Cricket Comment: India shake-up is no surprise as one-day series England’s to lose
IN ALL sport winning is a habit and, though the personnel will be slightly different, the emphatic manner in which England won the Test series means it will be extremely hard for India to reverse that trend in the one-day series, which starts on Monday.
England must be cock-a-hoop at the 3-1 Test series victory, having trailed 1-0 after the second Test. They roared back in great style and you’d be disappointed if they did not continue in the same vein and convincingly take the one-day series.
They mustn’t get carried away yet, though. India offered such scant resistance in the last three Test matches that it wouldn’t be wise to draw too many conclusions. Having said that, you can only beat who turns up and England did that with ruthless efficiency.
AUDITION
A major plus from the fifth Test was the confidence gained by Chris Jordan and Chris Woakes, who finished the match with seven and four wickets respectively. This was the first time in the series that these two players, looking to establish themselves in a competitive pace attack, had both really contributed and it will stand them in good stead.
Opener Sam Robson again failed to get the hundred he had been chasing all series, and that would have cemented his place for two or three years. He has been a little unfortunate, but he’s part of a winning team now and I think selectors will stick with him.
England sprung few surprises with their ODI squad, with all eyes likely to be on how in-form batsman Alex Hales fares. I’d expect Ben Stokes to replace Stuart Broad, who is having knee surgery, while I’m interested in how Steven Finn gets on.
Clearly selectors like him. He is tall, produces good pace and I think he has bowled pretty well for Middlesex this season. My feeling is that his one-day performances could double up as an audition for a long-term return to the Test side.
SPINELESS
I wasn’t shocked to see India react to their Test drubbing by bringing in former skipper Ravi Shastri as director of cricket and shaking up the coaching staff.
Their spineless surrender in the second half of the series smacks of possible behind-the-scenes issues, though we don’t know what they may be. It may prove to be effective or not, but either way I can’t see it making much difference to results in the short-term.
Andy Lloyd is a former England Test cricketer who has also served as captain and chairman of Warwickshire.