[Devongone]

Root and Malan did well because they are more than good enough to be there. We lost the two wickets of players who shouldn't have been there in the first place. Even if we achieved the miracle of saving the game, should we need a spinner at some point in the series we've got one guy the Aussies just destroyed and another who can't pitch the ball - so that leaves Joe Root. Of the eight players we have in this game who are good enough to be playing, Stokes and Wood are likely to pick up injuries, Robinson seems inclined to battle through the pain and we wrap Anderson in cotton-wool whether he likes it or not, so we rested him from this game. It is an almost impossible situation for the captain. Our only hope is that cricket is a team game in which individuals can carry a team. If Malan can get into the one hundreds, Root can double it and Buttler can mix his one day and test skills to shred Australian confidence then there might be a glimmer. Normally Stokes would be the one for whom we'd be crossing our fingers for and whispering England expects, but after so long out of the game we can't burden the guy with that.

My naive suggestion would be in future to pick our seven best batsmen and arrange the order from there - rather than selecting a specialist one and two whose speciality is not scoring many more than their position in the batting order. Why for instance can't Bairstow open in Test Cricket? He must think he's capable of concentrating for long periods or he wouldn't want to keep wicket. He has the reflexes to face fast bowling. He must surely have the judgement if he can keep wicket. He can defend. What he lacks is belief and the reason he lacks it is he's being self-indulgent. The flash attracts him more than the grind. Somebody should have the guts to tell him that he'll never be a world-class keeper, but if he opened the batting he could be the most destructive in world cricket. The quickest way to get on top of the opposition is for an opener to keep spanking boundaries whenever he receives a bad ball. If your determination is to freeze in the headlights, when the bad ball comes you'll most likely paddle it for a single and breathe a sigh of relief from the other end.