It's time for some...
MARKS OUT OF TEN
Rory Burns - 7/10
A really excellent effort to bat long against one of the world's best bowling attacks, for which he was rewarded with his maiden Test hundred less than a week after everyone, myself included, had written him off. I still have huge doubts about his technique, and he's the sort of batsman who I (as an off-spinner) would look forward to bowling to due to the many moving parts to his technique, but credit where credit's due: he fought hard and got his rewards. You do feel like he could really do with learning how to leave the ball though.
Jason Roy - 2/10
Okay so there were definitely glimpses where Jason Roy showed that he might just know what Test batting was all about, especially in the second innings. However, his shot in the second innings when he was supposed to be fighting for the draw alongside his captain was absolutely unforgivable. I'm still yet to see anything to convince me that Roy was a good selection for this Test team. He's the classic Trevor Bayliss Test cricketer, and yes I mean that in a bad way.
Joe Root - 3/10
It was a weird Test for Root. For one thing, he must have set a new record for being given out the most times in a Test match, as he was on the receiving end of Joel Wilson's demonic digit on numerous occasions. However, he never inspired confidence and still appears to be fighting his own game and mental demons at number three. To make a bad game worse for Root, his captaincy lurched from unremarkable to incomprehensible on the fourth day. I continue to be of the opinion that he shouldn't be the Test skipper, but we'll get onto how my prospective replacement for him did.
Joe Denly - 2/10
Out twice between 10 and 20, leaked five an over with the ball; honestly didn't impress in any department regardless of how much I want him to make a success of things. He really doesn't look cut out for Test level, despite playing lots of pretty shots on his way to whatever score he ends up on. One Test fifty and no Test wickets don't speak of a player that the Australians will fear at all.
Jos Buttler - 3/10
Six runs in the game, and I'm rating him higher than two other members of the top five. This is partly because he did try to adapt his game to the situations in question; unfortunately, he was wildly unsuccessful due to what look suspiciously like technical deficiencies against the moving ball. His recent performances have earned him some rope, but he's not off to a great start in this series - especially given that he's the man who I would like to see as the Test captain.
Ben Stokes - 8/10
As always with Stokes, you couldn't have asked him to give more for the team. His first innings fifty was an excellent Test innings, and in both innings he put in back-breaking spells to try to make up for the loss of Jimmy Anderson from the seam attack. He got a near-unplayable ball in the second innings, for which he cannot be blamed. No fault here though.
Jonny Bairstow - 2/10
Everything I've already said. Doesn't look like a Test batsman and doesn't look like a Test keeper. Therefore, he is playing as a Test keeper-batsman. It would be a very strange policy to continue with this as a selector.
Moeen Ali - 3/10
He's having a tough time of things, but apart from a couple of headline-grabbing pies didn't bowl as badly as people are making out. That isn't to say he bowled much better though, but in the first innings at least he gave the ball a tweak and looked non-terrible.
Chris Woakes - 9/10
An economical three-wicket haul in the first innings, a disciplined unbeaten batting performance, the best economy of any English bowler in the second innings, then top-scoring in the fourth innings of the match. There really isn't much more that Woakes could have done for England at Edgbaston, save for going full Gurinder Sandhu and bowling improvised off-spin on day four. If he had done so, that too would probably have worked just fine. Definitely England's best player in this Test match, which makes it all the more concerning that he is now under an injury cloud ahead of the next one.
Stuart Broad - 8/10
Broad's first innings spell was excellent; he was great at hitting the seam and looked like he might get most of the Australian batsmen not called Steve Smith out at any point. He then also showed important fight with the bat. Unfortunately his second innings spell was less hot, but that may have been to do with shouldering a double burden in the bowling attack when Root also decided, for reasons that may or may not have been baffling, that Chris Woakes also was not going to do much bowling on Day Four.
Jimmy Anderson - n/a
RIP
What is to be done
Well, you don't change your captain mid-series, and you don't drop the guys who are actually performing so that gives an immediate framework to the side:
- Rory Burns
- Joe Root
- Ben Stokes
- Chris Woakes
- Stuart Broad
As you can see, that leaves some places that are at the very least threatened. At least one change will be enforced, with either Jofra Archer (if he's fit) or Ollie Stone (if he's not) coming in for Jimmy Anderson. Because Trevor Bayliss is a massive knobhead, one imagines that Roy and Bairstow will definitely keep their places. Indeed, I expect that to be the only change to the XI, unless Woakes is also crocked.
