The major question facing England in the three Test series they will play before next summer’s Ashes is how to replace Ben Stokes in their XI.
Stokes’ absence has been hard for England to absorb on every occasion he’s sat out over his 13-year long international career. His first significant absence, during the 2017/18 Ashes series, which he sat out following his altercation outside a nightclub in Bristol at the end of the previous summer, torpedoed England’s attempt to claw back the urn.
It was Joe Root’s first Ashes series as England captain, and Moeen Ali was promoted to bat at No.6 so that England could field four specialist seamers in their side. That’s not unlike the solution Root has landed on again, with Dan Lawrence set to return to the XI to bat in the top six, and Shoaib Bashir likely to miss out. Moeen met the fate of many other English spinners in Australia, taking five wickets across five Tests with an eye-watering average of 115 for the series.
Speaking on Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast, Mark Butcher feared Lawrence would meet a similar fate as England’s premier spinner, albeit with vastly different conditions and lower stakes than the 2017/18 Ashes. “I think the Dan Lawrence thing as spin cover along with Joe Root is a bit of nonsense,” he said. “Again, I will reiterate that it’s not because I don’t think Dan Lawrence is a very good cricketer, I just don’t think he’s a Test match spin bowler.
“My first take is ‘good luck Joe’ really, because you’re in that position that many England captains have been in before, and Joe himself was [in] over much of his 65-Test match period in charge, whereby Ben Stokes was the allrounder then, and has until recently been now. When he’s not available, in England teams that rely on having four seamers plus a spinner for the balance of the team, it’s nigh on impossible.”
When Stokes returned to the side after that series, he wasn’t fit to bowl, and played as a specialist bat in New Zealand. With him back in an all-round role at the start of the 2018 summer against Pakistan, England reverted to their normal combination, with Stokes plus three quicks, and a specialist spinner in Dom Bess.
However, it wasn’t long until Stokes had to sit out again. He missed the second Test of the summer (injury) and the second Test of England's series against India (for his court case over the Bristol incident). On both occasions, England were aided by another player they’re now turning back to.
Sam Curran made his Test debut at Lord's in the second Test against Pakistan, as England looked to fudge their order by playing Chris Woakes and Curran in a bid to elongate their tail without compromising on bowling depth.
While Curran didn’t make much of an impact in that game, he did in England’s following Test against India at Edgbaston. Playing alongside Stokes, he took four wickets and hit a quick-fire 63 in England’s second innings to inspire an unlikely victory. At that point, it appeared England had found the solution both to the problem of what to do when Stokes was injured, and who would eventually replace him. Curran hasn’t played a Test for England for five years, but, upon Stokes’ retirement, he still looks to be his heir apparent.
“With the retirement of Ben Stokes, it’s quite clear that he provided us with a certain balance in the team,” said England national selector, Marcus North, yesterday. “Sam Curran is certainly a player of interest for us.”
When Stokes was unavailable for the next Test in England’s 2018 series against India, England repeated the same trick of having both Curran and Woakes in the side – Woakes scored his only Test century in that match, and England won by an innings and 159 runs. Having two seam-bowling allrounders at No.7 and No.8 enabled England to play a specialist spinner – Adil Rashid back then. Now, Curran's more significant role with the bat, which saw him play at No.3 in his last Championship match for Surrey, as well as having Gus Atkinson in the XI, means they can play the same combination.
Another player who featured in the Lord's Test against India in 2018 was Ollie Pope on debut, although as a replacement for Dawid Malan rather than for Stokes. While Pope’s way back into the XI will be trickier this time, given a settled middle order and with Jacob Bethell likely primed to come back in regardless of Jordan Cox’s success at No.3 against Pakistan, he also finds himself in the same position he did in the summer of 2018 – England’s spare bat.
Even so, in naming his squad for the first series of his second stint as captain, Root has opted to trust the instincts he had during his first years in the job.
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