England need calm response to Pakistan pressure

The reaction to defeat at Lord’s speaks volumes for the febrile atmosphere in English cricket at present.

With a couple of newspapers calling for the selectors to be sacked, you would think defeat at Lord’s, or defeat against Pakistan, was an unprecedented disaster. But actually England lost at Lord’s in 2015 and 2014 and Pakistan beat them 2-0 barely six months ago.

So quite why the defeat at Lord’s has caused such shock is puzzling. Pakistan are a fine side with, arguably, the best bowling attack in the world. They are rated above England in the rankings and Lord’s (and The Oval and Manchester) offer England little home advantage. Anyone surprised by Pakistan playing well – or England’s batting looking fragile – really hasn’t been paying attention.

The consternation over the absence of James Anderson is puzzling, too. The decision not to risk him at Lord’s – a not unreasonable decision bearing in mind he had yet to play a game after sustaining a shoulder injury – was not responsible for the defeat. England’s “naïve” batting, as Alastair Cook termed it, was.

It’s certainly not a selection fiasco in the grand traditions of English cricket. Take the Major Nigel Bennett episode, for example. Major Bennett popped into The Oval in 1946 to renew his county membership after the war, but was mistaken for Major Leo Bennet – who had represented the British Empire XI during the war – and offered the captaincy. He took up the offer before anyone realised a mistake had been made and went on to lead Surrey to what was, at the time, the worst season in their history. He averaged 16 with the bat.

Still, Anderson’s return to the …

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