Ed Smith did not disappoint. Not for the first time the England and Wales Cricket Board promised “fresh ideas” and Smith duly delivered some that were genuinely fresh, coherently explained and rationally justified, unlike one or two other members/employees of the board in recent times.
He was also remarkably relaxed in his new role. He can articulate with the best of them; indeed he sounded rather like his recent Australian counterpart, John Inverarity, who first bounced Smith on his knee at Tonbridge almost 40 years ago. He was enthusiastic and accommodating.
“That’s a good question”, he said several times to his former colleagues; everything would be “terrific”. His was a polished debut in front of the press – he even managed to exit the room just as a question about The Hundred was being framed.
Smith has broken with convention – though he kept stressing that “we” or “the selection panel” were responsible for the diverting list of 12 names chosen for the Lord’s Test – by selecting someone who has not encountered a red ball this year. This is a risk. But it is not a ridiculous one. He has long admired Jos Buttler and there is no doubting the wicketkeeper batsman’s talent or temperament; he knows and likes the grand occasion. But there is the problem that he has recently been programmed to hit every ball he receives for six or four, which he has been doing regularly for the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League.
Buttler, while encouraged to play with freedom, will have to rediscover how to bat in a Test match – in a Test match at Lord’s. This is quite an undertaking but trusting in “a unique talent” and defying old truisms meets personal approval.
Indeed Smith’s selections have brought a smile especially to the West Country. Even though the word “Lancashire” appears after the name of Buttler in the list, most of his fans in England reside west of Bristol, where he was born. Now having mourned the cruel injury to Jack Leach in the nets at Taunton on Monday, those fans can also celebrate the rapid elevation of Dom Bess out west.
If this is not the case already, Bess might soon become the best off-spinner to come out of Blundell’s School in Tiverton and Somerset CCC for half a century or more. He has played only 16 first-class games, most of them on turning pitches at Taunton (or in Bridgetown, Barbados, where he took eight wickets for MCC in the match against Essex in March as well as hitting a century). Two or three years ago he was moving from Sidmouth CC in Devon to Exeter CC partly in search of more bowling opportunities. Now a Test match at Lord’s beckons – he is bound to play if the sun stays out.
Bess was quick to commiserate with Leach, who has been a source of much sound advice for him over the last two years. In fact he is almost the polar opposite of Leach as a cricketer. Leach is a methodical man, who has improved by dint of much hard graft as a batsman and fielder as well as a bowler. Bess, who made his debut for Somerset in a two-day game against Pakistan in 2016, is more of an instinctive sportsman and a natural athlete. If the force is with him, things happen.
He is a clean striker of the ball, who would bat above Stuart Broad in this team; he will certainly raise the standard of England in the outfield, where he buzzes and is capable of the odd breathtaking moment. So far he has never seemed overawed, though Lord’s will represent the highest hurdle yet.
In Somerset’s recent game against Hampshire at Taunton Bess struck a breezy 92 and propelled 41 overs, taking the solitary wicket of Rilee Rossouw in the first innings for 77 runs. He bowled with sound control, admittedly against batsmen set upon saving the game in the second innings when most of his deliveries were at James Vince, who may have produced the most mature innings of his career and certainly his longest (514 minutes). Bess has already shown he is not intimidated by bowling on a turning pitch (some spinners are); there is less evidence about how he fares on a flat one. However he is always up for the challenge and his debut will be an exciting moment, not just for those in Devon and Somerset.
Indeed the announcement of this squad prompts a smile and a spring in the step; it represents the most cheerful thing to come out of the ECB this summer. A month ago Smith was unlikely to be the man to provide fans with eager anticipation. This season your correspondent has occasionally railed against The Hundred and the plans for domestic cricket to no great effect. Now on consecutive days Colin Graves, albeit unwittingly, seems to have been more effective in providing reasons to reconsider the ECB’s guardianship of the game. Meanwhile Smith, trusting his gut rather than the data (though he is “interested in data”), has, by making two bold selections, invigorated the summer of 2018. The first Test should be fun for young and old alike.