Jason Roy's false shot percentage and Joe Root's struggle on his stumps... TEST MATCH TALKING POINTS

SAM MORSHEAD AT LORD'S: The England captain's Test average in 2019 is the lowest of any calendar year across his career, with a weakness to balls directed at his stumps increasingly noticeable

Scorecard | Huw Turbervill

What is it about overthrows and Lord's?

A month-and-a-bit after England benefited from one of the most important ricochets in cricket history, Jos Buttler was thankful to some mediocre fielding for getting off the mark in unconventional fashion.

Buttler's scampered single into the offside very nearly ended in a run out but the throw was wild, the backing up non-existent and the ball whistled to the boundary rope.

Cue social media tomfoolery, asking whether the umpires should award five or six. 

Five it was, briefly giving Buttler a strike rate of 500 for the day. How many times has a player got going in that manner in Tests?

Roy's folly

Jason Roy kicked the air at the foot of the pavilion steps, his innings having lasted just three balls.

Roy nicked behind to a rising delivery from Josh Hazlewood, hanging his bat out to dry like yesterday's laundry on fifth stump.

Three balls does not feel long enough to be declared ugly, but this was not a pretty knock from England's opener.

He chopped hard at his first delivery and prodded tentatively at his second - the actions of a nervous batsman. Roy is not usually anxious at the crease. He is outside his comfort zone now, though, and there was a look of despair in his eyes as he moped off the ground. 

Is this Test lark really for him? It's probably still too early to say, even if many have already made up their minds, but thus far the statistics do not look great.

Roy’s false shot percentage - the number of times he has either played and missed or edged - is the second highest in the past 12 months of Test cricket among opening batsmen who have played a minimum of three matches (28.7%). 

Only John Campbell of West Indies (30.8%) features above Roy and there are just two other men with false shot percentages above 25 over the course of the past year.

There's no denying his ability, but the jury remains out.

^{Jason Roy is yet to convince in Test colours}

Bancroft the brave

Steve Waugh called it.

The former Australia captain told the media before the Edgbaston Test that Cameron Bancroft could prove to be a decisive influence under the helmet at short leg.

"The one thing I have been amazed by is Cameron Bancroft's short leg practice. I had a session the other day and I've never seen anything like it," he said.

"When we were playing, no one wanted to be in at short leg and it was like a torture chamber to put someone in there but he just loves it.

"His training is just out of this world. I hit 40 balls at him from close range, back in our day he might have caught 10 of those. I think he caught 39. If he plays, England beware."

Bancroft showed just what Waugh was talking about on Thursday with an extraordinary catch close to the wicket, reaching out one-handed to his left to pick off Rory Burns' tuck off his hip.

Burns had played the delivery pretty well, riding the bounce and angling his shot towards fine leg. His refusal to walk straight away was testament to the jaw-dropping nature of Bancroft's grab rather than any accusations of foul play.

Bancroft has now taken 11 catches at short leg, according to the CricViz database, and has not dropped a single chance in that position. Nobody else in CricViz's records has taken as many at a success rate of 100 per cent.

VISIT THE ASHES HUB

Captain's slog

Joe Root is out of nick.

The England captain's Test average in 2019 is the lowest of any calendar year across his career, and there are flaws creeping into his game.

Since the start of 2016, Root's fallibility to balls on his stumps has grown and grown.

In the early years of his England career, he was dismissed bowled or lbw 24 per cent of the time. In the past three-and-a-half years, that figure has risen to 38 per cent.

In the same equivalent periods, Root's average against deliveries on his stumps has dropped from 68.66 to 15.28.

Here, it was a familiar story. The captain slightly overbalanced to an in-jagger from Josh Hazlewood and found himself presenting his back pad right in front of middle and leg. It was not even worth the ignominy of an unsuccessful review. 

Root has the class to reverse the trend. For England’s sake, it needs to happen sooner rather than later.

Umpires strike back

The officials came in for plenty of stick at Edgbaston, and rightly so - the decision-making was borderline atrocious.

Here, however, things had improved markedly.

Aleem Dar, standing in a record-equalling 128th Test, was practically flawless all day after a difficult time in Birmingham, and made several impressive calls - notably a glove behind by Chris Woakes which the batsman himself did not think had struck his hand.

We are always keen to point out umpires' flaws, so it is only fair to highlight their good days too.

To celebrate England winning the World Cup you can subscribe to The Cricketer for just £20.19. Click here to learn more