Ollie Robinson in line for recall as England weigh up bowling stability
England are contemplating turning again to their one specialist fast method for the must-win fourth Test in Ranchi, with Ollie Robinson set to make his first look of the tour. And they is also boosted by Ben Stokes returning to his function as a seam-bowling allrounder.
The vacationers are but to make a concrete determination on the precise make-up of their bowling line-up, however are leaning closely in the direction of the stability they struck within the first two Tests, the place Mark Wood, then James Anderson, operated independently alongside three spinners, and Joe Root. Anderson and Wood then lined up alongside each other for the third Test, which India won by 434 runs to take a 2-1 lead within the collection.
After the pair despatched down 76 overs between them and fielded on every of the 4 days in Ranchi, Robinson is predicted to return to supply some contemporary legs, with Wood prone to be rested. It then leaves Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum with a choice to make on whether or not to recall offspinner Shoaib Bashir for Anderson or persist with the veteran seamer, who has six wickets at 35.83 in his two appearances up to now. An extra possibility might be to strengthen the batting, if England anticipate the situations providing excessive spin, with Dan Lawrence – a helpful offspinner himself – a exterior wager for a primary begin of the Stokes-McCullum period.
Robinson’s earlier Test look got here in opposition to Australia at Headingley in July, which was additionally his final aggressive match. Despite underwhelming within the Ashes, he nonetheless has 76 wickets at 22.21 in 19 caps, and might lean on his expertise in Pakistan final winter when he managed 9 dismissals at 21.22, with an financial system price of two.47 on broadly unhelpful surfaces.
The shift again to a spin-dominant assault has come after a primary sight of the pitch on the JSCA International Stadium. Two days out from the beginning of the Test. England had been shocked by the extent of the cracks already, and anticipate loads of flip from the beginning of the match, with variable bounce to come back into play sooner reasonably than later.
“There’s a lot of cracks,” Ollie Pope, England’s vice-captain, mentioned. “It’s very platey, and they’ve just wetted it as well, which generally dries it up. It doesn’t necessarily look like a belting wicket at the moment. It kind of looks like one half is good, and then there are a lot of platey cracks. That’s how we see it at the minute. I think we will see what happens tomorrow after the Indian team has looked at the wicket, then make a decision from there.”
“At the minute, it looks like batting from the far end, it’s outside the right-hander’s off stump and then from this end, the left-hander’s off-stump. It just looks like it’s down the wicket, it’s kind of plated on one side and then the other side looks like a pretty good wicket.
Should Stokes be available to bowl, he could operate as a second seamer. Thus making England’s decision to recall Bashir that much easier, giving them the best of both worlds.
After opening up the possibility of bowling again in the remainder of the series, the England captain used Wednesday’s first training session in Ranchi to bowl at batters for the first time since his left knee surgery in November. His session was a long stint, and was almost exclusively against Jonny Bairstow, with the help of England men’s selector Luke Wright standing as the umpire to keep an eye on his front foot. He looked strong throughout and, once finished, had a debrief with England team physician Glen Rae.
Stokes, with 197 wickets at 32.07, last bowled competitively in June, during the second Ashes Test at Lord’s. Having made a “pinky-promise” to team physio Ben Davies that he would not bowl in India, he could be about to break that.
“There’s positively an opportunity,” Pope said on the prospect of Stokes bowling this week. “He’s not confirmed it even within the changing-room, so we are going to see. He bowled on the batters right now. We’ll see how he pulls up, and if that is good hopefully we are going to see him with the ball in hand within the recreation.”
Speaking on Monday, McCullum said it would be his job to hold Stokes back if he felt he was trying to progress too quickly. Similarly, Pope, as Stokes’ deputy, appreciates he will have the unenviable task of keeping Stokes in check while on the field.
“I believe when he is going it is fairly robust to get the ball out of his hand, to be trustworthy. But I’ll chat to him earlier than the sport, see if he needs something like that from me. If he is acquired full confidence in his knee, I assume you have to belief the medical recommendation and belief his opinions as properly. That’s the principle factor and if he wants a little bit of steering on the pitch, then I may be somebody to lean on.”
Vithushan Ehantharajah is an affiliate editor at ESPNcricinfo