spinners – but ‘ideal’ left this tour a while ago.
The selection of Liam Dawson is more contentious. He claimed only 20 Championship wickets in 2016 and they cost 43.65 each. Nor was that an aberration: in 2015 he claimed …
