No 3 has been a problem position for England in The Ashes with Ollie Pope struggling for form and his replacement Jacob Bethell was dismissed for just one on a 20-wicket opening day of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
So, should Bethell have been deployed at first drop?
The 22-year-old did impress in that spot last winter in New Zealand, hitting three half-centuries in his maiden Test series, but has been so short of red-ball cricket of late.
He made only one County Championship appearance for Warwickshire last season before returning to the Test team for the final fixture of the home summer against India after captain Ben Stokes picked up a shoulder injury.
Bethell, who is still to score a first-class hundred, has been playing for England Lions in Australia, yet it is hard to argue that prepared him for walking out at 7-1 at the MCG, in front of a record cricket crowd at the stadium of 94,199.
As Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton put it on his post-play podcast with fellow pundit Nasser Hussain: “Good luck coping with that.”
Athers added: “He is obviously a very good player…but I just think he was on a hiding to nothing.
“This is a kid who has hardly played any first-class cricket for the last 12 months and is now thrust out at No 3 on a very helpful pitch [for bowlers] in front of nearly 95,000.
Bethell is yet to score a first-class hundred and averages under 30 in red-ball cricket
“Should he have been at No 3 in this game? Well, he handled himself pretty well there in New Zealand but equally you could have made the argument, ‘go on Joe Root, you go up there’.
“That argument has been made in the past and it doesn’t seem to me that England want to contemplate that after how well he has done at No 4, but I felt for the young man, Bethell. I didn’t feel it was an easy task at all.”
Atherton had been critical of England not recalling Bethell from an IPL stint with Royal Challengers Bengaluru earlier this year and playing him in May’s Test against Zimbabwe.
Pope hit a hundred in that match to keep hold of the No 3 place with Bethell spending much of the summer carrying drinks for the Test side, around playing white-ball games.
Atherton added: “It’s not hindsight to say we have been critical of the management of Bethell. It is ridiculous the way he has been mothballed and hardly played.”
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Nasser and Athers praise Harry Brook’s approach at the MCG – after a nervy start when he charged Mitchell Starc first ball
‘I can’t quibble with Brook’s approach – other than the first ball’
After Bethell, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett all fell for single figures in Melbourne and left England reeling on 8-3 in reply to Australia’s 152 all out, Harry Brook counterattacked.
The Yorkshireman elicited gasps from the crowd after charging Mitchell Starc’s first ball to begin a dazzling if brief innings of 41 from 34 balls – the highest by any batter on the day – and nailed two sixes and as many fours before he was pinned lbw by Scott Boland.
Brook, who bossed a fifth-wicket stand of 50 from 53 balls with captain Ben Stokes from 16-4, forced Australia to spread the field with his daring game-plan praised by Atherton.
On Brook, the Sky Sports pundit added: “I don’t quibble with the approach.
Brook’s 41 off 34 balls was the highest score on the day in Melbourne
“I quibble maybe with the shot first ball but if you asked Australia at 8-3 what they would not like to see, I think it would be Brook trying to counterpunch.
“He played a couple of extraordinary shots and while you didn’t feel it was going to last forever, he got the top score on the day and the game is about scoring runs.
“I don’t think you can be too critical him. Counterpunching was the way of trying to change the way that game was going. The approach was fine.
“There was an unbelievable field for Mitchell Starc at one point – three or four slips and a gully and then a fly slip, deep point and long-off. That was the impact of Brook hitting a six over cover.”
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