'Adil Rashid should now be ready for Test cricket'
Wednesday 18 March 2015 21:26, UK
Andrew Strauss expects Jonathan Trott to open the batting for England in the upcoming three-Test series in West Indies.
Trott, 33, has been recalled to the full international side for the first time since returning from the 2013-14 Ashes tour with a stress-related illness.
The Warwickshire batsman has predominantly batted at three for England but is seemingly competing with uncapped Yorkshire left-hander Adam Lyth to slot in as Alastair Cook’s partner in the Caribbean.
I can’t see why England would take Trott to the West Indies with playing him.
However, Sky Sports pundit and former England skipper Strauss feels Trott will get the nod so that he can build up his game ahead of a busy summer of Test cricket.
“I can’t see why England would take Trott to the West Indies without playing him so I think he will open,” said the one-time opener.
“Their thinking is that in an ideal world he plays against West Indies and New Zealand and is then ready for the Ashes, which will be the big challenge for him, against his nemesis, Mitchell Johnson, and after what happened on the last tour.
“Lyth is the inexperienced guy who will gain an idea of what international cricket is all about, while Sam Robson being left out is a reasonable call as he played seven Tests last summer, averaged about 30 and didn't take his opportunity.”
At three you can be in second ball in any case so it might only be a slight mindset shift.
Trott recorded scores of 64 and 19 on the only other occasion he has opened the batting for England in Test cricket, in Bangladesh in 2010, and South Africa legend Jacques Kallis says a switch to the top of the order would not faze him.
“I don’t think he would have made himself available if he wasn’t up to it and I think he is mentally strong enough to come back and go from three to two,” Kallis told Sky Sports.
“At three you can be in second ball in any case so it might only be a slight mindset shift and sometimes a good break, which Trott has had, is all that one needs to come back strong.”
Moeen Ali, England’s opener in one-day cricket, will miss the West Indies tour with a side injury, meaning James Tredwell and Adil Rashid are the spin options captain Cook can call upon.
Strauss is pleased that Yorkshire twirler Rashid could be in line for a Test debut, five and a half years after the last of his five ODIs, having pocketed 46 wickets and 577 runs during the Tykes’ County Championship triumph in 2014.
“Rashid takes wickets and scores hundreds so he has pedigree with bat and ball, and it is not all about pace in the West Indies now,” added Strauss of Rashid, who has collected 18 first-class five-fors as well as nine centuries.
“England have never had any doubts about his talent but he didn’t seem ready mentally a few years ago, so after being part of a very successful Yorkshire team and becoming a senior payer there, if he isn’t ready now he never will be.”
Former England seamer Bob Willis added: “Rashid is a much more mature cricketer now and I like him because leg spin is a very exciting type of bowling to have and lot of tail-enders around won’t pick his googly.
“He is also a capable batsman, who could definitely bat at seven or eight in a Test match.”
Watch England’s series with West Indies, starting with the first Test in Antigua from Monday, April 13, live on Sky Sports 2.
