James Taylor said he believes he is in a much stronger position to
make the most of the opportunity if he is called into the England Test
side at Old Trafford this week than he was when making his debut
against South Africa last year.
The 23-year-old Nottinghamshire batsman, who is in the England squad
as cover for the injured Kevin Pietersen, completed an unbeaten 121 as
a guest player for Sussex in their match against the tourists.
It was not, Taylor admitted, the most fluent or accomplished of the 16
first-class hundreds he has scored in his career. He was very nearly
bowled by his first delivery and was dropped twice during his 253-ball
five-and-a-half-hour stay at the crease.
On the other hand his determination to keep going when "batting ugly",
as the professionals sometimes describe it, was a lesson in itself to
the Australia batsmen following their collapses at Trent Bridge and
Lord's.
"I'm definitely a better player mentally and technically than I was
when I played those two Tests against South Africa last year," said
Taylor.
"I felt comfortable at the crease [against South Africa] but I didn't
get the runs I wanted. I've been away and worked really hard. I've
piled on the runs like the selectors asked me to and now I feel in a
good place. This wasn't one of my best innings but it's about finding
a way when you're not feeling in the best touch, and I did that. It's
not how, it's how many.
"I was in a kind of no-win situation in this game but the purpose was
to spend time in the middle against the red ball after all the T20
cricket in recent weeks, and it was good to do that against a decent
attack.
"It was definitely a pressure situation – if I hadn't scored any runs
everybody would have commented on that – but luckily I did and got
what I needed out of the game."
The other England squad member playing in this match, the left-arm
spinner Monty Panesar, was optimistic about his chances of going back
up against Australia on Thursday.
"If the wicket's turning in Manchester we should definitely play two
spinners, and I'd love to play with 'Swanny' [Graeme Swann]; the spin
twins coming together and getting the win," he said with a smile.
"I have a good record at Old Trafford so hopefully the groundsman is
raking that wicket and producing a turning one."
Panesar did acknowledge his inclusion could be seen as a surprise
considering he has not enjoyed a hugely productive season in domestic
cricket. The 21 wickets he has taken in 10 County Championship matches
have come at an average of over 40.
"I kind of struggled early season," he said. "I was not getting the
[bowling] action I wanted to get, so I went away and did a bit of work
with [the England spin coach] Peter Such on a one-to-one basis to get
my action in the right order.
"If my action hadn't been great and my bowling wasn't great then maybe
the selectors wouldn't have taken the option [of picking him] but
they've obviously seen improvement in the last couple of games,
especially here against Australia. It was really important for me to
put them under pressure and show the selectors I was in a good place."
Panesar, who took three for 70 from 24.4 overs in the Australia first
innings and none for 40 from 14 in the second, said he felt he would
be a threat against the current Australian batting line-up.
"The Australia team is a very competitive team, they are always going
to come hard at us, but you always feel maybe against spin there is an
opportunity. You can't completely discard Australia – they are good
players, they're a competitive cricket team – but I do feel in this
game I was always in with a chance.
"As far as I am concerned everything is back in place now, so the
timing couldn't be better. If the opportunity does come on Thursday
I'm in a great place."
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