England captain Joe Root has urged newcomer Mark Stoneman to make the most of the opportunity and put an end to England’s opening woes in Test cricket.
Ever since Andrew Strauss’ retirement in 2012, England have tried 11 different batting partners for the incumbent Alastair Cook and are yet to find an able replacement for the legendary captain.
Mark Stoneman will be the latest to try his luck. The Surrey star has been included in the Test squad for the first time for the opening Test against West Indies, scheduled to be played at Edgbaston from August 17, Thursday.
The left-handed batsman has replaced Keaton Jennings who had a torrid time in the recently-concluded series against South Africa. Jennings, who began his career with a sublime century in India last year, managed to score just 127 runs in eight innings against the Proteas, paving the way for Stoneman to earn his maiden Test call-up.
Stoneman has been in fine form this season and has scored more than 1,000 first-class runs at an impressive average of 58.82.
While Stoneman will try to replicate his first-class form against West Indies, Joe Root is under no illusion that it would not be an easy task.
“It’s always been a very difficult place to bat,” said Root. “Having done it the majority of my early career a lot of the time you don’t get the consistency you get in the middle order.
“A lot of great openers’ strengths is when they do get in they make big, big scores. Unfortunately, on a few occasions, guys haven’t quite managed to do that.It’s still another opportunity for Mark to come in and do just that. Hopefully, he does it,” he added.
Root also expressed his surprise over the way the players have failed to make the chances count.
“It’s a strange one. You look at the talent and the guys who have played and you think they have every chance of being able to do it. But, unfortunately, it’s not been the case,” he said.
Another player who will be under the spotlight during the series is leg-spinner Mason Crane, who has also earned his maiden Test call-up. The spinner had made an impressive T20 debut against South Africa in June, taking the prized wicket of AB De Villiers.
However, he has given his best performances with the white ball and not surprisingly his selection has raised some doubts. Moreover, Crane’s selection has cast a shadow over the Test future of leg-spinner Adil Rashid, who has been overlooked this summer despite outperforming Moeen Ali during the India series last year.
And while Root assured that Rashid can find his way back in the team with some good performances, he said the team management wanted to see what Mason could do in Test cricket.
“It’s never a ‘that’s it’ moment,” said Root. “For him, it’s about coming back into Championship cricket when he gets the chance and taking a lot of wickets, putting some good performances in and pushing hard.”
“I think it can be difficult for some guys to cross between formats,” said Root. ‘For him, it’s always difficult. You look at the performances of Moeen: such a strong batsman that can offer with the ball. If you’re looking for a second option, you have to weigh-up what works best for the team. This time we wanted to give Mason an opportunity to see what he can do for the team and see how he fared in Test cricket.
“It’s a great opportunity to get him involved and for him to show everyone in the squad what he’s capable of doing and see how he fares with Test cricket ahead of Australia,” he added.