Josh Hull makes his England debut while Joe Root is chasing more records.
England head into the ultimate Test of the summer against Sri Lanka trying to make it six wins from six and record their first perfect record since 2004.
Here, The Cricket Paper looks on the important areas of dialogue on the Kia Oval.
One Hull of of venture
England have made one other major selection gamble by drafting in 20-year-old Josh Hull, who boasts just 16 wickets at a mean of 62.75 in his temporary first-class profession. The 6ft 7in Leicestershire left-armer has taken only two wickets in three matches in Division Two of the County Championship this yr at a mean of 182.50, but brings physical attributes that mark him out from the group. England’s recent record with debutant bowlers is outstanding – with Will Jacks, Rehan Ahmed, Josh Tongue, Tom Hartley and Gus Atkinson all taking five-fors of their first Test appearance. Can Hull follow their lead?
Root branching out
Joe Root’s purple patch continued with record-breaking twin tons at Lord’s. Not only did he extend his lead on top of the ICC’s batting rankings, he also surpassed Sir Alastair Cook as England’s leading Test centurion by taking his profession tally to 34. The 33-year-old is now just 96 runs wanting overtaking Cook’s national-record total of 12,472 and replacing his fellow former England captain in fifth place within the all-time list. With 350 runs within the series thus far and 6 Test centuries against Sri Lanka at a formidable average of 67.55, Root will fancy his possibilities of continuing his dominance over the tourists and passing Cook’s mark.
Pope on the lookout for home comforts
Ollie Pope has enjoyed back-to-back wins since replacing the injured Ben Stokes as captain but things haven’t gone to plan with the bat. The number three has made just 30 runs in 4 innings and been guilty of some careless dismissals. Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has questioned Pope’s long-term suitability for the job but a number of the pressure would ease with an enormous rating. There’s nowhere he would fairly be than the Kia Oval, a ground where he boasts an impressive record with Surrey. With a mean of 53.66 in two Tests on his home track, and a top rating of 81, he could have high hopes.
Lawrence light on runs
Pope just isn’t the one batter struggling for a rating, along with his Surrey team-mate Dan Lawrence yet to grab the chance created by Zak Crawley’s broken finger at the highest of the order. Lawrence has been across the England squad for the last 4 years with no consistent run and was unlucky that this chance got here as an opener. A natural middle-order strokemaker, his return of 80 runs in 4 visits has created more questions than answers. With places to play for on the forthcoming tour of Pakistan, he needs to indicate more to remain ahead of the pack.
One last probability for the Sri Lanka batters
Sri Lanka arrived in England with a seasoned batting group and a handful of key men averaging north of 40 in Test cricket. But Dimuth Karunaratne, Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and captain Dhananjaya de Silva have all made heavy weather of English conditions. The quartet have all made half-centuries but relative newcomer Kamindu Mendis has outshone all of them. He has averaged 50.75 thus far, with 113 at Old Trafford and 74 at Lord’s. He was tipped to maneuver up the order after his solid showings but De Silva plans to maintain him at number seven.
