Young batsmen like Joe Root have shown an insatiable hunger to score runs on tour while England’s senior bowlers frustratingly see-saw between brilliance and indifference
George Dobell in Grenada24-Apr-2015One of the most impressive aspects of Joe Root’s excellent century actually came after his innings ended.It not his fitness, impressive though it was to continue to push for twos after hours of batting in this heat and on this painfully slow outfield.It was not his ability to adapt to this slow pitch, impressive though it had been to see him bat with a freedom nobody else could manage. While he did not hit a single four in front of square on the off side, he has been the only batsman to manage a strike-rate in excess of 46 runs per 100 balls. Root’s strike rate of 79.47 made it appear he was batting on a different surface.It was not his ability to keep the strike while batting with James Anderson. Or his ability to change gear or his ability to punish deliveries even fractionally short, wide or drifting on to his legs.It was Root’s hunger for more that was most impressive.Some batsmen would have been content with an innings of 182. Some would have been secretly delighted to see their partner dismissed and finish with an average-boosting not out. Some batsmen would be delighted to average in excess of 100 in the past year and become the second youngest England player – after his captain, Alastair Cook – to reach 2,000 Test runs. In doing so in 43 innings, Root even beat Sachin Tendulkar.But Root was not satisfied. Walking back to the dressing room after England’s innings had ended, he ripped off his gloves and hurled them aside to dry on the grass in a clear sign of frustration. 182 was not enough. Six scores of 50 or more in his last six Test innings was not enough. A sixth Test century and a batting average over 57 was not enough. His hunger for runs is insatiable.That is not a bad emotion for a batsman. Whereas Marlon Samuels squandered his wicket in the first innings with a reckless stroke after achieving his personal milestone, Root was focused on the team’s success.What makes Root even more impressive is that he was clearly not playing for a not out. In slog-sweeping Bishoo for six, despite the presence of a deep mid-wicket, or skipping down the wicket and driving him for another back over the bowler’s head, he was risking his wicket in the team’s interests.So keen was Root to carve out a match-winning position – he has yet to play in a Test-winning side overseas – that he was frustrated by England’s failure to build a daunting lead that might have put West Indies under pressure. In short, Root was utterly concentrated upon helping England achieve victory.Compare that with the performances of a couple of senior players in this team. Let us compare it, for example, with James Anderson and the moment his run-out ended Root’s innings.Anderson either presumed that he was safe or that he could not make his ground. Yet replays show that had he simply run his bat into the crease, he would have been in. He failed to observe a basic discipline of the game.Allowances can be made of course. Anderson is a tailender and he may just have made a mistake. It happens. It may be no different to the sort of error that costs most batsmen their wickets.But on the first day, Anderson ran in like a stiff old man and delivered his first few balls at a pace somewhere in the mid-70s. His captain had won the toss, conditions were as good as they were going to get for bowling in the entire game. Maybe sore from previous exertions, maybe saving himself for challenges to come, Anderson was unable to take advantage. Only three balls in his first seven overs would have hit the stumps.It was similar in the second innings. With the ball only swinging for a few overs, it was vital England made inroads but Kraigg Brathwaite in particular was allowed to settle against some fast-medium deliveries that, on the whole, he was safe to leave outside off stump.Stuart Broad was similar. His first spell in both innings has been so gentle in pace that batsmen have been able to settle rather too comfortably. While he produced a super spell with the second new ball in the first innings to suggest he still had the ability to rouse himself at times, that only made his inability to do so in the second innings more infuriating. His average speed in the second innings has been just 81 mph.The problem is that such performances set a tone. If England’s talented young players, ones who are currently pushing themselves to the limit, see their seniors playing within themselves or looking jaded and careful on the first day of a Test, there is a danger it could set the standard.Anderson and Broad clearly have passion so while it would be over the top to suggest they have become complacent, it might be fair to suggest they have become rather too comfortable. Or perhaps there are simply too many miles in those legs. Either way, this has become an oddly pedestrian new ball attack, surely the slowest among the major Test nations.It is true this pitch is, like the one in Antigua, slow and flat and that back-to-back Tests do little to help fast bowlers. But many modern Test wickets are this slow and England’s schedule will include many more back-to-back Tests. If England do not have an attack that can unlock the batting of the No. 8 rated Test side, it is hard to see how they expect to beat the top sides on wickets that will probably be only marginally more helpful. It seems unlikely that home groundsmen will prepare green flyers for an Ashes series that will pit them against the likes of Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc and Ryan Harris.There are other options. Liam Plunkett looks strong and bowls a length that challenges the top of off stump. Mark Wood has pace and, at times, swing. Adil Rashid, for all his unpredictability, could hardly have bowled worse than Moeen Ali in this match. Ben Stokes and Chris Jordan are also bowling with pace but tend to come on when the ball has stopped swinging.The modern England set-up rarely drops established players. Yes, Kevin Pietersen is one obvious exception and yes, Matt Prior was dropped in Australia. But there were specific reasons for the Pietersen decision, flawed though they might have been, and Prior was soon recalled. Indeed, even when he was clearly suffering from injury during his last Test at Lord’s, Alastair Cook said it would remain Prior’s decision whether he played in the next game.But if England are going to regain the Ashes, or even win this series, they are going to need more than they are currently getting from their bowling attack.
