England eased to a three-day Test victory against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge but there are still many things to ponder ahead of their five-match showdown with India over the next few months.
Shoaib Bashir collected a career-best haul of nine wickets but tougher days lie ahead for Brendon McCullum’s side.
Zimbabwe, following on, were knocked over for 255 as Bashir claimed six for 81 to leave England celebrating victory by an innings and 45 runs.
After England began their Test summer with victory at Trent Bridge, Mail Sport looks at five questions they must answer before the series against India begins next month.
Shoaib Bashir bowled England to victory against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge with nine wickets
Are Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope undroppable after their centuries in Nottingham?
Even if Crawley had been dismissed for a golden duck, it would have made no difference to England’s contention that his track record against India and Australia guarantees selection.
His fifth Test hundred, though, has shut down any debate. Pope was less clear cut, because his No 3 slot was filled so skilfully by Jacob Bethell in New Zealand. And questions remain about the discrepancies on Pope’s CV: an average of 188 against Ireland and Zimbabwe, but only 22 against India and Australia.
‘I completely own that my numbers aren’t good enough against those guys,’ he said. ‘But I think I am a better player than I was when we last played India at home and Australia away.’ The speculation about his place, he insists, is just ‘noise’.
It felt significant that Ben Stokes sang Pope’s praises after Saturday’s win. And it would be unusual for England to drop their vice-captain a game after making 171. Australia may be delighted to hear it, but it’s hard to see how Pope does not start against India at Headingley on June 20.
Where does this leave Jacob Bethell?
Despite having played just three Tests, Bethell already feels like a cause célèbre. When Stokes was asked before Trent Bridge – in the context of Bethell being the ‘incumbent No 3’ – what would happen for India, he said outsiders could ‘put two and two together’.
The question was clearly about his place in the team, though Stokes later insisted he was talking about the squad, and said suggestions to the contrary were part of a media ‘agenda’.
Yet Bethell, who averaged 52 in New Zealand, bowls decent left-arm spin and fields like a demon, may now pay the price for the ECB’s desire to keep India sweet: had he played in Nottingham, he would have missed the tailend of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s push for a first IPL title.
But he has appeared in only two of RCB’s 13 games, which raises another question: if a player is merely warming the bench at the IPL, shouldn’t his home board be able to recall him for international duty? Otherwise, what is the point of central contracts?
Jacob Bethell may now ending paying the price for the ECB’s desire to keep India sweet
If Bethell now has to wait until Pope fails in the first two Tests against India, he will have missed out on three games in which he could have burnished his experience before the Ashes. It all seems like an own goal.
How significant were Shoaib Bashir’s nine wickets against Zimbabwe?
Given that England’s three frontline seamers took six for 315 between them and went at 4.18 an over, Bashir’s career-best haul played a crucial part in victory. Zimbabwe were 156 for two in their first innings, and 207 for four in their second: without his interventions, they might have made England sweat even more.
Fears remain that India and Australia will feast on a bowler whose first-class record – 77 wickets at 48 – does not scream ‘first-choice Test spinner’. But Stokes has not wavered in his belief that Bashir’s raw attributes of height and bounce add up to a serious proposition, and there were some beautiful deliveries in Nottingham – not least the off-breaks which twice bowled Tafadzwa Tsiga.
There were also signs he is tightening his line to the right-handers, with only one ball an over going down the leg side at Trent Bridge, compared with two an over in his Test career before that. He is also getting closer to the stumps, allowing him, he says, ‘to finish off my action a little more’. The learning curve is steep, but he is clinging on.
Will Sam Cook get another chance?
Before the Zimbabwe Test, only seven one-cap wonders were still playing, of whom Jamie Overton and Josh Hull may well add to their tally. The worry is that Cook will become the eighth.
All of county cricket wanted him to succeed in Nottingham, if only to restore the umbilical cord between the domestic and international arenas.
But match figures of one for 119 at 3.84 an over felt like a letdown, and his pace dropped during the course of the game from around 81mph to as low as 75.
Chris Woakes will surely take the new ball against India, while Matthew Potts may now be ahead of Cook in the pecking-order of seamers who operate at 83mph or slower. And that could spell bad news for Cook’s Ashes hopes.
How should we define Gus Atkinson?
Atkinson enjoyed a stellar first year in Test cricket, for which he deserves leeway. But his pace dropped as 2024 progressed, from an average of 85.89mph on his debut to 80.07 in the last game of the year. In every Test since his first series, against West Indies, his average speed has been below 84mph.
He got better on the second day in Nottingham, pinning Zimbabwe’s first-innings centurion Brian Bennett lbw for one as the tourists followed on. But a thigh niggle limited him to just three overs on the third, and he emerged from the Test with an average speed of 83.76.
The danger is that Atkinson drops into a different column in managing director Rob Key’s spreadsheet, and ends up competing with Woakes, Potts and Cook, rather than Josh Tongue, Brydon Carse and Mark Wood. Fast bowling can be a merciless business.
