2 months ago
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England head to Manchester for next week’s fourth Test with a 2–1 lead over India after their thrilling win at Lord’s, but there are still questions to answer.
Mail Sport looks at the most urgent ones.
Why are England sticking with Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope?
In a batsman-friendly series, Crawley is averaging 21 and Pope 31, with 106 of Pope’s 186 runs coming in his first innings at Headingley.
England’s nail-biting win at Lord’s has allowed them to gloss over the fact that two of their top three are not pulling their weight, with Jacob Bethell’s exclusion looking harder to justify by the game.
England remain convinced that a Crawley special - if such a thing still exists - is around the corner.
Opener Zak Crawley is under pressure after averaging just 21 so far in the series against India
Ollie Pope, batting at number three, has also struggled since his first Test hundred in Leeds
Jacob Bethell is England's young star waiting in the wings for any top order batter to slip up
And that leaves Pope the more vulnerable, as he would have been had Bethell come home from the IPL to play against Zimbabwe in May.
Instead, the selectors are running out of time to pick him before the Ashes.
Does Liam Dawson go straight into the XI at Old Trafford?
Brendon McCullum said after the Edgbaston Test that Bethell would be considered only as a batsman, so England seem to be disregarding his part-time left-arm spin.
With Manchester usually offering some turn, and Shoaib Bashir missing the rest of the series through injury, the path is clear for Dawson to play his first Test for eight years - reward for the 103 Championship wickets at 22 he took for Hampshire in 2023 and 2024.
He will also strengthen the lower order at No 8. But England remain wedded to the Bashir project.
Even in the Lord’s dressing room on Monday evening, he was lauded for batting, bowling and fielding with a broken finger, not to mention taking the winning wicket.
Dawson, then, will have two Tests to show he should be in the Ashes squad.
Liam Dawson looks all but certain to return to Test cricket after impressing for Hampshire
Dawson, a left-arm spinner who is also a useful bat, was also recalled to the white ball side
Shoaib Bashir may have taken the winning wicket but a broken finger has ended his series
What about Chris Woakes?
There have been moments during this series when Woakes has looked all of his 36 years, but he keeps chipping in: three wickets in India’s first innings at Lord’s including Shubman Gill and Ravindra Jadeja, and the crucial dismissal of Nitish Kumar Reddy just before lunch on the last day.
Gus Atkinson hopes to be available again, but England like continuity of selection and Woakes has a superb record at Old Trafford: 35 wickets at 17.
Yet if Dawson plays, and England stick with Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer, one of Woakes and Atkinson will have to miss out.
Woakes surely can’t go to Australia - where he averages 52 with the ball - but England may still regard him as important to their chances of beating India.
Have England decided to sledge more?
After play on the fourth evening at Lord’s, the England dressing room agreed they were in danger of becoming a ‘bit too nice’ out in the middle.
The discussion followed India’s aggressive response to Crawley’s time-wasting the previous evening, and Mohammed Siraj’s send-off of Ben Duckett the next morning.
Chris Woakes took crucial wickets for England but questions remain on his Ashes suitability
Jofra Archer was not afraid to let Rishabh Pant know about it after dismissing the wicketkeeper
England got involved in a sledging match as Zak Crawley and Shubman Gill exchanged words
Jofra Archer set the tone on the final day after bowling Rishabh Pant, shouting at him to ‘charge that one’.
Another flare-up followed when Jadeja and Carse bumped into each other.
And England seemed to feed off the aggro better than India.
The two teams generally get on, but the stakes are high and it won’t take much to reignite passions in Manchester.
Can Archer play in back-to-back Tests?
The man himself certainly thinks so. One of the concerns before his first Test in four years was whether he could keep his pace up in his third and fourth spells.
He scotched those concerns emphatically, having put the wind up India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who followed 220 runs in the first two Tests with scores of 13 and nought.
Pant, too, may think twice before taking liberties against 93mph.
England take a 2-1 series lead to the fourth Test at Old Trafford in Manchester thanks to the win
Mohammed Siraj was fined 15% of his match fee for the send-off he gave to Ben Duckett
Ben Duckett hit a match-winning century in Headingley but struggled in his four innings since
But Archer performs another role: armed with the fastest bowler on either side, England can back up whatever words they throw India’s way with deeds.
Should we be worried about Ben Duckett?
Since his masterful 149 on the last day at Headingley, Duckett has scored 60 runs in four innings, and at Lord’s threw away his wicket twice.
With Crawley and Pope struggling, Duckett’s role in the top three becomes crucial, because sooner or later England’s middle and lower order will not be able to bail them out.
