England’s removal of the debris from their Australian car crash gathered apace with the selection of three uncapped players for the first Test since the ignominy of Sydney and a return for a survivor of an Ashes whitewash past.
A squad which mixes new faces in Sam Robson, Moeen Ali and Chris Jordan with an experienced spine is most eye-catching for the return of a bowler from England’s past who looked finished when released by Durham two years ago.
Liam Plunkett toured Australia when England lost 5-0 in 2006-07 without playing a Test but is now poised for his first appearance at the highest level for seven years after being revitalised by working with Jason Gillespie at Yorkshire.
Plunkett, 29, has been the most consistently quick bowler in the country this season and is the favourite in the 12 to play ahead of Chris Woakes after England decided that Ben Stokes was not quite ready to regain his place in the new order.
‘Before joining Yorkshire I was going nowhere and coming to Headingley gave me a new lease of life,’ said Plunkett, who had lost all confidence in his action by the time of his departure from Durham.
‘I have benefited from a change of scenery and a coaching team that put faith in my ability.’
That team is headed by an Australian in Gillespie, who deserves the gratitude of England for developing the most impressive crop of home-grown players in the country, with Yorkshire becoming a model county for others to emulate.
‘The coaching staff have given me a simple vision which is to run in and bowl fast,’ said Plunkett. ‘I’m not over-complicating things. I’m just concentrating on generating pace and being as aggressive as I can. When I joined Yorkshire I set myself the goal of playing for England again but this still came as a shock.’
England consider pace and aggression as their key weapons against Sri Lanka on what they hope will be quick pitches now they have to fill the massive gap left by Graeme Swann, the most important casualty of the winter of discontent.
It is an indictment on England’s spin resources that no specialist is considered good enough to take Swann’s place but at least that gives an opportunity to the gifted Moeen, who is the best bowler among the all-round candidates to play at Lord’s which included Samit Patel and Scott Borthwick.
Borthwick, of course, was the incumbent having played in that final horror show in Sydney but misses out along with others who featured at the SCG but are unlikely to play Test cricket again in Michael Carberry, Boyd Rankin, Jonny Bairstow and, of course, Kevin Pietersen.
In all only seven players remain from the winter Ashes squad but it is the experienced five among them in Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson who England want to provide the backbone for the new era while the youngsters around them learn the Test ropes.
‘There is expectation on those senior players not only to deliver but also to re-energise the team and integrate newcomers in the right, positive way,’ said national selector James Whitaker. ‘It’s very important that they are fit and firing.’
There will be those who are surprised by Prior’s return after just one championship match behind the stumps following a recurrence of his chronic Achilles condition but Cook wants this important team man back by his side and Whitaker said Prior is ‘just the sort of character we want in the team.’
Jos Buttler is clearly Prior’s long-term successor but it was only his brilliant century at Lord’s in the fourth one-day international that catapulted him into contention ahead of James Foster and the bottom line is his keeping is not yet good enough for Test level. Prior is the correct choice for England now.
The other two newcomers to England’s ranks will both once again raise the vexed question of nationality as Robson is undoubtedly Australian while Jordan is as Barbadian as Mount Gay rum.
Yet both have long since committed themselves to England, both comfortably fulfil the criterion for selection and both are brimming with promise and, in Jordan’s case, achievement already at international level.
