The sight of Ben Stokes facing spin in the Old Trafford nets with a half-sized bat while Jimmy Anderson threw himself around the outfield like a teenager was proof, as Wayne Rooney might say, that the big men were back.
England finally look set to pick their strongest team for the second Investec Test tomorrow and can only hope that it has not come too late to salvage their chances, having gone one down to a Pakistan team given a helping hand at Lord’s.
That first Test and the controversy over England’s selection that both preceded and followed it leaves Trevor Bayliss with his first big test as coach on an Old Trafford pitch that should suit Pakistan’s attack more than the home side.
At least Bayliss and captain Alastair Cook will be able to have the final say on the make-up of their side — with 14 players to choose from — rather than being denied key men who could have taken the field, as they were at Lord’s.
Stokes, missing since injuring his knee during the first Test against Sri Lanka, did not exactly rush yesterday to the defence of a selection panel now facing the axe at the end of the season but accepted how difficult their job is.
‘I wouldn’t have said no,’ said Stokes when asked if, as Bayliss wanted, he would have liked to be considered as a specialist batsman in the first Test while completing his recovery from surgery. ‘But I was told they wanted me to come back when I could do what I do best for England.
‘That’s what I want to do, too, so it wasn’t really an issue for me not being picked as a batsman. It gave me more time to focus on getting back to fitness rather than having to worry about playing in a game when I couldn’t bowl.
‘It must be really tough for selectors when you have players saying they are fit to play and other people saying they aren’t so I’m glad I don’t make those decisions. It was probably the best thing they could have done with me.’
Stokes was certainly ready to bowl when he played for Durham against Lancashire, getting through 33 overs in a match where Anderson proved that he was indeed as fit as he said he was after a shoulder injury by bowling 22 overs.
Now both will return, probably at the expense of Steven Finn and Jake Ball, having given England a lift with their sheer presence in a squad that faltered badly against the leg-spin of Yasir Shah at Lord’s.
England practised against leg-spin delivered by a bowling machine yesterday, with Lancashire’s Matt Parkinson again due to bowl in nets today and Hampshire’s equally promising Mason Crane joining in later in the series.
The question is, will it help England cope better against the man now ranked as the best bowler in the world on a pitch that can only be more condusive to turn after the hot sunshine of the last few days?
‘Yasir is the best leg-spinner since Shane Warne,’ said Stokes. ‘My mentality when batting is to try to be on the front foot and aggressive, but Old Trafford is known to spin and obviously that’s going to favour him.
‘It will be working out a gameplan where we can score but not give our wickets away.’
Spin was very much on England’s agenda yesterday as, on top of dealing with Yasir, they had a man who made his name with Pakistan on their side for the first time — spin coach Saqlain Mushtaq.
Saqlain, widely credited with inventing the doosra, is with England initially for this game and is working closely with Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid.
England must decide whether to make a third change to the team beaten at Lord’s and bring in their own leg-spinner in Rashid, either at the expense of Moeen or alongside him with James Vince or Gary Ballance omitted.
With Misbah-ul-Haq so comfortable against Moeen — apart from his dismissal in the second innings — the time might be right for Rashid’s home Test debut. – Daily Mail