Bethell looks to cement place as England No. 3, Archer named in T20 WC squad

Jacob Bethell was not supposed to be England’s headline act in the fourth test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground but he looked like a player who belonged when the tourists made their nervous chase for victory against Australia.

Replacing the dropped Ollie Pope at number three, 22-year-old Bethell had appeared on a hiding to nothing in Melbourne on a difficult pitch in front of a record crowd of 94,000.

His debut Ashes innings on Boxing Day, the biggest occasion in Australia’s cricket calendar, was no fairytale, producing one run from five balls and a caught-behind dismissal off Australia’s fifth-choice seamer Michael Neser.

His second innings, however, gave a glimpse of why England have such high hopes for the left-hander.

Bethell delivered a composed 40 off 46 balls to help prevent an Ashes whitewash and claim England’s first Test win in Australia in 15 years.

“I was pretty nervous,” he said. “Not so much with the number of people, just the occasion. I’ve played in India where it feels like there’s 160,000 watching.”

Bethell was speaking of his stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL) where he played two games for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

While the IPL helped him get used to big crowds, it also meant missing out on more first class cricket, including a one-off test against Zimbabwe in May.

Having shown great promise with three fifties during his debut test tour of New Zealand a year ago, Bethell was not selected for England until the fifth test of the home series against India and managed only single-figure scores. He hardly needed to tap into his limited experience at test level on day two in Melbourne, though, with England facing a white ball-style chase of 175 runs.

On his second ball he lofted Jhye Richardson high over the slips cordon for a streaky four to get off the mark and had his second four off Scott Boland a few balls later when he stepped forward to drive him to the long-on fence.

Bethell looked in full control of the situation but his hopes of a maiden Ashes fifty were crushed by a sharp catch in the covers by Usman Khawaja and he marched off hugely disappointed.

Tailender Brydon Carse took the number three spot for the second innings in Melbourne but Bethell, who came out at four, would like it back for the fifth and final test in Sydney starting on January 4.

“I like number three. You come in when the ball is new and in some scenarios the ball’s going all over the shop,” he said.

“But in other scenarios it presents opportunities to score when bowlers are trying to take wickets and the field is attacking, there’s loads of gaps.

“It’s a double-edged sword, but I’m enjoying it.”

Meanwhile, fast bowler Jofra Archer was included in England’s provisional T20 World Cup squad announced Tuesday, despite suffering a left side strain that ruled him out of the final two Ashes Tests, but there was no place for wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.

Archer’s fellow quick Josh Tongue has been called up to the T20 squad for the first time in a 15-man party to be captained by Harry Brook for the tournament in India and Sri Lanka beginning on February 7.

Archer will sit out the warm-up tour to Sri Lanka next month to continue his rehabilitation following the injury he sustained during the third Ashes Test in Adelaide earlier this month.

Brydon Carse will replace Archer in Sri Lanka for three one-day internationals and three Twenty20 internationals beginning on January 22.

There was no place, however, in the T20 World Cup squad for Smith who has endured a torrid Ashes tour of Australia, for all that is an unusual starting point in deciding selection for a white-ball tournament in the sub-continent.

The Surrey wicketkeeper-batsman smashed 60 from 26 balls in his last T20 appearance against the West Indies in June, but was rested due to his heavy all-format workload from the subsequent series against South Africa and Ireland.

But following four Tests in Australia where he has averaged a lowly 19.85 with the bat and endured several struggles behind the stumps, he has been left out entirely, with the experienced Jos Buttler and Phil Salt providing England with keeping options for 2024 T20 World Cup semi-finalists England.

Agencies