Australia licking lips over top order woes

It has been tough going, but the likes of Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Moeen Ali and Dean Elgar have still strutted their stuff, with decent contributions from others such as Alastair Cook, Hashim Amla and Temba Bavuma.

Faf du Plessis has been a horrible and surprising disappointment with the bat for South Africa, but those on the fringes have struggled because it is uncertain whether they are of the requisite class to cope. Actually, South Africa’s opener Heino Kuhn is definitely not up to it, but here was glaring evidence yet again that Nos 2, 3 and 5 in the England order are not exactly in the convincing category either.

Tom Westley at No 3 is the least of the worries at the moment, but in saying that about a batsman who has made just one fifty in Test cricket it explains the problems the England selectors face. And he did cause some jitters again here by succumbing to nothing other than a simple technical flaw. He was out for the second time in four innings attempting to drive through mid-on a ball that was pitched outside off stump.

It looks delightfully elegant when it comes off but, when the ball moves a little, as it did from Morné Morkel here, it is likely to end up in the hands of one of the waiting close fielders. There is no hiding place in top-level cricket.

The analysis is surgically thorough and that is why South Africa did not bother posting a point fielder for Westley here. They know that, with the face of his bat closed, he will only hit it there off the front foot off a thick edge (and he got off the mark from Morkel with such a shot). He can hit the ball there off the back foot and he did so off Morkel again, but it is not an area that he is going to frequent unless he makes changes. He looks as if he belongs, but he still has much to do.

Will Keaton Jennings have a chance to do anything more? He scored just 18 here, despite being dropped on nought yet again, making it 127 runs in the series at an average of 15.87.

Those of you who may have chanced upon my strong offerings about him on Saturday will know my feelings. He has technical worries that are holding him back. He came into the series in poor form and this is no arena in which to find one’s touch, especially when unproven previously.

Malan, batting at No 5, failed again

PAUL CURRIE/BPI/SHUTTERSTOCK

So he must return to the shires to sort himself out. It can be very palliative. Some very good players have returned the stronger after being dropped. There is no reason why Jennings cannot join their ranks.

But the conundrum is his immediate replacement. Watching the video of Haseeb Hameed playing a dreadful shot — the ball so wide it required a fishing rod to reach — to be dismissed for Lancashire yesterday at Southampton did not engender any optimism about his suitability. His previous circumspection now seems to come dressed as carelessness.

Do the selectors summon Surrey’s Mark Stoneman, who has had such a fine season, but does not, for some reason, find the same favour in the England set-up as he does outside? There would be no complaints from this correspondent if they did. I watched him bat with Kumar Sangakkara this season and he suffered little by comparison. He plays the short ball very well.

Or do they give Jennings one more go? Seven seems to have been the magic number in recent times. Jennings has played six Tests. Sam Robson, Adam Lyth and James Vince all played seven. Ben Duckett played only four, but he was surely the most bizarre selection among the 11 opening partners for Cook.

Michael Carberry played only six Tests, and I think he was the unluckiest of the 11. While others did, he never looked overawed against Australia in 2013-14, without making the big score that would have cemented his place.

But it is obviously too late for him — and his cancer troubles truly put all these batting troubles into perspective — so a call needs to be made. So too at No 5, where Dawid Malan again failed.

He opened his stance against the right-armers here but it did not obviously increase his effectiveness. He was dropped by Bavuma, who did exceptionally well even to reach the catch, when attempting to hook a ball that was way too wide of off stump from Kagiso Rabada, and then prodded a catch to short leg off Keshav Maharaj.

He has played only two Tests. He deserves more. But this all needs to be resolved quickly. Three question marks are too many.