VINCE MIXES PATIENCE AND SELF-CONTROL IN A BREAKTHROUGH INNINGS

SAM MORSHEAD: England's number three showed he can cut it as England's number three

This was the day the real James Vince stood up.

At international level at least, Vince’s cover drive has been his Kryptonite - simultaneously the source of his powers and his perpetual undoing.

ICYMI: James Vince

✅ Perfect timing
😍 Beautiful cover drive
👀 “Looks a lot like @MichaelVaughan”

England's no.3 @vincey14 has made an impressive start to the Ashes...#ItsTheAshes pic.twitter.com/D2P7Fm1csU

— BT Sport (@btsport) November 23, 2017

Too often in his seven Tests prior to this Ashes tour, all of which came in a three-month spell during the English summer of 2016, was the Hampshire man dismissed flashing outside his off stump.

For a man so languid and graceful on the drive, he was constantly getting himself out picking the wrong shot at the wrong time.

On six occasions against Sri Lanka and Pakistan he got past 15 without ever going beyond 42, too often playing the stroke of a man edging towards three figures when in reality he was wrestling to get to 30.

He fell out of favour 15 months ago but the selectors felt he was the right man to fill the troublesome number three slot in the England line-up,

On the first day of the series, in Brisbane, he vindicated that decision and put together an innings that shouted loudly and clearly: “Yes, I do belong here”.

Compiled either side of a lengthy rain break, against a much-vaunted Australia attack and after the very early demise of Alastair Cook, this was a breakthrough knock for Vince. A knock built on self-control as much as that splendid off drive. A knock that was one part patient, one part persistent.

^{James Vince hit his best Test score on day one in Brisbane}

Vince, it turns out, stayed true to his word.

Before he was confirmed in England’s squad for this Ashes tour, the 26-year-old spoke of how he planned to improve if he was ever given another chance by the national selectors.

"I think everyone gets caught in the slips in Test cricket at times, but I want to be a bit more selective in the balls I'm trying to attack and defend,” he said.

"It's not a shot I'm going to put away. I'll just try to be smarter in the times I use it and the balls I play it against."

This innings was all about Vince getting smart.

Mixing his natural inclination to redirect anything even vaguely off-line through the covers with an impressive strength of purpose at the crease, it was obvious fairly early on that the Hampshire man wasn’t about to wrap up his wicket and present it to the Aussies in a frilly bow.

He’d learned his lesson.

When Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood missed their mark, Vince wasn’t afraid to go on the offensive. But he didn’t attempt to make a drive ball out of nothing, he left confidently and, most importantly, he kept his focus.

^{Vince shared in a fine partnership with Mark Stoneman}

That was particularly evident after a long rain delay after lunch. Vince didn’t lose momentum despite the interruption and within two overs of the restart he was back on the front foot, transferring his weight well and slicing through cover for three.

For the second time in a day, Geoffrey Boycott in the BT Sport commentary box compared Vince to Michael Vaughan.

It’s a comparison that is generous to the England number three, and one based on aesthetics over anything more tangible, but still high praise from the master of hard graft.

Against Nathan Lyon, Vince was much more reserved, happy to sit back in his crease and pat the ball back to the Aussie spinner instead of taking a step down the pitch and picking off the singles available down the ground.

But he never seemed particularly bothered about being bogged down.

Lyon strangled the flow of runs, conceding nine from as many overs, but Vince bided his time before hopping and skipping into a position to slap the bowler through extra cover for four.

When Lyon dropped one short, Vince was quick to spot the length, rock on back and find the point boundary.

Only in the five overs before tea did he briefly look flappable - playing and missing or edging 35 per cent of balls faced in that time, compared to 10 per cent in his innings as a whole. He also had a life, with Tim Paine shelling a catch behind the stumps off Lyon.

But even the very best have momentary headloss.

MORE FROM THE CRICKETER: Stoneman and Vince beat 2013/14 record in two sessions