This time it was Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid who produced a stirring England comeback, but such recoveries are a reminder of long-standing weaknesses
George Dobell in Mirpur29-Oct-2016For the second time in two days, England staged a stirring comeback in Dhaka.And, for the second time in two days, they were grateful for the depth given to their side by their presence of their allrounders. Where Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali rescued them on Friday, it was the turn of Chris Woakes and Adil Rashid on Saturday. Their ninth-wicket stand of 99 kept England’s heads above water just as it seemed they were about to go under.To be able to stage such fight backs is admirable. It speaks of spirit and resilience and character and determination. Those are fine qualities.But the implication of comebacks is that the team has previously been struggling. And the implication of England staging two comebacks in two days is that they have been struggling on both of them. By the end of the second day, with Bangladesh’s lead growing quickly and the pitch starting to show signs of uneven bounce to complement its spin, it had become apparent that England may well need to stage at least one more tremendous comeback if are not to slip to their first Test defeat against Bangladesh over the next day or two. There is already talk in Dhaka of the mother of all parties.England’s issue is that none of their failings can be dismissed as an aberration. They haven’t had a settled opening pair since Andrew Strauss retired in 2012 and, despite promising periods from the likes of Gary Ballance, they have yet to replace the middle-order trio of Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell. Ballance is currently so bereft of form that he should probably be considered a gas.They are trusting to hope if they expect their spin attack to suddenly replicate the success of Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann from four years ago. Years of prioritising white ball cricket and playing championship cricket on green seamers has arrested the development of a generation of spinners. Those that find themselves charged with the job in India are facing a vast jump in standard.Woakes calls for batting rally
Chris Woakes has admitted England won’t want to be chasing any more than 250 on a Dhaka wicket that is already providing assistance to spin bowlers.
Woakes, who kept England in the match with a ninth-wicket partnership of 99 with Adil Rashid, insisted the game was currently “evenly balanced” with Bangladesh leading by 138 with seven wickets in hand.
“I’d like to think we can chase 250,” he said. “We made 240 in the first innings with myself and Rash putting on quite a big partnership. We need guys at the top of the order and in the middle order to put partnerships together.
“Holding your nerve in Test cricket is generally key, particularly on a wicket that is deteriorating, “It’s a tough wicket to bat on, particularly when the ball is new and hard, especially against the spinners,” he said.
Part of their problem here may be due to the number of left-handers in England’s top order. Batting against the spin of Mehedi Hasan, who has taken the new ball all series, is fiendishly tough. Delivering the ball at a sharp pace – he is about 10mph faster than Shakib – he makes some balls turn sharply, threatening the left-handers’ outside edge, and others skid on, threatening their stumps and pads. While right-handers know they can leave anything pitching outside leg stump, left-handers have to work out a way of playing him. Alastair Cook has already referred to the challenge as among the toughest he has encountered.The extent of England’s struggle is evident in their scores. Their three left-handers in the top four (Cook, Ben Duckett and Ballance) have top scores this series of 14, 15 and 9 respectively, while two of their three top run-scorers are the right-handers Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes. Yes, batting becomes easier against the softer ball but, in retrospect, it might have made sense to have at least one more right-hander in the top four – Haseeb Hameed, for example – to help negate the threat.It will be no better for them in India. Ravi Ashwin, the off-spinner, also bowls at a decent pace and has more variations than Mehedi. He will be salivating at the footage he has seen from this series. And he will be supported by the left-arm spin of Ravindra Jadeja who will bowl accurately at England’s right-handers’ off stumps and turn the ball just enough to threaten in a similar way that Mehedi threatens left-handers. It’s hard to be wildly optimistic, isn’t it?England have a similar problem when they bowl. While Moeen Ali – who poses a similar threat to fellow off-spinner Mehedi – has feasted on the Bangladesh left-handers (they have four left-handers in their top five) and Gareth Batty provides another steady off-spin option, England will know that the India top-order is packed with right-handed batsmen. That means they are desperate for at least one of Zafar Ansari or Adil Rashid to settle at this level and provide Cook with a bowling option that will take the ball away from the right-hander.Ansari has, to date, enjoyed an improved second innings showing with the ball. It wasn’t just that he claimed two wickets, it was that the full-tosses that characterised his nervous first innings display were gone. By the end of the second day, he was the most economical of England’s three spinners in Bangladesh’s second innings.Rashid is more of a worry. The ease with which he has been played by the Bangladesh batsmen (he has claimed three wickets at an average of 62.33 apiece) has done nothing to refute the theory that he is simply too slow and too loose for this level. He batted impressively but he is in the side primarily to bowl spin and, while he is seen as the man to account for the tail, it is not enough.All England’s spinners might benefit from a little more support from their captain, though. There were times when Moeen was bowling with a long-off to the left-handers who were free to milk him like a Friesian. Everyone understands that Cook is not operating with a handful of aces as leader of this spin attack, but he made it easier than necessary for Bangladesh on day two here.England are not, by any means, a poor side. In the presence of two batsmen who might well be described as England greats and several all-rounders, they pack a punch that makes them dangerous opposition in almost any conditions. But they seem to be stuck in a loop where they are trying to compensate for recurrent problems – their top-order batting and inconsistent spin bowling – with a couple of outstanding performances from their key players. They might still get away with it against Bangladesh; they surely won’t against India.
