Athers has sympathy for the axed Lyth
Thursday 17 September 2015 12:25, UK
Michael Atherton reckons Alex Hales' aggression earned him the nod over fellow opener Adam Lyth for England's Test series against Pakistan.
Hales was included in a 16-man squad for the impending tour of the UAE after plundering three hundreds and averaging in excess of 50 for Nottinghamshire in this term's County Championship
The right-hander has displaced Yorkshire's Lyth, who scored just 115 runs at 12.77 while partnering Alastair Cook across the five Ashes Tests this summer.
"England may yet go with Moeen Ali at the top of the order," Atherton told Sky Sports. "But what I think what may have swayed the selectors is not only Hales' first-class form but the fact [England coach] Trevor Bayliss likes aggressive players who will ask questions of the bowlers.
"I have some sympathy for Lyth; he can't complain because he didn't do enough in the summer but having played against a top-class attack on some difficult pitches I might have kept him in the team.
"It's very difficult to say the selectors are bang on or have got it wrong, though, as there are four of five openers there who are all much of a muchness."
"I think it's important that, as a foil to Cook, you have someone who will go down the track to the spinners and has the technique to fend off seam bowlers."
Hales made a top score of 22 in England's recent 3-2 ODI series defeat to Australia but Atherton's fellow Sky Sports pundit Bob Willis has no qualms about the opener's Test-match selection and expects him to partner Cook in the Emirates.
"I think he deserves his chance," said Willis. "People will say he had a quiet one-day series but he is in the one-day game to get his side off to a rollicking start, which won't exactly be the case in the UAE.
"I think it's important that, as a foil to Cook, you have someone who will go down the track to the spinners and has the technique to fend off seam bowlers.
"But what's also in the selectors' mind is Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander in South Africa from Boxing Day and whether Moeen has the technique to stand up to them, so I think Hales and Cook will start in the UAE."
Hales' Nottinghamshire team-mate, James Taylor, has also earned a call-up, the 25-year-old in line for his first Test appearance since 2012 after being preferred to Gary Ballance as the spare batsman.
"He played the pace well in the one-day series and knocked the spinners around nicely, something that will be key against Pakistan."
Taylor posted a maiden one-day hundred in the third ODI against Australia at Old Trafford and Atherton thinks his displays in the shorter form and ability against spin sealed his berth for the UAE.
"Ballance hasn't gone back to Yorkshire, blown people away and said 'pick me', while Taylor played the pace well in the one-day series and knocked the spinners around nicely, something that will be key against Pakistan," said Atherton.
Nick Knight added: "I think Taylor's selection is due to the conditions in the UAE and it's down to him to take his chance - something he tends to do in whatever form of cricket he plays - because I think Ballance still has a big future."
Watch England's series against Pakistan live on Sky Sports, starting with the opening Test, in Abu Dhabi, from Tuesday, October 13.
