Chance for England to reclaim top ranking - Fourth Test preview

Fourth Test - England v Pakistan, The Oval
11th August, 11:00 local | 10:00 GMT

The best teams in any sport are said to display a killer instinct but it is a sporting cliché, of which there are many, that requires some explanation. It is the ability to nail an opponent when just a chink of vulnerability is showing, when a victory should not be within reach but can be sought out. A finer example than England’s final day display at Edgbaston you will be hard pressed to find.

Led by James Anderson, England dragged victory from a game they had no right to win on the fifth day using the pressure of the situation and no little skill. This means of course that they head to the fourth and final Test of the series at The Oval, two games to one up and with a chance to reach the top of the world rankings should they win the game.

On the subject of four game series, it is unfathomable how administrators can conclude that such an arrangement is not deeply unsatisfactory. The whole point of a series is to have a clear winner develop over the course of an odd number of matches. Imagine the British and Irish Lions playing a two-match series next summer against the All Blacks and drawing 1-1. Rubbish.

England’s win in Birmingham was an important step for a side that has too often collapsed when finding themselves behind the game. Recent examples in January at Centurion against South Africa, before Christmas at Sharjah against Pakistan and at Lord’s in last year’s Ashes have alluded to a soft underbelly in the side.

But Edgbaston was different. They found themselves at the end of day two staring down the barrel of a likely Pakistan victory and a possible match at The Oval this week to reclaim some pride and salvage a drawn series.Instead, their performance over the final three days of the game produced an unlikely victory to rank up there with the very best of recent times.

Pakistan will be horribly upset they let that dominating position of day two slip. After their magnificent win at Lord’s, various chinks in their side have opened up which means a victory at The Oval is unlikely, although not to say impossible.

Their concerns are many and varied. Yasir Shah has taken four for 502 since his 10-wicket haul at the home of cricket and their four-man bowling attack wilted on the fourth day in the face of a Moeen Ali and Jonny Bairstow onslaught in Birmingham. Whether a change is made to the side to include an extra bowler on a flat and true Oval surface that will test stamina as much as skill remains to be seen.

That decision is complicated by two factors: firstly, Pakistan do not have a Test class all-rounder to balance their side and allow them to play five bowlers; secondly, their batting has several areas of concern that likely rules out dropping a batsman for a bowler.

Despite Azhar Ali’s fine hundred and Sami Aslam’s assured performance at the top of the order, Pakistan’s batting has been poor all series.Mohammad Hafeez and Younus Khan, two established and experienced players, are both in dire form and AsadShafiq, so impressive at Lord’s, bagged a pair in Birmingham.

With more pace and bounce on offer at The Oval, Pakistan may be tempted to recall Wahab Riaz, despite him carrying an injury, after leaving him out at Edgbaston to provide some fire and brimstone to an attack that looked a little pedestrian in the last game.

Despite Sohail Khan’s five wicket haul in the first innings, reward for perseverance and excellent line bowling but also due to England’s profligacy with the bat, he looked short of a gallop and fitness for the rest of the Test.His selection is a risk in a four-man attack.

Meanwhile, England approach the game in a good place, although still without concrete answers to a number of issues. Alex Hales played well in the second innings at Edgbaston but has yet to score a Test match hundred in 19 attempts which needs to be rectified soon.

James Vince battled hard to set up a platform for Bairstow and Ali but scores of 39 and 42 have done little to allay fears about his ability to produce big Test match scores. England’s victory has saved him from the selector’s axe.

Gary Ballance’s unflashy, and at times ungainly, half-century in the first innings stands in contrast. While there is no doubt who is the most aesthetically pleasing out of Vince and Ballance, the Yorkshireman deals in the only currency that matters: runs.

Moeen Ali grabbed the man of the match award for his two half-centuries with the bat but it is his bowling that still causes England concern. Alastair Cook was quick to point out that he was pleased with Ali’s bowling on the final day but his performance on the second, when he bowled 17 wicketless overs, conceding 4.6 runs an over, against Azhar and Aslam proved his current limitations.

Few should expect Ali to rip through opposition teams as Graeme Swann did regularly during England’s rise to number one in the world under Andrew Strauss. He is still learning his craft but he must become able to tie up an end against good players on good pitches as Ashley Giles managed to do back in the early 2000s.

Steven Finn’s return to somewhere approaching his best is another important development for England, especially as his extra pace will be needed on the sub-continental pitches they will encounter in Bangladesh and India this winter. Finn’s spell on the final afternoon when he removed the hitherto unmovable Aslam was the Finn of old and The Oval surface should suit him.

The forecast for the match is glorious, although the propensity of the English weather to change at a moment’s notice should never be forgotten, and the pitch likely to be flat and true. Shah may find more help as the game progresses than has been the case at either Old Trafford or Edgbaston but big runs in the first innings should dictate the shape of the match.

England don’t have all the answers quite yet but Pakistan’s fragile batting makes them firm favourites for a 3-1 series win.

© Cricket World 2016