When Matt
Prior tore his calf however slight it caused alarm bells to ring in the England
management. If unfit for the first test at the Gabba would Jonny Bairstow be
the right man to fill his gloves? Bairstow hasn’t been afforded the time to
develop his keeping skills during the summer with Yorkshire due his England
commitments. That was of course trying to nail down that difficult number six
position.
So the
question remains if England run into injuries to key players are those next in
line capable of stepping up and ensuring England regain the Ashes?
Gary Ballance – Balance has been impressive all
summer for Yorkshire and deserved his first ODI cap against Ireland. It could
be argued that another winter the Lions and development squad would have been
of much more use but he had obviously caught the eye of the management team and
if he was to stake a claim for any place it would have been at six. This has
been made harder by Michael Carberry taking the other opening spot alongside
Alistair Cook. This means he will have to battle it out with his Yorkshire
teammates Joe Root and Bairstow.
Ben Stokes - He is seen by many as the next Andrew
Flintoff. This is a big claim and has a long way before people start talking
about him in his own terms. It wasn’t so long ago that there were questions
raised about his temperament. Stokes has however got is head down this last
season. When called upon in the one day series against Australia at the end of
the summer it was his calm bowling that ultimately lead to his selection in the
final 16 less than a year before sent home from down under earlier in the year.
He shouldn’t be called upon as his batting probably isn’t quite ready for test
matches and England won’t go into many if any with five bowlers.
Monty Panesar - Monty’s problems are well publicised
over the summer. He was dropped by Sussex and then finally sacked. On his day
he is a bowler who is capable of dismissing some of the best batsmen in the
world. It could be said that he only made this tour because of Simon Kerrigan’s
disastrous debut at the Kia Oval. Australia will look to get after Panesar if
anything was to happen to Graeme Swann. There is the chance that England may
play two spinners at Adelaide but the fact that the players were asked to keep
an eye on him again makes you wonder if he is truly ready to step up should the
opportunity arise. I hope I'm wrong.
Boyd Rankin – Ireland aren’t happy that another one
of their players has chosen Test cricket with England over ODIs with them.
Rankin performed well during the ODI series against Australia and his height
and pace has helped win his place. He is very much a horses for courses pick
and people are still wondering why Graham Onions wasn’t picked over him. Rankin
was given an opportunity to win a place in the starting line up in two of the
warm-up games but the place of England’s third seamer is still up for grabs
even if Chris Tremlett seems to have the nod in Michael Clarke’s eyes.
Chris Tremlett and Steven Finn – The real shootout seems to be between
these two. Just as in 2009 when Tremlett eventually took over from Finn there
seems to be a real debate on who should win that last spot. Finn has been given
a lot of time by the England set-up to win a place in the team. He has been in
and out of the side of late while he still tries to work out his run-up. The
fact that the laws of the game changed because of him consistently hitting the
stumps with his knee against the South Africans doesn’t help his cause but he
is someone that picks up wickets and this is why he will always be there or
there abouts.
Tremlett was
a bit of a surprise pick. He has had a number of injury problems which has seen
him slide down the pecking order in selection. His form over the summer was
woeful at best yet he is the type of bowler that suits the pitches that the
Ashes will be played on. Tremlett’s height and pace has roughed up the Aussies
before and that is what will probably see him start at the Gabba at least.
