This week was a huge one for England skipper Joe Root. He desperately needed some runs and he did deliver with a double century. I believe that this was one of the most important centuries of his career. His captaincy was questionable and his batting position too.
This double century has given the confidence to the England selectors that Joe Root is the right man to lead England until the Ashes in Australia after which they can make a decision on his captaincy.
He has a lot of questions to answer. How can he develop an England team without Jimmy Anderson and still be competitive to take 20 wickets to win an away Test series? I feel England desperately need Jimmy Anderson to be fit for the South African Test series as the development of young fast bowlers isn't to the level of Stuart Broad or Jimmy Anderson. Jofra Archer is an exciting young fast bowler but we will have to wait and see how good he is in South Africa.
Rory Burns has been confirmed as the Test opener for England at least until 2020. The key for any Test batsman is to score a century once in a series to continue to play for England.
Another young Surrey Batsmen Ollie Pope has done extremely well. He scored a vital 70 odd runs to answer questions about his batting. He has the patience and temperament to be a good Test batsman and the ability to keep wicket too. We both played grade cricket for the same club in Australia's Campbelltown. I was even more impressed with his batting. For England to be successful it is not just the tactical knowledge of Joe Root and his captaincy that is key, it's the players around him too. Do we produce good enough English players to play county cricket or are Surrey producing the young talent that is coming through?
If you have been following theAustralia v Paksitan matches, the Pakistan coach had all of us talking about the teenage sensation Naseem Shah. But it proved that there is no substitute for experience.
Pakistan where outplayed in both Test matches. You need experienced players in the team. Where have the experienced fast bowlers gone from Paksitani domestic set-up?
And why would you choose young players for such a hard tour like Australia? I was very pleased to see David Warner score a Triple Test century. The mental toughness he has shown since his awful Ashes series in England where Stuart Broad kept getting him out for fun is phenomenal. He must have felt the fans' and public's dismay since his ball tampering ban. By having a brilliant Test series against Pakistan David Warner is back, and I am sure he feels loved by his fans and his nation. Being loved by your fans is important for every cricketer.
Finally, we have the IPL auction taking place with over 900 players registered. Again the dominance of Australian players in the IPL auction list was obvious.
Having a healthy crop of Australian players playing globally is important for the standard of cricket. They seem to dominate most T20 leagues and it is good to see Australia back at their best. We need Australian cricket to be strong for global cricket to be strong.
