LONDON: Decision to go with three pacers, two spin bowling all rounders and a specialist batter in place of a pace bowling all rounder seemed to have worked against India in the fifth and final Test here at the Oval. The Indian pacers looked exhausted as they bowled throughout the day on Sunday. India bowling coach Morne Morkel admitted they will reflect on the issue after the tour.
"To be honest with you, that (having four pacers) was part of the conversation before every selection so far and we just felt leading into the Test match, if you look at the wicket and sort of the overhead conditions for the first three days, they felt that going with the extra batter was going to be important. I think with the last two Test matches, our fourth seamer didn't really bowl that much because Washi and Jadeja also could hold up a hand and bowl some overs and yeah, they just thought, okay, having a bit of extra runs on the board, that was more important. Yeah, 100%, I think that's something we'll obviously reflect on after the tour, the things we could have done better," Morkel told journalists in the press conference after the day's play on Sunday.
Speaking on Akash Deep, who was not that effective, he said, "Akash Deep, you know, obviously today wasn't sort of his day with the ball, it's been a long series for him as well. He's been in and out of the team, but yeah, I think when you've got three seamers and you have to rotate them, you know, for the majority of the time of the day it can take its toll and, you know, Akash is a guy that always, he runs in and he gives 100% and unfortunately today he didn't quite get it right with the ball, but yeah, hopefully tomorrow morning he can reproduce a little magic spell there."
Once the play was called, the sun returned making conditions perfect for the play. That has been the case at the venue in the last four days. Morkel, however, said the ground was pretty wet that's why the play was called off. "I mean obviously as we can see it's pretty wet out there now, it's going to take them a while to get the covers off. I think the ground staff has been incredible this whole sort of Test match with, you know, breaks and getting the surfaces ready to play, so in a way that's out of our control, again tomorrow we can just focus on doing a good warm up, you know, and get the boys ready to hopefully get the ball in the right area and, yeah, create a little bit of excitement again."
Morkel also spoke on the last half-an-hour of play when India seamers steamed in to grab three quick wickets and push England on the back foot again. "I think the series so far, there have been moments like that where it's sort of up and down and we finally managed to break the partnership which was great and was important for us. Is almost like it's always, you feel for the new batter, it's quite tough to start, no matter if it's looking quite flat out there and we managed to get a bit of something on the ball, which is great for the series so far and unfortunately, yeah, the rain came in and we had to come back tomorrow."
The bowling coach said the bowlers have decided that they will not give up and fight till the end. "I think it's just, you know, you can't really afford to throw in a towel on a very important Test match and for us it was key to, like I said, to break that partnership, get a new batter in. We've seen it so many times before where if you get one, you can easily get one or two and just create a bit of pressure around that, so I think it wasn't, you know, no hard words or no sort of big talk, it's just for us to stay calm and really work hard to break that partnership and from there, just to get the ball in the right area."
He was all praise for Siraj and said, "I'm very happy for Siraj that he's getting the recognition. He's a guy that in the changing room will always, you know, he'll lead the way and I think he's a natural leader, although, you know, vocally he doesn't speak a lot. I think he leads a lot of actions and the series so far, he's done it with the ball at times that, you know, we've needed somebody to put his hand up and create something, even if it was, you know, bowling an extra two overs, three overs or creating, you know, (4:13) opportunity for us. He's been that guy, so, you know, he's put in the effort and it's just nice to see the rewards and, you know, today again at the back end, stepping up, getting the support behind the team to lift us in the crucial moments, it's those sort of smart plays that you need and, you know, for me Siraj has just been outstanding."
