Ashes Euphoria Is Misplaced

Am I the only cricketing follower of Blighty who feels that England's convincing triumph over Australia in the bizarre 2015 series is not as convincing as it might seem? I certainly am far from convinced.

 Of course, our bowlers have really excelled themselves at Birmingham and Nottingham. Incidentally, I wonder if England fare better at the provincial test venues, while the Aussies perhaps are more at home in the big metropolis? The Oval will prove or disprove such a theory.

However, the bottom line about the Ashes series so far is that both teams are extremely poor on the batting front. While Australia seem clueless against the swinging ball, and don't even seem to know where their next run is going to come from, England can scarcely boast about their batting prowess.

Only one England batsman, Joe Root, has recorded any centuries in this series, which in itself is a poor statistic. In the awful whitewash in Australia, I think that Ben Stokes was England's only centurion in five dreadful tests. Added to these two gents is Ian Bell and the exiled Kevin Pietersen as the only other century-makers from England in the 2013 series. With few players, including the supposedly 'great' Cook failing to reach three figures, are England really so cosmic? Could it be that they are better than Australia because the latter are simply worse at batting than our misfiring lot?

As a Yorkshire follower, I was extremely keen to see Adam Lyth granted an opportunity to open the batting for England, but I'm afraid that the bald eagle has been a walking wicket throughout the series. He is merely being retained because the selectors, in their questionable wisdom, cannot identify any replacements. It is true that Alex Hales has a decent first-class average this summer on account of a big double hundred against champions, Yorkshire, at the beginning of the campaign, and this giant ton has exaggerated his average, and subsequent efforts have not hit the heights or demonstrated any consistency. However, is Lyth an improvement upon Carberry or Compton? I don't see it.

For the fifth and final test, with the series already decided, England have a golden opportunity to finally bring Rashid into the fray. The Oval is historically a bouncy, Australian-type wicket which offers something to spinners. Moeen Ali, largely ineffective as a spinner against the Aussies, should be promoted to open the batting alongside Cook, while Rashid comes into the middle order. Rashid has just smacked a fine century against high-flying Durham and it is doubtful whether his replacement of Lyth in the team will weaken the batting. Elsehwere, I would reappoint Jimmy Anderson, if fit, in place of Wood. Mark is way too expensive, and it would be criminal to displace Steven Finn after his Edgbastion heroics. My England XI for the fifth test at the Kia Oval would be:

Cook

Moeen Ali (he has opened the batting alongside Cook in one-day internationals in the last year)

Bell

Root

Bairstow

Rashid

Stokes

Broad

Buttler (his batting in this series justifies a demotion to number nine!)

Finn

Anderson