Josh Hull made his England debut and Joe Root is on the verge of another record.
England go into their final Test match of the summer against Sri Lanka looking to win all six matches and build on their perfect record for the first time since 2004.
In The Cricket Paper, we take a look at the key topics of discussion that took place at Kia Oval.
A hull of gambling
England have taken another major selection gamble by drafting 20-year-old Josh Hull. Hull has taken just 16 wickets at an average of 62.75 in his brief first-team career. The 6ft 7in Leicestershire left-armer has taken just two wickets at an average of 182.50 in three County Championship Division 2 games this year, but he has the physical attributes to stand out from the crowd. England’s recent record of debut bowlers is excellent. Will Jacks, Rehan Ahmed, Josh Tong, Tom Hartley and Gus Atkinson have all taken five in their first Test appearances. Can Hull follow their lead?
Roots spread out
Joe Root’s purple patch continued with a record-breaking twin ton at Lord’s. Not only did he extend his lead in the ICC’s batting rankings, he also took his career runs to 34, surpassing Sir Alastair Cook, England’s highest Test centurion. The 33-year-old is now 96 runs short of surpassing Cook’s national record of 12,472 runs and replacing the former England captain as fifth all-time. Having scored 3 fifties in the series so far and hit six Test centuries at an impressive average of 67.55 against Sri Lanka, Root will continue his dominance against the tourists and bet on a chance of surpassing Cook’s record.
Pope finds comfort at home
Ollie Pope has won back-to-back victories since replacing the injured Ben Stokes as captain, but the batting has not gone as planned. The No. 3 batsman has managed just 30 runs in four innings, and has been caught carelessly out. Former England captain Michael Vaughan has questioned Pope’s suitability for the job long-term, but a big score will ease the pressure somewhat. There is no place he would rather be than Kia Oval, Surrey’s premier stadium. He has averaged 53.66 in two Tests at his home track, with a high score of 81, so there will be high expectations.
Lawrence is on fire for running
Pope is not the only batsman struggling to score runs, with Surrey teammate Dan Lawrence yet to seize the opportunity presented by Zak Crawley’s broken finger at the top of the order. Lawrence has not been a consistent player in the England squad for the past four years and was unlucky to have this opportunity as an opener. A gifted middle-order strokemaker, he has raised more questions than answers with 80 runs in four visits. With a place in the upcoming tour of Pakistan, he will need to show more to stay ahead of the pack.
Last chance for Sri Lankan batsmen
Sri Lanka arrived in England with a skilled batting group and several key players who have averaged over 40 in Test cricket. However, Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and captain Dhananjaya de Silva have all struggled in English conditions. The quartet have all scored fifties but relative newcomer Kamindu Mendis has outpaced them all. He has averaged 50.75 so far with scores of 113 at Old Trafford and 74 at Lord’s. He was expected to move up the order after his solid performance but De Silva plans to keep him at No. 7.
