CRICKET FIRST TEST:THE ICEMAN cometh. There is no doubt, in the mind of the returning England Test captain Andrew Strauss, that Eoin Morgan is "at the start of a very distinguished Test career".
Great oaks from little acorns grow. By the time the year is out, a deal more will be known about the young Irishman whose name is inextricably linked to exotic limited-overs strokeplay allied to a temperament that would chill Dom Perignon in a trice, but, as yet, from a modest first-class career, has no obvious credential for fast-tracking into the Test side.
Those who have played a lot at the highest level though will say that temperament and ambition can get someone a long way. In the course of a year, Andy Flower, a pragmatist and quietly ruthless in how he goes about things, has seen enough of Morgan on the field, in training and around the team to be as certain as he can be that there is a rough diamond waiting to be cut, polished and set.
For England, this summer is an exercise in accumulating information: about whether Morgan has the aptitude to rationalise his game; about whether Steven Finn has the physique and fitness to last the course; about the optimum balance of the team; and who bats at three.
By the time the last Test of the summer is done, and the winter touring party is picked, all these questions will be answered.
The difficulty Morgan will face is a mental one rather than technical, for clearly he is a gifted batsman, blessed with remarkable hand-eye coordination. The key to Test batting, he will have been told (and few better to tell him than Flower), is to recognise that having an array of options is something given to all great players, but that they become great by refining their game, playing the percentages.
How, though, Flower will want to know, will he handle a game that has different rules? Allied to finding out such a thing is the batting order. The number three position remains pivotal and, as ever, the most difficult to fill for England. Following the deconstruction of Jonathan Trott in South Africa, the time may well have come to consider that beyond the openers, Strauss and Alastair Cook, a middle order of Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell has sufficient experience and proven ability, with 36 centuries between them, for Pietersen not to be as protected as he has been used to.
The great players, a list which he would one day like to join, mostly aspire to bat at three and he, especially now some remedial work on his technique has been completed, ought to be no different. He should not go where he wants but where Flower insists.
If Pietersen is not to be in at three, though, then the job has to revert to Bell.
Whoever emerges from the pavilion at three, Morgan looks certain to have his first taste of Tests batting at five.
Presumably, given that there is little point in Morgan being here if he is not going to play, Trott will only appear if it is decided that only four front line bowlers are required.
Finding the right attack is another item on Flower’s agenda. Things move on rapidly. For this game Stuart Broad has been rested to undergo strength training, but is under no illusion that Tim Bresnan’s honest bowling is gaining him favour as a reliable workhorse.
Now, though, the opportunity is there for Finn to convince those who recognise rare qualities not so much that he has the fitness to survive the rigours of an international summer (he probably doesn’t), but the desire to make sure he can withstand a programme to ensure he can in future.
- Guardian Service
