In an interview with Sky this morning, ex-England bowler Steve Harmison said that Australia were ‘beaten by the better person’ in the third Ashes test. This statement couldn’t sum up what happened any better, England were dragged kicking and screaming over the line by Ben Stokes, and Ben Stokes alone. The media are loving the drama from the truly incredible last wicket stand, and rightly so. This is just covering up what was a monumentally embarrassing batting performance in the first Innings. In light of this, I thought I’d rate the performance of each England player.
Jason Roy: 1
My rating of 1 for Roy is remarkably close to his batting average at the moment. He’d be far more suited to batting down the order with his see ball hit ball style. The selectors are stubborn and won’t want to waiver from his current role as first wicket down after 3 overs, I mean opener. The sooner he is dropped the better, so he can go and regain his confidence in county cricket.
Rory Burns: 3
Despite actually getting less runs than Roy in this match, I genuinely think he has what it takes to open at Test level. His performance in this match however was woeful, and he needs to score some runs in one of the next two games. Unlike Roy, Burns has the ability to soak up some deliveries from the new ball, and with the right partner, I could see him being part of a solid opening partnership in future. He needs to work out how to play the short ball though.
Joe Root: 5
Root saved his bacon a bit with a second innings 77 but he still wasn’t good enough for someone who is supposedly one of the best batsmen in the world. His captaincy is also very questionable, with there seemingly being no plan of attack at times when the wickets aren’t coming with ease. He needs to have the captaincy stripped from him and focus on his batting, only issue is which of the other players can be trusted as captain? Stokes can very hot headed, and Buttler and Bairstow are in awful form as it is. In any case, Root needs to show he’s the world class batsman the media still think he is.
Joe Denly: 5
First Innings high scorer Joe Denly performed better than usual this time around, but he really isn’t a long-term batting solution. His 50 in the second innings helped set a platform that allowed Stokes to go for the win, but it’s probably been the most memorable thing he’s done all series. At 33 I can’t see him improving much further, and if a better batsman is available for selection, I’d swap him in for Denly at the drop of a hat. However, it seems good batsmen are very hard to come by in recent times.
Ben Stokes: 10
Apart from his loose shot in the first Innings, Stokes had the perfect game. His bowling was much much better than usual and his ability to bowl over after over without tiring, whilst also picking up key wickets was admirable. The media will run out of superlatives to describe his second innings display, and if it wasn’t for Stokes I’d be talking about an embarrassing defeat for England, and Australia retaining the Ashes. He has produced one of the all-time great Innings.
Jonny Bairstow: 3
If it wasn’t for the fact that he’s the wicket keeper, I think there would be a lot more pressure on Bairstow over his place in the team. There was a time when he was in unbelievable form a few years ago, and it seemed like he guaranteed 50s and 100s, those days couldn’t seem further away. Much like Roy and Buttler, who I’ll come to next, he’s a walking wicket.
Jos Buttler: 1
It’s hard to say that there’s someone worse than Jason Roy in this team, but Buttler somehow is. He’s a One-day cricketer who looks lost in the world of Test cricket. There have been suggestions of him taking up the captaincy from Root, and my question is why? Yes, he’s a more senior player, but he bats like a number 11, and is a batsman. The fact there’s no replacement for him shows both the state of county cricket and the lack of imagination by the selectors, assuming that players who are good in the 20 and 50 over format will be good at Test level.
Chris Woakes: 6
This was an uncharacteristically quiet game for Woakes, but he did his job with the ball well enough. There has been talk of him being tired from the number of overs he’s bowled recently, and I’m not surprised. The batsmen gave the bowlers no time to rest after being bowled out in 27 overs. I think Woakes should be given a rest for the next Test and Jimmy Anderson brought in, so he can be fresh if needed for the fifth Test.
Jofra Archer: 9
Archer has been a complete revelation for England since he gained his place in the team. Though he didn’t bowl as fast in this match, he was just as sensational. His 6 wickets in the first innings were immense and I’m sure that if he continues the way he’s going with his calm persona and electric pace, he’ll go down as one of the greats. He also produced a great moment of entertainment when he threw an inflatable watermelon back into the Western Terrace.
Stuart Broad: 8
Broad has been very consistent this series and this Test was no exception. He did his job very well and looked dangerous whenever Root gave him the opportunity. He’s picked up the slack well from the loss of Anderson in the first Test, and he’ll continue to cause problems for the Aussie batsmen in the remaining matches.
Jack Leach: 7
Leach looks like a very handy spinner and though he didn’t bowl that much in this Test match, when he did, he looked good yet again. He also provided one of the best 1s in Test cricket, and made sure to re-enact it for the rest of the team after play had finished. Leach is quite an upgrade from Moeen Ali in terms of his bowling.
Jon Parkin Sports 