Since Andrew Strauss retried from international cricket, England have had the conundrum of finding an opening partner to pair Alistair Cook. The struggles of this have been well documented. Since Cook’s retirement, Rory Burns, Keaton Jennings, Joe Denny and Jason Roy have opened the batting for England’s red ball team (excluding night watchmen).
However, arguably the hardest thing England have found, in recent years is replacing Jonathan Trott at 3 since his retirement in 2015. Under Flower’s England, England had a solid foundation of Cook, Strauss and Trott at the top of the innings. Providing a base for the likes of KP, Bell, and Collingwood. A lot was spoken about the need for England to replace Strauss, with many options being tested throughout the years, but there has also been lots of options tested at 3. Since Trott’s retirement, 13 players have batted 3 for England. Balance being the first selection and Joe Denly being the latest. Of those 13 players, Joe Root has been afforded the most time at 3, batting there in 22 tests. After Root, Bell has made the most appearances (8).
• Balance (6)
• Bell (8)
• Compton (7)
• Root (22)
• Westley (5)
• Vince (6)
• Ali (2)
• Stokes (1)
• Bairstow (3)
• Denly (2)
• Roy (1)
I have struggled over the years with the constant chopping and changing from the England selection committee and would prefer to afford players time and patience when breaking into the England team. The above shows the players that have played for England at No.3 (excluding night watchmen) since Trott’s retirement in 2015. It shows the lack of patience in the selectors. For some, a bad series could result in you not playing for England again.
It also shows a slight change in mentality from the selectors. Early on, they afforded some time to the likes of Compton, Balance and Bell, but have since been far more cutthroat with the selections recently, almost dependant on an instant hit. A few players have been square pegs in round holes. Ali, Stokes and Bairstow being the obvious examples, are more comfortable and clearly better used further down the order.
They seem to have found the man they like now in Joe Denly. Denly is a fine cricketer with a career of making important runs for Kent and has slotted into the England side very well since his introduction in the Caribbean last winter. However, some would argue that he is on the wrong side of 30 and may not be in the ideal for a long period time.
Have England found their No.3 for years to come? Oddly, he is unlikely to play in this tour to New Zealand. The man tipped is Zak Crawley. At 21 he poses the quality at batting in England’s top order for a very long time. Although his runs at County level have not been easy coming, he has offered something slightly different to what has been in the England philosophy for a while. While Root and Bayliss were basing their red ball team on being exciting, aggressive cricketers; momentum has seemed to shift to the other end of the spectrum. Cricketers who are willing to dig in and not give their wicket away.
Under Bayliss’s England, you would see these aggressive batters throughout the side. Buttler/Stokes/Moeen/Bairstow would often occupy the top 7, with the like of Curran and Woakes coming in at 8. Albeit Silverwood has only had two warm up games to stamp his authority, we have seen Bairstow dropped, Pope recalled, Root batting at 4 and a genuine 3 batting 3. While I understand the inclusion of Denly in the 1st Test down in New Zealand, it is also frustrating. I have spoken about the selectors struggling to stick with someone for longer than half a dozen tests before moving onto the next solution, but in this case, I would move on from Denly.
Whilst Denly has done nothing wrong for me, I would go in a slightly different direction. Denly looked OK during his opening games for England. Very pretty 30 odds or 40 odds. The problem the selectors will have however, is Denly has just hit a patch of good form. Root may also like the fact he can turn to him in some tricky over in the field, but this should not enter in the thought process of picking a player to bat 3 in your test side.
Zak Crawley deputised for England last week and scored a decent 103. At 21, he has the potential of batting at 3 for England for a very long time. It took Crawley 16 balls to get off the mark against the New Zealand A side. The type of player England need right now. Someone who is willing to dig in and not give his wicket away. We have tried expansive, exciting red ball cricket and it has failed more than it has succeeded.
There seems to have been a shift in mentality since Silverwood’s appointment. It has been common knowledge the ECBs eye was torn towards to the white ball game, and now it has shifted back. We are starting to see 2 separate sides. You would assume England’s top 6 batting in white ball would be Bairstow, Roy, Root, Morgan, Stokes and Buttler. Not too dissimilar to the test side that has been selected in recent years. Now you would only recognise Stokes and Root in the red ball top 6.
England’s top 6 in the warmup games for New Zealand have been a stark contract to what we have seen in the past few years. Root batting where he wants (4), Stokes where he wants (6) and Buttler where he wants (7). Largely this is because we have someone who can bat, and bat well at 3. Often Root has pushed up to 3 and our middle order has been promoted further down the batting.
After years of searching for someone to come in and bat comfortably at 3, it would seem we have two players who can fill this void. The jury will inevitably be out on Crawley, certainly for this year, but I hope he is afforded the time that others have not been. It would also be naive to think judge Crawley without him facing a top class bowling attack.
I’m also not giving up on Joe Denly, because he seems to be a very dependable player that coach and captain can rely on, throughout the formats. I fear that if we don’t let Crawley settle in this team, we will lose years of progress. After all, we are aiming towards an Ashes win down under, aren’t we?
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