There was always gonna be a massive Anderson/Broad shaped hole in the England team, and I think that’s what we’re seeing.
Tongue and Carse are decent first changes, but neither looks ready to open the attack. Woakes in a miserable run of form, in what are meant to be his favoured conditions. Would be great to have a fit and firing Archer / Wood combo available, but that’s so unlikely to happen regularly.
And whilst I sympathise with Bashir being asked to bowl finger spin on the first day of a test match, I don’t think he’s (yet) up to the required standard. Not sure there’s a ready-baked alternative though - either for this series, or for the Ashes…
