As expected, it was all England on the second day of the fifth Test here at the Kia Oval. England began the day at 62 for no loss, but soon lost the wicket of Sam Robson, who was clean bowled by a fast and impressive Varun Aaron, very early into the day. Robson has been perhaps the only young English player who hasn’t impressed the selectors in this series, and he would be concerned about his future in Test cricket. Robson has been persisted with over many other equally strong claimants for the opening batsman’s slot for England, and he hasn’t done much to justify his selection. Surely, there are better opening batsmen in England, with much better technique.
Robson’s departure brought England’s new Test batting sensation Gary Ballance to the crease. Ballance has been the most prolific England batsman, not just in this series against India, but throughout the summer. He was excellent at the Kia Oval as well, joining Alastair Cook in completely batting India out of the match and the series. Ballance is more than a suitable replacement for England’s most reliable batsman, Jonathan Trott. He has the same solidity that Trott used to provide at the top, with the added advantage of having a much better range of shots, which gives him the ability to move the scoreboard along much faster than what Trott was capable of. Some of the shots that Robson played, such as the cover drive off Ravichandran Ashwin, to take England’s score beyond that of India’s, were simply outstanding. Ballance has shown his intent and it does seem that we will see a lot of Gary Ballance in international cricket for the next decade or so.
For Alastair Cook, the century drought continues, and is set to continue for another 7 months, as he was once again dismissed before reaching the three-figure mark. Cook looked comfortable for the most part of his innings of 79. But there wasn’t yet a free flow to his batting. The only shot that Cook played with anything approaching full freedom was the pull off Varun Aaron. In fact the pull is the only shot that Cook plays without inhibition, and with fluency. Otherwise, Cook is still someone who prods around, pushes his bat at the ball rather than timing it, and not exactly the greatest batsman to watch. What made Cook special was his ability to get hundreds, but that ability seems to have deserted him over the last 2 years. But he will be happy to have recovered at least a semblance of the consistency that has made him of England’s most prolific batsmen in its proud cricketing history. Cook will have to do a lot better to impress against the likes of Mitchell Johnson and Dale Steyn when they come visiting though.
Cook’s departure brought Joe Root to the middle. Root has been a sensational batsman against India, scoring at least a fifty in every Test match that he has played against them. Here too, Root was in sparkling forming, taking the Indian attack apart, not looking in trouble at any stage. Root’s batting is not for the artistically inclined, as he is more of an industrious, hard working batsman rather than someone who’s batting can be described as being delightful, like say, Ian Bell. But he is mighty effective, and does his job – which is to get runs for his side – very well. Root was unbeaten on 92 and would be looking forward to yet another Test hundred when the match resumes later today.
England would be worried about Moeen Ali’s batting form though. Moeen has been brilliant as a bowler, but not done much of note as a batsman. Jos Buttler, who made another well composed Test innings should really be batting ahead of Moeen. Buttler is a serious prospect for England, and one can easily see him playing for England for another 10-12 years. He could be England’s answer to Adam Gilchrist, the great Australian batsman-wicketkeeper, but he really has to work a lot harder on his batting to get there though.
There isn’t really much to write on India’s performance, because we didn’t get to see any. Apart from Varun Aaron, who at least put up a fight and bowled with great fire and pace, the rest of the Indian bowling can only be described as pedestrian. Another poor show by the Indian team, who seem to have completely disintegrated after the win at Lord’s. It is hoped by one and all that the Indian team battles hard today and not make it so easy for England to turn them over.
