The ManicaPost
England fans might be wondering how on earth, only 10 days after their team won the World Cup, the Test side can be bowled out for 85 by Ireland.
But time and again, we’ve seen the Test batting line-up struggle. How often are they 30 for three, or worse? How often do we end up examining their technical failings? On a day like this, those failings were plain for everyone to see.
Both sides got what they wanted at the toss. You could see why England wanted to bat, because despite the pitch’s green tinge, it was very dry underneath, and the forecast means it’s only going to get drier.
Equally, bowling first on that surface allowed Ireland into the game, and Tim Murtagh was the ideal man for the conditions: pitch it up, no pace, attack off stump, look for lbw, bowled and caught behind. It was good bowling – but that’s supposed to happen in Test cricket. You’re not just supposed to collapse in a heap. The mindset in white-ball cricket, as we’ve just seen at the World Cup, is very different. You go out and attack, and if you fail you go out next time and you attack again. No one’s going to hold it against you.
But in red-ball cricket, bowlers pick up on the repetitive nature of dismissals. Across a five-Test Ashes series, against bowlers of the quality of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, that becomes a problem.
I’d have Jason Roy in my Test side, because he’s a real talent, but I’d have him in the middle order, where his game is better suited. He’s a bit like Kevin Pietersen in that respect: he plays out in front of his pad and favours the leg side.
But England faced a problem getting Pietersen to bat as high as No 4 in the Test team – and that sums up the general problem they face now. No one wants to bat at the top of the order, because techniques are failing.
Even before Roy was out, he was playing around a full delivery with a closed face, and he was only saved from lbw because Mark Adair bowled a no-ball. In one-day cricket the ball doesn’t do as much and you can get away with more. But Test cricket is a different beast.
oe Denly played round a straight one and was lbw. Rory Burns should have been aiming through mid-off, but closed his face and tried to hit Murtagh through mid-on – he edged to the keeper. Then Jonny Bairstow played way out in front of his pad, the bottom hand took over and – again – he closed the bat face.
English cricket has done a lot of things right over the last few years. Look at the World Cup. But finding an adequate Test top order following the retirements of Andrew Strauss, then Alastair Cook, is not one of them. – Daily Mail.
