5 reasons to be Positive for the Fifth test as an England Fan

Jonny Bairstow gives us hope

England were 32-4 trailing by well over 300 runs in that first innings which is one of the worst positions they had been in during the already dreary series. The fight that Bairstow and Stokes showed to fight back in a positive manner was truly inspiring to watch. That is some of the best red ball batting I have seen from Bairstow who has now played well over 50 tests being one of the cricketers that has just never hit the heights that we expected of him. That innings however, should give him and the team immense confidence moving forward as by fighting hard, digging in and playing his game he helped get that result for his side. This team can play and compete and I do believe with some better leadership, slight tweaks and some belief that this series could have been much closer.

England's bowlers fight on but don't quite move the needle

Mark Wood bowling gas into his third spell, Jimmy limiting scoring and Broad steaming in taking 5 were all super impressive in this game no matter how you look at it. Having said all of that however, England's leading Wicket taker is Ollie Robinson on 9 which is equal to Australia's fifth best of the series Cameron Green. Clearly the balance of the England attack is off as they miss a real wicket taker like Archer who would obviously have featured heavily if fit. Furthermore, Nathan Lyon is clearly an elite spinner in Aus but for England to not have a spinner to hold down and end or take wickets has been a real miss as even when you remove his whacking in Brisbane. These boys have fought on and credit to them but for this 5th test and moving forward abroad we need to adapt to conditions quicker and be more threatening.

Crawley Runs are good runs

Zak Crawley can play. We have seen it before against Pakistan where not only did we see that he can score runs but he can score them at a good pace. This innings was the most assured and attractive from an England opener since, as he hit great shots against this bowling attack that in these conditions is unquestionably the best in world. He can play and from someone who has played a lot of cricket and watched even more the way the ball comes off his bat is special. I am sure that when given time this lad will come good more than I have felt about any opener since Cook.

Change in Selection policy

Following on what we have learned from Crawley and being picked on clear talent instead of a mountain of first class runs. This is a policy that I am convinced needs to continue. If we look at the sample of Batsmen that were picked off large first class runs but without clear talent you get names like Robson, Westley, Sibley, Lawrence, Burns and Pope. With the last two clearly the Jury is still out for a little while longer but first class cricket is not the beast it once was where it would lift the best to the top. It is no Surprise that all those come from test grounds or Chelmsford offering some of the best first innings batting conditions in the country. I would much rather bet on potential of someone like a Harry Brook if you see the key abilities to leave the ball and score and try to cultivate a test cricketer.

These boys are not invincible

Usman bloody Khawaja, how well did he play. Ussie, as he is known down under, did so well to fight back against a little adversity in both innings to put those in baggy greens well ahead of the game. But if it wasn't for him Warner was kept very quiet, Labuschagne was without big score, Starc took only 3 wickets in the match and Cummins looked far less threatening in the second innings. You'd say that is 4 of their 5 big guns as Smith scored an impressive 67 in the first innings. It took Ussie and Boland to be the main men in both innings to keep England down. This shows that our batters and bowlers can put up a good fight against their stars which long term and hopefully in this 5th test should show some positive results.