Jordan Cox

Um, other players who, who have caught the eye over the, the course of the summer and who, um, will face n- not questions, but will, will be sort of part of discussion around England's next 11 when they go to South Africa.

Give us an outsider's view on what you have made of, first of all, Jordan Cox, batting at number three, and second, um, Dan Lawrence.

England, in the absence of a, a genuine all-rounder, have, have put a lot of store in Dan Lawrence being the sort of a, a spin bowling option who will bat in the top six.

What have you made of those two?

I think Jordan Cox, thoroughly impressive.

Uh, w- was he batting at first time at number three in the test format, made his test debut only this summer.

I think very impressive with the bat.

But you, you can't produce that innings at Sydney the way he did and, and not have a test match future and a long test match future.

Root got closer to Ted Dorker.

Jordan Cox convinced more people that he should be in the England team permanently.

And Pakistan were soundly thrashed three-nil as everybody was expecting.

Just it took people a little bit longer and some people had to go back to their hotels last night and beg to be let back into their beds.

Get off." And that ball was smashing the pad in front of off stump and taking out middle and leg three-quarters of the way up.

Um, and my word, you know, two down, not a run in the column.

You were thinking, "Are they? Could they be? Could they be on here?" And Joe Root came out and played calmly with Jordan Cox, who looks extremely mature.

And then there was the second moment, Mohammed Ali, who, who has been...

They were given an early scare in their run chase of 130.

Muhammad Abbas, the brilliant seamer, took two wickets in the opening over and England were two for two, but the wobble didn't last as Joe Root and Jordan Cox steered them through to a comfortable victory.

The England captain finishing unbeaten on 62 with, uh, Cox on 59 as England reached 130 for the loss of those, uh, two wickets.

Ben Duckett out to the first ball of the innings edging Abbas behind and, uh, Emilio Gay being trapped LBW with the final ball of the over for a single.

Um, and he took the new ball as well.

So, there's, there's...

Other question marks that England have got, Dan Lawrence is still a question mark, along with Emilio Gayle, along with Jordan Cox, along with Jacob Bethell.

And then further down the line, it's not so much a big headache in a minute how you get a spinner into this group.

I, I know what you're saying, the pitches have been really extreme, and you would have to take that into account all the time, but I, I think there have been quite a lot of lessons.

Even today, I, I thought Jordan Cox batted really, really well.

I thought he looked the better batter out there, which is pretty unusual when you're batting with Joe Root, and, uh, I think he's averaged 50 in the series, which bearing in mind how difficult it's been for top order players, is really tough.

I hope the lesson of that is not to move him up to open, but, you know, that I hope that his, uh, success doesn't count against him in a way.

Who cares? It's an individual award and a team game.

But it's much easier to go from three to six than six to three, I guess would be my conclusion.

By which I mean it's much easier to put Cox down to six than move Lawrence to three, and that's probably where...

As, as I say, I think Bethel comes back in.

Root as consistency is basically a metronome in an era where cricket has become incredibly chaotic, explosive, and, well, unpredictable.

The match also secured a three-nil series sweep for England, aided by Jordan Cox hitting an unbeaten 59.

You know, Root's success is a perfect example of how much we inherently value human consistency and predictability.

Absolutely.

I thought, that's it.

Okay, how am I going to talk about England being on the receiving end of the worst loss in the history of Test cricket? But luckily for England, Joe Root and Jordan Cox deal with the issue.

See them over the line.

50s from both of them.

An average of 8.8 is the second lowest ever for an opening bat for a three-match series, or more than a three-match series, in the history of England Test cricket.

And it's a worry, it is a real worry, and that you have to ask questions.

While that 100 at the end of the New Zealand... test felt like it was a real kind of change for Duckett and he was finally going to come into his own and get back to the Duckett that we had before and it just hasn't happened and now there will be question marks over whether he should keep his spot and I completely understand why especially with Dan Lawrence's And Jordan Cox both performing well with Jacob Bethel expected to come back into the side.

Then all of a sudden you're in this position.

Anyway, listen, without further ado, why don't we hear from Matt Prior on a, a, a high point i- in the England A today, and nominating the Rothesay Safe Hands Award winner? So Matt, who is your Rothesay Safe Hands Award winner?

Well, I think it has to go to one person today, and that is the wicket keeper, Jordan Cox.

I think he has been outstanding, uh, quite frankly.

Um, think there are a couple of things for me.

There's a significant part around how you get the fielding unit to create an intensity around the batsman all day, not just for 10 minutes or half an hour, but all day, up and down, shuttling, getting the fielders behind you, geeing up the, the bowlers, going and giving them a tap on the backside if they bowl a good over, whatever it may be.

We can't see that on the, the TV.

So, Jos, what, what do you think? Anyway, just to finish that, safe- the Rothesay Safe Hands Award for me goes to Jordan Cox today

todayWell, apart from the fact that's totally biased because that's the third wicketkeeper you've chosen-

And a player like Barbara Zam shouldn't be caught out like that.

Very good catch by Jordan Cox to take the wicket.

But him going for 76 was incredibly miserable.

So they go from 278 for four to 318 for eight.

And I do think that Joe Root missed the trick by not going to Dan Lawrence.

Like, Dan Lawrence took the wicket, got that break of partnership that they needed, got a Zanavase out.

Again, really good catch from Jordan Cox.

He's kept really well in this second innings, I have to admit.