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Recent structural changes at the ECB has meant for an overhaul in the selection process.
England coach Chris Silverwood will be given ‘greater accountability’ in a new, streamlined approach announced last week.
With the selection debate now becoming one of added responsibility to one individual, it refines a process that has often been beset with politics and internal misgivings. But the new changes implemented means Silverwood is the one central figurehead and has assembled a small group of coaching staff to be his trusted eyes and ears within the international set-up and in the day-to-day rigmaroles of the county circuit.
Silverwood’s confidants include former England players Paul Collingwood, Graham Thorpe, Jon Lewis and Marcus Trescothick. It is understood all of whom will be in conjunction with Silverwood in sieving through the selection process.
The ECB say the streamlined approach provides more transparency and enables a coach to select the players he wants when constructing a squad, akin to what typically happens in any other team sport. The wholesale changes underline a seismic shift in strategy, having long relied on a board of selectors to pick a party of players.
Prost International can also reveal Trescothick, England’s newly-appointed batting coach, was at the Ageas Bowl for Day 2 of Hampshire’s game with Gloucestershire. At the start of the day, Vince was penned to be the next man at the crease. Trescothick watched on from the back rows of the Shane Warne stand as the host’s captain made an effortless, gear-shifting 52.
Invariably, there remains questions marks over Vince’s consistency at producing the big scores his natural talent deserves, but the distilled selection process does offer the crevices for Vince to crack open. It is more likely a group of selectors would be opposed to having Vince back. Silverwood, who may heed the advice of Trescothick if feedback from his trip to the south are positive, may have the alternate view. Less politics and more transparency increases the chances for Vince to make a return to international Test match cricket.
It might be a case of ‘here we go’ with Vince and England. Where the rose-tinted spectacles are on when Vince is splaying a cover drive to the boundary but then quickly removed when he gets caught at second slip wafting at some full one, pretty half-heartedly. Some selectors or even Silverwood might prefer a change of direction and give a young up-starter an opportunity as opposed to a man who seems to be perennially looking in from the outside.
But there is a famous maxim in cricket that it is better to give a player, particularly a batsman, one too many chances than one too few. England, judging by Trescothick’s appearance, seem to be heeding that advice.
Those close to Vince say he is ‘open-minded’ about his England chances and is viewed to be ‘relaxed’ about the situation. The World Cup winner knows he will be judged differently to a debutant and is likely not to be afforded a clean slate, as many would expect coming into an England side.
Unlike some seasons where he and other perpetual England hand-raiser Sam Northeast have put themselves under a heavy burden to score as many runs as possible by May, both have made a concerted effort to approach this campaign in far more laid-back fashion. Vince and Northeast recognise that if they do their job for Hampshire, an England call-up won’t be too far away.
Vince has been a peculiar cricketer over the years. No one doubts his innate skillset to be of international calibre, but there are severe caveats and reservations. Seemingly a steadfast source of frustration, Vince remains on the periphery of all formats, without ever quite hammering home a permanent residence. When you think of Vince with England, you usually think of an aesthetically pleasing thirty being offset by a loose drive that ends up in the slips.
Like David Gower, his loose and languid technique when attacking does invite criticism and envelops the notion that he throws his wicket away too much. But for any purist – and this is where the true dilemma comes in – Vince’s cover drive is one of the most visually agreeable sights in modern day cricket.
Still only 30-years-old, Vince is rightly not being written off by Silverwood or his trusted aides. Batting at number 5 now for Hampshire, the new role looks to be presenting Vince with the perfect platform to display his natural talents. Averaging 73 after three games and integral to his side topping the County Championship Group 2 table, batting in the hub of the middle order is proving where Vince is most effective.
With five of Hampshire’s top six scoring hundreds, or in Vince’s case a gargantuan double-hundred, by mid-April, he has been able to arrive at the crease with the ball softer, bowlers fatigued, pitch flattening and the second new-ball approaching; all conditions that are supremely conducive to Vince’s penchant for open-blade cover drives and calculated aggression.
It is worth noting Vince is now sandwiched between Northeast and Liam Dawson in the order. Both, next to Vince, are the two most experienced players in the team and demonstrate a cohesive, well-versed understanding with the number 5 while at the crease.
The middle-order position encourages a more expansive, less harnessed role in the side. Unlike his Ashes series down under in the 2017/2018 series where Vince was troubleshooted to play as a number 3, he plays better when not being weighed down by the pressure to score significant runs and instead show his natural, visceral flair.
Perhaps that explains the change in attitude at the start of the season and possibly why playing on instinct resonates with him on such a profound level.
Leading the side as well as he ever has done during his six years as Hampshire’s captain, the shackles so long found in Vince’s free-flowing armour seem off.
Trescothick would witness a quintessential James Vince against Gloucestershire. His two hour stay at the crease saw the right-handed batsman regularly charge the seamers, hit the ball straight over the spinners and carve the field open with a deft flick of the wrists. In other words, it bore the typical hallmarks of a Vince innings – the same graceful stillness in batting technique, void of deliberate trigger movements that are rife in the modern game.
England are watching but Vince remains relaxed. Whether a shift in mindset and evidence of improved numbers can stop the doubts remains to be seen. But if and/or when, Vince gets that golden ticket again, he knows style has to crystallise into substance. County form has to be translated onto the international scene.
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