England vs Pakistan 2016: Nasser Hussain surprised at Gary Ballance’s selection ahead of Jos Buttler
Hussain surprised at Ballance's selection ahead of Buttler
Former England cricketer turned commentator Nasser Hussain like many other followers and experts in the game feels surprised at the selection of Gary Ballance ahead of Jos Buttler for England’s first Test against Pakistan at Lord’s. Ballance replaces Nick Compton who was given break from international cricket after England’s 2-0 win against Sri Lanka in the Test series and was himself surprised after he got to knew that he had been named in the squad. Hussain, however feels that Buttler is too good a talent to leave out and said he would have gone differently with the team selection. Meanwhile, Toby Roland-Jones was also named as a replacement to paceman James Anderson for the first test. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: England vs Pakistan , 1st Test match, Pakistan in England, 2016
“It’s a bit of a surprise selection. Not many people were talking about Ballance this summer and Roland-Jones, to be honest, I haven’t seen a lot of in red-ball cricket, so it is difficult to judge, Hussain said as quoted by SkySports.com.
He added, “It’s in no way a dreadful selection, but I would have gone differently, I have said that all along. Buttler is too good a talent to have just carrying the drinks or out playing in county cricket. Buttler hasn’t played a lot of red-ball cricket since he was left out of the Test team, and the selectors obviously wanted to go for someone who has. Jos now needs to score a stack of runs for Lancashire, although it looks like he might be injured for a while. READ: Pakistan vs England 2016: Gary Ballance surprised at Test recall
While contemplating England’s team selection for the all important first Test against Pakistan which begins July 14, Hussain said, “The selectors are showing a bit of continuity by picking Ballance. He was the reserve batsman in the squad in South Africa, plus he scored a very timely hundred for Yorkshire against a decent Middlesex bowling attack last week. Andrew Strauss and Angus Fraser were there watching that, while Fraser also will have watched Roland-Jones week in, week out, for Middlesex and has obviously seen something in him.” READ: Graeme Swann: Match-fixers like Mohammad Aamer should have been banned for life
However Scott Borthwick who had been in excellent form for Durham earlier in the season could not find a place in the team and Hussain feels he was perhaps unlucky. “Scott Borthwick can feel a little unlucky to miss out – he has got stacks of runs over a two-year period for Durham and although over the last couple of weeks he hasn’t got as many runs as he would like, I wouldn’t look too short-term. He is obviously a very fine player. But he bats at three, and the selectors might have made up their mind that they want to move Joe Root up to three in the order and therefore that possibly rules him out.”
Although, Hussain, in conversation with Mike Atherton said that Ballance is a fine player but he will have to sort out his problems. He said, “Let’s remember, though, that Ballance has a very good first class record, a very good Test record. Plus, the middle order should suit his technique. But there is no hiding place in international cricket, and the last time we saw him he had a bit of a problem against left-armers, and against the very full and very short ball. He will need to have ironed out those issues, because one thing is for certain, Pakistan will go at him with the short stuff and the fuller delivery. Plus, they have very good left-armers in their attack, particularly Mohammad Aamer.”