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Former England opener Marcus Trescothick has backed a more flexible approach when it comes to selecting the batters. He believes that England should pick their best batters rather than selecting players only because they are specialist openers.
The debate has started after Zak Crawley was dropped from the Test side following the 4-1 Ashes loss. England are still searching for Ben Duckett’s opening partner. However, Duckett has also been struggling, hitting only one century across six Tests against New Zealand and Pakistan. Earlier, Marcus Trescothick reveals uncertainty over England Test role after impressive Pakistan series.
Jacob Bethell emerges as new opening option for England
Emilio Gay has opened alongside Ben Duckett and scored three fifties, finishing with 271 runs in 11 innings at an average of 24.63 in the recent three-match Test series against Pakistan at home. Now, England could look at Jacob Bethell as another option for the top order.
Bethell has previously batted at No. 3, but he has opened for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the IPL. He has recently started opening in ODIs as well. But he missed the Pakistan series with an injury.
Jordan Cox replaced Bethell at No. 3 and has impressed everyone by averaging 50.50 in five innings against Pakistan. This could make the selection call even more interesting when England will travel to South Africa for the three-match Test series in December.
Marcus Trescothick wants England to pick the best batters
Marcus Trescothick, who served as England’s interim Test coach against Pakistan after Stephen Fleming opted out, believes the team should focus on its strongest top seven. He feels modern players can quickly adjust to new batting positions because they regularly switch between formats.
Marcus Trescothick stated, as quoted by the Hindustan Times, "You generally want your best top seven, however that looks. Who that's going to be, I don't know. That's for someone else to work out. I reckon times have changed a little bit. I think you look at your best batting lineup; however, that fits up.”
“If that's with a specialist opener, great. If not, I think you can plan around it in this day and age. Players adapt pretty quickly because they're chopping and changing formats,” Marcus Trescothick added. Amid this, Pakistan’s England humiliation worsens as ICC delivers double punishment.
England complete dominant series sweep against Pakistan
Earlier, England completed a 3-0 Test series win over Pakistan with a commanding eight-wicket victory in Birmingham. They needed only 130 runs to win and finished the chase on Day 4.
Pakistan's fast bowlers gave England some early trouble. Mohammad Abbas removed both Ben Duckett and Emilio Gay, leaving England at just 2/2. But Jordan Cox and Joe Root’s steady partnership turned things around.
Both batters reached their half-centuries and took England over the line. Root led the side from the front in the WTC series. The England captain scored his second half-century of the series after also hitting one in the Leeds Test. It was also a successful return to the captaincy for Root after Ben Stokes stepped down following the New Zealand series.
