England are being viewed as a “different beast” ever since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have taken charge of the Test team as captain and coach, respectively. But their top order continues to be a worry going into the rescheduled fifth Test versus India, beginning on July 1 at Edgbaston, feels former England off-spinner Graeme Swann. Swann, the owner of 255 Test wickets, though, remains optimistic about Ollie Pope, who fared well at No.3 in the series versus New Zealand.
“The opening batsmen are definitely a weakness. (Alex) Lees and (Zak) Crawley just can’t be very settled, though Lees actually looked pretty good in Trent Bridge but again not very good in Headingley (against the Black Caps). And Crawley looks to be a man finding batting fairly difficult.
“I’m not sure he’ll play in the Test match against India,” Swann said during a select media interaction on Monday.
“As for Pope, I had serious reservations about him batting at No.3. I wasn’t convinced. But he has completely blown those (reservations) out of the walls and batted brilliantly in the last couple of Tests.
“So at No.3, I’m fairly happy with Pope now, but the opening batsmen are definitely an area of concern for England,” Swann, one of the architects of England’s long-awaited Test series win in India in 2012, said.
Swann agreed that scoring in excess of five an over will be quite difficult for England against Jasprit Bumrah and the other Indian bowlers, though Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow are in exhilarating form at present. Maintaining such tempo against the Indian attack will not be easy at all, but India too need to ensure they get both Root and Bairstow out early, Swann emphasised.
“Well certainly, it’s very difficult to maintain that tempo against Indian bowlers. The trick is, you need to get guys like Root and Bairstow early. Because, once Jonny gets going, there’s no one in the world who can stop him,” Swann, who represented England in 60 Tests, 79 ODIs and 39 T20Is, pointed out.
“What’s happened in the last couple of Tests is that Jonny has played with absolute freedom and positivity that McCullum has injected into his veins. As Indians, you should hope he just doesn’t get that in this Test.
“He’ll be susceptible early on to good balls nipping back and bowling him. But if he gets through that phase and bats in the one-day mode, there’s barely anything stopping Bairstow,” Swann added.
Morgan’s successor
Swann sees Jos Buttler as an obvious successor to England’s white-ball captain Eoin Morgan, who’s set to announce his retirement from international cricket.
“Jos Buttler, without a doubt. He’s phenomenal in white-ball cricket, done incredibly well for Rajasthan Royals (in the IPL) and will be a great leader, and he’ll just carry on from where Eoin has left.”
India-England Test live on Sony Six, Sony Ten 3 & Sony Ten 4 from July 1 at 3.30pm (IST)
