Rory Burns and Ollie Pope come under the microscope as they bid to save their international careers in the Second Ashes Test this week.
It might seem a touch dramatic, but a few England careers might be on the line in Adelaide this week. If things don’t go well in South Australia, a few more might be on the line in the rest of the Ashes series, too.
By now, I’m sure most England cricket fans will have seen the numbers. In 2021, Joe Root is currently the only man in the Test team to average over 40. In fact, Root is averaging 64.33 having set a new record for most runs by an English batsman in a calendar year. Dawid Malan, only recently returned to the side, is comfortably clear of the rest with an average of 38.80.
Thereafter, the numbers are quite shocking and while batting in England against the Dukes ball can often be challenging, similarly some of the substandard pitches served up in India last winter, this current crop of English batsmen have had a seemingly endless amount of chances and patience is wearing thin.
Before the series, I had been hopeful that the promise of some good pitches in Australia would see what is a group of attacking players in a better light, but while the first innings in Brisbane was hard work on a damp surface offering plenty of assistance to the bowlers, some of the batting in both innings wasn’t anywhere near good enough.
I've never really had too much concern about Rory Burns’ technique: it’s runs that count. But after 30 matches, his Test average is only just hovering above 30, and it has dipped over the last two years.
His first-ball dismissal in Brisbane was a real mess from a technical point of view, with his front foot having landed outside off stump before Mitchell Starc had even started to deliver the ball. As a result, Burns had closed himself off and was unable access a ball that would eventually hit leg stump, with his head having fallen away and his eyes not even close to being level. A nightmare for any batting coach.
Time to sell Burns runs as technique leaves him vulnerable
Burns has a different technique, and that's fine with me, but there are so many moving parts to that it that I’ve always felt he needs lots of match practice and time in the middle to fine tune his batting and ensure everything is working in sync.
In that respect, the pandemic has affected him more than most. When he first came into the England side, it was on the back of consistent, heavy run-scoring for Surrey when he was batting in the County Championship every week and spending lots of time in the middle. This last year or so, he’s spent more time in bio-secure bubbles, moving from hotel to hotel, quarantine to quarantine, and Test match to Test match.
Test cricket is no easy place to find your groove, and it's no surprise that his numbers have taken a downward turn in the last 18 months. With the poor preparation England have had to make do with this winter, Burns was always likely to struggle at The Gabba and I fear for him heading to the second Test with only more net sessions to try and find some form.
He needs proper time in the middle, making a big score and finding his groove again. I doubt very much that Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc will allow him to do that this week, not if the pink ball moves sideways, and another poor match might just spell the beginning of the end for Burns, who will know the highly rated Zak Crawley is waiting in the wings.
As soon as more firms have priced up – and Coral have already set their line at 21.5 – I’ll be looking to sell Burns' first-innings runs, safe in the knowledge that Starc is sure to go full and straight from the outset. Don’t be surprised if the method of dismissal is lbw, too.
Pope running out of chances
It’s not just Burns who will be looking over his shoulder. Jonny Bairstow will be eagerly awaiting his chance, knowing that if he isn’t used in this series, given his age, England might start to look elsewhere as planning for a big summer and, of course, the next Ashes series at home the following year begins.
If England’s batsmen don’t show up in Adelaide, Bairstow ought to be afforded an opportunity in the Boxing Day Test, having performed with credit Down Under four years ago, and Australia will be well aware of just how destructive he can be when at his best.
For now, he looks set to miss out again as Ollie Pope gets another opportunity to deliver on his undoubted potential.
If you took a poll from those who watch a lot of county cricket, I’m pretty sure that most would say that after Root and Ben Stokes, Pope is just about the best four-day batsman in the country. I can’t believe there are many more talented, even among those currently in the England side. But talent only gets you so far, and Pope just hasn’t delivered on anywhere near a consistent enough basis.
After 21 Test matches, Pope’s average is almost identical to Burns’ – it currently stands at 31.37 – though at least Burns can rightly argue that he has a tougher job opening the batting against the new ball. Pope doesn’t have that excuse, and a solitary Test hundred, albeit a brilliant one in South Africa, is scant reward for his talents.
Give me ticker over talent any day, substance over sexy, brains over bravado. Does Pope really have what it takes between his ears? Is what beats beneath his chest tough enough to see him succeed at the highest level?
I’ve long been a huge admirer of the 23-year-old Surrey batsman, but his inability to capitalise on good starts in the same way that he does in county cricket is a major cause for concern.
His first-innings 35 at the Gabba was encouraging and, once again, he looked just about the best England batsman on show until trying to hook the first ball of Cameron Green’s new spell to deep square leg. Having just lost Jos Buttler and slumped to 118-6, England needed Pope to manage the rest of the innings and somehow haul them to 200.
Mixing attack and defence in such circumstances is never easy, but trying to hook a giant of a man like Green, having seen so little of the Australian all-rounder, was a gamble at best, plain naivety at worse. Pope was never in control of the shot and paid the price.
If that was bad, his dismissal in the second innings was unforgivable. Having watched Malan and then Root fall early on the fourth day, with England still behind and the new ball looming, Pope had to show responsibility, particularly against Nathan Lyon who was now gaining appreciable turn into the right-handers.
Instead, from the first ball he faced from Lyon, Pope tried to square cut the off spinner from off stump. There was no way he could guarantee being in control of the shot and, when the ball bounced out of the rough, Pope could only offer a simple catch to slip. It was soft, and it's becoming a theme.
Pope is proving a major disappointment and while injuries having held him back over the last year or so, he has too often flattered to deceive. His batting against spin must improve and I wonder if the damage Ravi Ashwin inflicted on him last winter has left its mark.
Whatever is holding Pope back, he must find a way to put together a sizeable contribution otherwise one senses that Bairstow, who began the tour as favourite for the number six spot, will surely return.
Sky Bet go 15/8 about Pope making a first-innings fifty this week and, if he can get some protection from the new ball, the generally flat batting pitch in Adelaide might prove the ideal surface for his fluent strokemaking.
It might be a case of now or never, because should he fail to deliver again and once more be dropped from the side, there is no guarantee Pope will earn another recall next summer.
Like Burns, Pope is fast running out of chances. It’s time for the Surrey boys to stand up.