England must strike right balance if they’re to challenge South Africa in second Test

At 1-0 down, with three to play, only measured batting and brave selection will do

England coach Chris Silverwood chats with Joe Root during nets (Getty)

If England were looking for an easy way out of one of the biggest selection decisions of any decade, they found it on the first day of 2020.

A sore right elbow meant Jofra Archer was unable to bowl during practice at Newlands on Wednesday, and it is unlikely he’ll do so tomorrow ahead of the second Test that starts on Friday. It means it is now unlikely James Anderson or Stuart Broad will miss out despite rumblings that one of England’s best opening partnership was to be broken up.

That particular fire was stoked by Kevin Pietersen, who saw in the New Year with a tweet suggesting the tourists “HAVE TO” drop one or the other. It certainly seems they will entertain a spinner in the shape of Somerset’s Dom Bess, with Ollie Pope suspected to come in to replace Jonny Bairstow having recovered from illness. For the first time on tour, the squad has a clean bill of health.

Both players looked labored in the 107-run defeat at Johannesburg, though illness was a mitigating factor. Broad, to be fair to him, picked up four for 58 in the first innings, though Anderson claimed just the two wickets across 33 overs in both. It is the latter who looked the most out of sorts relative to his usual output. Being 37, talk of decline or retirement is only one bad performance away.

As Anderson has revealed in the past, retirement on his terms will come on a day when he decides the drive is no more, and that’s certainly not evident from his work in training. The motivation to play is heightened by an Ashes and New Zealand series spent in rehab – barring one morning in Birmingham – and his previous success at Friday’s venue, albeit a decade ago when he took five for 63 – the only one of his 27 five-wicket hauls taken in South Africa. Broad, by contrast, has three wickets from 75 overs sent down here, with an average of 75.66.

There’s something quite gauche about entertaining the axing of Anderson or Broad – or both – as we tick over from a decade where they were the leading wicket-takers, making 832 dismissals between them since 2010. It not only shows how reliant England have been on them but also how no one has come close to challenging them. Had Sam Curran not taken four for 58 with Broad in the first innings, or even been a left-arm option who can bat, their partnership would have moved more smoothly into the new year.

Chris Silverwood was coy on this matter immediately after the first Test, suggesting one might have to make way for the spinner but heaping praise on both, particularly their experience with 285 caps between them.

But while it was the bowling attack that failed to make good on a position of 111 for five on day one at Johannesburg after Joe Root won the toss, it was the batsmen who yet again fell in a heap to give up a 103-run lead that meant the 376 target was comfortably out of reach. From a point of 142 for three, they were bowled out for 181.

“We’re getting into positions like 140-3 and then conceding a hundred run deficit in the first innings and that’s where the game was lost,” said Jos Buttler, who contributed scores of 12 and 22. “It’s very easy to talk about it and everyone is very aware it’s somewhere where the team needs to improve but until we go and there and do it and show it those questions will still be asked.”

Last year, just five players averaged over 30, while only one – Ben Stokes – finished 2019 above 40. Three of those players are “newcomers”: Rory Burns, Joe Denly and Pope, though the latter’s average of 36.66 was achieved across just three innings.

Buttler averaged just 25, regressing after a bright start to his second act as a Test cricketer since returning to the side in May 2018. At the time, national selector Ed Smith raved about his natural gifts and ability to take the game away from opposition sides. But the player himself admits trying to be the player he is expected to be, alongside the expectations he has in himself, is a work in progress.

“It’s certainly something I’m trying to work out,” he said. “I think since I’ve come back into Test cricket I’ve tried to trust my defence for longer periods of time. I’ve been able to do that on occasions. But certainly trying to work that out I think you can do a lot of work in the nets but I’m spending a lot of time thinking about the game when I’m sat in my room or trying to visualise things or work through them in my head. For me moving forward I’ve got to play the situation as I’ve said but I will try to be a bit more positive.”

There was a flash of the destructive Buttler, with two crashing sixes in the last innings chase, the second of which came when he was the last hope before being dismissed trying for a third.

He, much like England, will be focussing on striking the right balance in such a short space of time. At 1-0 down, with three to play, only measured batting and brave selection will do.