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England to replace tentative Mark Stoneman with Keaton Jennings for second Test at Headingley
Mark Stoneman’s time in the England team looks to be over with Keaton Jennings in line to take his place for the second Test at Headingley this week.
Stoneman looks set to pay the price for England’s nine wicket defeat to Pakistan in the first Test that has left them needing to win at Headingley to avoid a third consecutive series defeat.
Stoneman replaced Jennings in the England side in September last year but after 11 Tests he is averaging 27 and looks as if he needs taking out of the firing line after a poor performance at Lord’s where he was bereft of confidence and tentative at the crease.
It is unusual for England to drop a batsman after only one Test of a two match series and Trevor Bayliss, the head coach, is rarely ruthless in selection but the nine wicket defeat at Lord’s has to trigger change.
It has left England in a desperate situation and if they fail to win the second Test at Headingley, which starts on Friday, they will have lost three consecutive series.
England have lost Test matches at home in May before, although never at Lord’s, but this latest defeat is the culmination of two years of inconsistency and underperformance making a change even more likely.
There is also a new selector, Ed Smith, in charge and he watched every ball of the Test at Lord’s. His predecessor, James Whitaker, would often disappear back onto the county beat to watch players during a Test match having done his job in the selection meeting but Smith appears to be far more hands on. Smith met with Bayliss after the defeat at Lord’s.
Stoneman has a top score of 60 and only five fifties from 20 innings. He batted bravely at the Waca in December where he was peppered by Australia’s fast bowlers before being struck on the head, a blow which knocked his confidence for the rest of the tour. He scored two half centuries in New Zealand without looking convincing and then started this summer poorly for Surrey. After scores of four and nine at Lord’s, he cannot complain if he is left out.
Jennings is one of the few county batsmen in form. He has scored two championship hundreds including 126 against Nottinghamshire who had England duo Jake Ball and Stuart Broad as their new ball attack. Since county cricket has moved into 50 over mode, Jennings has scored another hundred as well as a 73 and 69.
Nick Gubbins has scored a century and a 99 in the championship for MIddlesex but suffers from playing in division two and England will worry that is not enough preparation for facing Pakistan’s highly skilled seam attack. Gubbins is felt to be weak against spin and England play India later this summer before tours to Sri Lanka and West Indies, where pitches will turn. Jennings made a century on Test debut in India in December 2016 and is an accomplished player of spin so if he is recalled this could be a good chance for a longer run in the team.
Bayliss was asked if the batsmen have been ‘scarred’ by recent experiences. “Quite possibly,” he said. “Usually when we lose one or two quick ones it usually follows with another two or three so that’s something we have sit down and continue to work on.
“It was very disappointing, especially from a batting point of view. It was nowhere near good enough for Test level. Pakistan bowled well but we have to be better.”
Joe Root is becoming accustomed to defending poor England performances but his promises to turn things around are sounding hollow. “We know we're under-performing … we've not performed to anywhere we need to,” he said. “It's very difficult to take as a talented group of players … (but) we fully believe we can get to where we want to get to. We've got to ... just find a way.
“We are ambitious, we want to win but sometimes we make poor decisions. We’ve got to be smarter with that. Guys have got to find a way of scoring runs. Ultimately it's about the number of runs you score, not how long it takes you and maybe on occasion we need to absorb a bit more pressure. We’ve seen in the past guys like Ben Stokes come in at 40/4 and take a game away from a side. It’s a fine margin. You have to recognise the right times to attack.”
Pakistan took 20 England wickets by bowling full to hit the stumps. Nine out of ten wickets in the second innings were lbw, bowled or caught behind. Mohammad Abbas took eight for 64 in the match, his probing line drawing England batsmen forward and provided English bowlers brought up in these conditions, a template of how to bowl at Lord’s in May. Bayliss defended his bowlers, in particular James Anderson and Broad.
“They have 900 wickets between and should know how to bowl on these wickets,” he said. “Jimmy, from a swing bowler point of view, his mode of operation is a bit different to others. He likes to starve the batter of a lot of full balls and when the full one comes they throw their hands at it straightaway. He’s taken 500 Test wickets, it’s a bit hard to say that’s the wrong approach. Maybe if we want someone to bowl fuller more often it means we maybe have to put someone in the term that’s their mode. Those two boys, 400 and 500 Test wickets, don’t think they’ve done a lot wrong.”