Why I’m happy the ECB have kept faith with their under-fire squad

England’s performance against Sri Lanka in the final 2 days was terrible and it cost them a series that up to that point they had dominated. The Sri Lankans were a poor side and England should have won the series 2-0 with the talent they have in their squad. I guess it is understandable therefore, that the likes of James Vince, Jos Buttler, Eoin Morgan, Steven Finn, Monty Panesar and in particular Ben Stokes were called upon to be selected. However, I think the current youthful side is showing potential and should not be tampered with too much. Bringing Stokes in for one of the seamers would leave them light in the bowling department, whilst overstocking the batting. In my opinion, Stokes has to bat 6 and Moen Ali is the current man in possession. To replace Moen Ali with Stokes would require a reshuffle in the bowling in order to bring in a spinner. I see two main problems with this, the first one being there isn’t a spinner ready to play for England and Moen Ali is one of the best spinners we can pick if we are talking purely in bowling terms and obviously he contributes a lot with the bat. Monty Panesar is in far too much trouble off the pitch and needs to sort himself out before he can have an England future. I must admit I haven’t seen much of Simon Kerrigan, the other leading candidate and I do feel it is unfair to judge him on his performance at the oval where the nerves got to him. Whether Kerrigan is ready therefore, is difficult to answer but spinners tend to reach their peak a lot later than Kerrigan’s current age not including the greats. The 2^nd reason is Moen Ali’s century during the 2^nd test which almost secured a draw for England. Ali cannot be dropped from the side after such a performance.

The other main debate is whether to include Jos Buttler or Matt Prior, but I think I would still go for the experience of Prior. In a new era with young talent coming through, I feel it is necessary to retain some experience in the current team and his half-century in the first test indicates he still has plenty to offer at test match level and his test match record speaks for itself. I think I may be in the minority when I see a positive future for English cricket, but the emergence of Sam Robson, Gary Ballance and Chris Jordan along with the resurgence of Joe Root and Liam Plunkett shows great positives for English cricket.