The Ashes: Jacob Bethell or Ollie Pope – should England make a change at No 3 for third Test in Adelaide? | Cricket News

England’s second eight-wicket hammering to Australia in as many Tests, leaving them trailing 2-0 in the Ashes, has prompted calls for change.

Not just a change in England’s approach, with Bazball far from catching fire on its first visit Down Under, but a change in their preparation and, perhaps most crucially, changes to the team.

But what changes? The options are limited for England.

Josh Tongue could come in to freshen up the bowling attack, while the character shown by Will Jacks in defeat in Brisbane has likely denied Shoaib Bashir his Ashes debut in Adelaide, with Jacks instead retained as England’s spin option.

There is no specialist opener in reserve in the squad and Zak Crawley, at least, played himself back into some sort of form with a 76 and 44 at The Gabba.

The lack of a reserve wicketkeeper also likely earns Jamie Smith a reprieve, with the equally-out-of-nick Ollie Pope the alternative with the gloves, and he is facing his own battle to stay in the side.

That’s the most obvious change England could make: does Jacob Bethell, who scored 71 in his most recent outing for the England Lions, come in for Pope at No 3?

Why would England consider making the change?

Because the Ashes are quite literally on the line – and the Adelaide Test represents potentially England’s last opportunity to freshen up the team with something still to play for.

Pope is far from the only England batter who deserves to have his place in the side scrutinised, as Harry Brook has thrown his wicket away on more than one occasion in the opening two Tests, Ben Duckett has a top score of 28 from his four innings, while Crawley isn’t long removed from a bagging a pair in Perth.

But it was the nature of Pope’s dismissals at The Gabba that were particularly galling. Chopping onto his stumps for a duck in the first innings when playing a loose shot outside off, he then failed to heed the warnings second time round, despite multiple flashed edges and false shots before he served up a soft caught and bowled to Michael Neser.

Pope has 63 Tests to his name now, so this can no longer be attributed to youthful exuberance or inexperience – he was England’s vice-captain under Ben Stokes before being bumped for Brook prior to this tour.

His record against Australia is also particularly poor, reading at seven Tests played with zero fifties, let alone a century, and an average of 18.71.

Bethell has long been the man battling to replace Pope in Stokes’ side, albeit it has been more a polite tap rather than a banging down of the door of late.

Blessed with oodles of talent, Bethell’s issue is his inexperience and lack of time out in the middle. The 22-year-old is yet to register a red-ball hundred in his career, though he did notch a maiden professional ton during the ODI series against South Africa in September.

Bethell also impressed immensely in his debut Test series in New Zealand last winter, scoring three half-centuries from the No 3 spot during a 2-1 victory, while Pope filled in as wicketkeeper lower down the order.

But England decided against calling Bethell back early from his IPL stint to start the summer, which saw him lose the No 3 spot back to Pope for the one-off Test match against Zimbabwe and subsequently the drawn five-match series against India – though he did play in the final Test at No 6 in place of an injured Stokes.

Bethell looked considerably rusty in that match at The Oval, registering only 11 runs across his two innings. It was one of just two total red-ball games the talented left-hander played in the summer, and though he’s since had four outings for the Lions in Australia, his selection for Adelaide would represent a sizeable risk.

The case for change and bringing in Bethell

Former England captain Michael Atherton, on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast:

“I wouldn’t be against Bethell coming in for Pope, for a few reasons.

“One, he’s just got some runs, 70-odd [for the Lions], he looked pretty good in [last year] in New Zealand, batting at three when he did play, and he bowls some left-arm spin.

“We’re going to Adelaide, which tends to favour a bit of spin, and if you’re going to play Jacks instead of Bashir, you’ve then got off-spin and left-arm to sort of balance the side.

“I’d have to sit and think on it a bit, but I wouldn’t be against it right now.

“But to go back to a point we’ve made ad nauseam, I’d be a whole lot more comfortable if he’d spent the summer playing cricket and got a bit more experience under his belt, as he should have done.”

The case against and sticking with Pope

Former England seamer Stuart Broad, on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast:

“Pope’s dismissal in the second innings [in Brisbane], chipping it back to Michael Neser, has put himself under pressure.

“Ultimately, he’s probably the only one that will get talked about, because there’s no spare opening batter to come in.

“You have got Bethell who could come in, but I wouldn’t make that call because Pope has a proven track record of scoring runs – albeit, not necessarily Jonathan Trott-style runs.

“Bethell scored 71 for the Lions, but it’s just his second 50 in a year since he got one at Hamilton in a Test match last December.

“There’s not neccessarily a weight of runs there, or a weight of talent knocking Pope out the team, so I don’t think I would make the change.

“If this was England’s best top seven two and a half weeks ago for the first Test in Perth, I don’t see what’s changed for it not to be the best top seven next week.

“I don’t necessarily think that bringing Bethell in at three strengthens things.”

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