THE GOOGLY: England need to rediscover the art of boring batting

HUW TURBERVILL: Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler showed their team-mates the way at Trent Bridge, now everyone must follow suit and be more boring

^{England need to show more application}

Joe Root is no doubt very excited about his stint with Sydney Thunder this winter. He is to team up with Jos Buttler for the Big Bash, between England’s tours to Sri Lanka and West Indies. It is good news for his bank manager, his one-day skills and possibly England’s World Cup bid next summer. But is it good news for England’s Test team?

Root is desperately seeking centuries at the moment; he has not made one in his last 25 Test innings (albeit he has struck nine half-centuries)… that was after 12 tons in the 106 Test innings before that…

Root and his England lads are doing a grand job convincing us all that battling to keep Tests at five days’ duration is pointless. And the introduction of James Vince and/or Moeen Ali to join Root, Alastair Cook, Keaton Jennings and Ollie Pope is unlikely to mean less work for India’s slip corden.

^{Joe Root will be working on his limited overs form with Sydney Thunder but can he improve his Test batting and bat longer, converting more fifties into hundreds?}

“When hair-shirts should be on and loins girded.”

That was Alan Ross talking about players who get themselves out at key moments, in his book Australia 55, about England’s famous tour, when Frank ‘Typhoon’ Tyson thrust the tourists to the Ashes.

England’s batsmen should take note ahead of Thursday’s fourth Test against India at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton.

A repeat of the procession on day two at Trent Bridge, when the hosts lost all 10 first-innings wickets in the afternoon session, will test the patience of all the team’s fans.

England must be careful now. Their 2-1 lead looks vulnerable with two Tests to play.

“It worries me the adrenaline rush the batsmen have,” tweeted Michael Vaughan. “There is no one in that middle order. This has happened for two or three years now.”

It is time for boring, boring England. Tom Cruise’s Top Gun character, Maverick, felt “the need for speed”. Now England should feel the “need for some vintage stonewalling”. To conjure up the essence of Geoff Boycott, Ken Barrington, Trevor Bailey and Chris Tavaré…

Avoid defeat, and England will at least ensure a share of the series…

Many fans of Test cricket are a rare breed – they actually appreciate what some sports fans would describe as ‘boring’ passages of play. They celebrate obduracy, bloody-mindedness and defiance if it helps their side secure a draw (and even sometimes a victory); as much as it infuriates players and fans of the opposing side.

Bailey was a master of the art.

In the 1953 Ashes Test at Lord’s, he ground out 71 runs in 257 laborious minutes, combining with Willie Watson (109 from 346). Bailey did it again with 68 in 458 at Brisbane in 1958/59. This was the first Test to be shown on Australia television. Maybe it would have been watched on radio. He earned the nickname ‘Barnacle’.

^{Trevor Bailey was a master in batting time}

There have been other noteworthy innings of such sheer stubbornness. Most famously, perhaps, there was Mike Atherton and Jack Russell at Johannesburg, on the 1995/96 tour to South Africa. England batted for 165 overs to make 351 for 5.

But let us also not forget Tavaré’s 35 in 332 tedious minutes at Chennai in 1981/82; Stuart Broad’s six in 137 at Auckland in 2012/13; Geoff Miller’s seven in 123 at Melbourne in 1978/79; and Godfrey Evans compiling an unbeaten 10 in 133 at Adelaide 1946/47. Wonderful stuff.

Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, normally celebrated for their dashing, showed marvellous application in the second innings against India in Nottingham; newcomer Pope can learn from that.

‘England’s talent for attrition’ is a chapter in Simon Wilde’s excellent new book, England: The Biography, and it identifies Barrington, Boycott, Atherton and Cook as classic case studies. Cook is not using Gary Palmer as his batting coach any more, but has not returned to Graham Gooch either. Maybe he should think back to his time under Duncan Fletcher’s tutelage, particularly as he tries to cope with his nemesis, Ravi Ashwin. According to Wilde, Fletcher made him make “substantial but necessary changes. Cook began to play more with bat than pad and to hold his hands lower on that bat.” Cook said: “Duncan encouraged me to do it his way, and the method suited me down to the ground. The forward press method that [he] taught me has benefited me hugely.”

Maybe Cook could also watch a video of his 263 in 836 minutes in Abu Dhabi on the 2015/16 tour. They are also still talking about that one in the Middle East, albeit when mothers try to coax their youngsters to sleep…

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