England head into the Boxing Day Test at the MCG 2-0 down against Australia and needing a miracle to regain the Ashes.
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Realistically, they would probably settle for one win from the last three, or even just a bit of resistance from a team that has, for the most part, folded meekly so far. Given England’s struggles, there are several players in their side under pressure for their places.
Do England make a change to the opening pair?
Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed have not been good so far this series. The former’s first-baller might already be the moment which will define this Ashes, and he has only 51 runs in three innings since then. Hameed flickered in the first Test with two scores in the 20s, but a pair of failures at Adelaide have brought his Test average below 30. The question is, are they better than the alternative, which is Zak Crawley, whose 2021 average of 11 is the worst of any Test cricketer in history to play more than 10 innings in the top six in a calendar year.
If you’re looking for reasons to be positive, you’d say that Hameed’s dismissals so far aren’t down to any glaring technical fault, and that Burns did look better in his most recent knock, a 95-ball 34 on the fourth evening. But if upsides are what you’re focussed on, then fewer cricketers have a higher apparent ceiling than Zak Crawley, who looked like the best young player on the planet when he made 267 against Pakistan a little over a year ago, with his technique supposedly suited to these climes too.
Does Ollie Pope get one more go?
Of all of England’s underperforming batters, perhaps none is more frustrating than Ollie Pope. There’s the astronomical first-class average, the picture-perfect technique, and the fact that he really did look like he’d cracked it in South Africa 18 months ago. But now he begins every innings frantically, as if trying to get to 30 as fast as possible to ensure his average doesn’t drop below it, something it has now done. 20 Tests at Nos.5-7 is about as cushy as bedding in periods get, and Pope looks further from nailing it now than he ever has done.
Apart from Crawley, who made his Test debut at No.6, England’s options are Dan Lawrence and Jonny Bairstow. The former has a homespun, wristy technique that can make picking him feel like a risk, and has a reputation as a scratchy starter. But he also made 81* in his last-but-one Test, and has shown he can get to grips with a variety of surfaces and situations. The latter is arguably England’s greatest ever white-ball batter, has 78 Tests worth of experience, and made a hundred in Australia in 2017. But he also has a high score of 57 and an average of 21 in 18 Tests dating back to the start of 2019, with that century his only fifty-plus score in six Tests in Australia to date.
If Bairstow does come in, who keeps?
There is plenty of stock placed in being England’s No.1 wicketkeeper, in any given format. You would think that the gauntlets would simply go to the best gloveman in the side, but it is rarely that simple. Regular changes behind the stumps can be disruptive, and this is as much a status thing as it is a skills thing, hence why, even when both where first-choice in England’s Test and ODI sides, Bairstow had the gloves in one format and Buttler the gloves in the other.
All of which is to say that, despite Buttler’s struggles behind the stumps in Adelaide, the fact that he is, as it stands, a more important batter to England than Bairstow, and Bairstow generally being considered a more skilful keeper than Buttler, the decision over who takes the gloves, if both play, is a complicated one.
Do England pick a spinner, and if so which one?
This is a question England have asked themselves again and again over the past two years. Most functioning Test sides have a spinner, someone who can hold an end up on day one and win the game on day five. At Adelaide, England had five similar bowlers asking similar things of Australia, and while the run rate remained low through day one, Australia knew they could sit in before surging to a match-winning total on day two. But given the decision could come down to Jack Leach or Stuart Broad, with the latter one of England’s greatest bowlers and the former having been pummelled at the Gabba, is it giving too much credence to accepted wisdom to go with the slow bowler?
If England do go with a tweaker, there is another decision to make. Dom Bess is a less threatening spinner than Leach, but he is a better batter, and could feasibly slot in at No.8, allowing Woakes, ineffective with the ball but England’s third highest run-scorer to sit out. Australia’s surplus of lefties might also narrow the gap between Bess and Leach, while there are concerns about whether the latter can rally after his mauling in the first Test.
Which seamers do England go with?
Fitting five into three or four is no easy task. Mark Wood has the least appealing overall Test record, but his pace offers a point of difference, he’s well rested, and he bowled well at Brisbane. Ollie Robinson has looked the part so far, but he has shouldered a heavy workload and is the least used to the grind of Test cricket. Woakes can bat, but has struggled with the ball. James Anderson is James Anderson, and has an excellent record at Melbourne. Stuart Broad is Stuart Broad, and is always at his best with a point to prove. All are hard to leave out, but none are quite must-picks either.
