England have just lost in the UAE against a good Pakistan side, but the three match series has highlighted all England's weaknesses. The batting is light and the spin cupboard is bare. Why is this?
Alastair Cook is still an average, if improving, captain but his batting England cannot do without. He batted for an enormous amount of time and essentially made England competitive single-handedly.
The Moeen Ali experiment at the top of the order didn't work; there's no sugar-coating that. He is a good bat in the middle/lower middle order where he has batted for his entire career up until now. Moeen is also not great on the short ball, a ball an opener sees regularly. He bowls passable spin but will not fulfill the role required, that of a match-winner on a regular enough basis. Other opening bats would be Adam Lyth (best on the circuit but got dropped in the summer) and Michael Carberry (dropped last winter). The cupboard is not overflowing.
Ian Bell's international career should be over; he's not scored enough runs and he is at an age where improvement is unlikely. He is still in the side because there is no-one coming through, although I would move James Taylor up to three or bat James Vince there. Bell can't continue forever so change is required at some point, why not now? England may have to accept that we are in a period of transition.
Joe Root is a very good player and is nigh on untouchable at 4. His back problems are a worry though.
James Taylor has come in at 5 and done well - I personally think he should captain the side and hasn't been given a fair crack by the selectors thus far.
Jonny Bairstow is, statistics-wise, the best middle order batsman on the county circuit. He's a decent player but needs a better plan on spinning wickets. Another player whose stats are decent is Scott Borthwick, who bowls a bit of leg spin too. But there are others who could be worth looking at such as Sam Northeast and Sam Billings, but they play in Division 2; Darryl Mitchell is a consistent performer for Worcestershire but basically there is not the talent pool in county cricket.
Ben Stokes is a good all-rounder but lacks consistency and seems a bit injury prone. Who's challenging for his place? Chris Jordan is the only one who's even close.
Jos Buttler has had a twelve months to forget and has finally been replaced by Bairstow behind the stumps. There;s no doubt that he can keep wicket well and hit along ball, the issue has been that he keeps missing straight balls.
The seamers have been standout in the bowling department: Anderson, Broad, Wood and Stokes has been excellent; Finn is also bowling well/ Wood's fitness will be a concern but there's no doubting his heart.
The spinners have been poor in general; Rashid is a better bowler than Borthwick but the latter is the better batsman. Neither is really of international class. Samit Patel bowls ok occasionally but doesn't do enough with it. They are all selected as batsmen who bowl a bit of spin whereas England need a proper spinner and there are few on the circuit, but the name "Mason Crane" keeps being mentioned; he is a member of the club I play at and would wholeheartedly agree, but don't expect too much too soon.
The county game has been too busy chasing the limited overs cash in recent years (and missed the boat generally, but that's another story) and both batsmen and bowlers (and captains) now learn how not to play the long game; county cricket is fixtured around the more lucrative shorter forms of the game and captains feel nervous allowing spinners time to build a rhythm in a spell - spinners do get hit a long way occasionally.
The more I watch England the more I think that the professional game needs to be streamlined (in all forms). There are too many counties which leads to too many substandard players. If the national team is to improve and prospective players are going to be "Test ready" they need to play against good quality opposition all the time. I have said for years that English domestic cricket needs to go down an area route:
North East, North West, Midlands East, Midlands West, South East, South West.
Teams should be taken from the counties in the designated areas and games played at the grounds. The county championship can continue alongside. I actually think this would bring more money into the game. The ECB's insistence that club tracks are not allowed to seam or spin is also unhelpful - there is little incentive to be a spinner in England.
Ultimately something needs doing and the "old farts" who make up county cricket need to be persuaded that they are current turning the game into a marginalised entity.
