SOUTH AFRICA TOUR OF ENGLAND 2017

SOUTH AFRICA TOUR OF ENGLAND 2017,

All-rounders excel but England grapple with team balance

With just three Tests left before the Ashes series, England need to settle on the balance they want to take them forward. © Getty

When it came, England's victory was sealed in emphatic fashion at Old Trafford with South Africa's last seven wickets falling for just 39 runs. The 3-1 win over the second-ranked team in the world was England's first Test series victory since beating Sri Lanka last June and also their first win against the Proteas in England since 1998. But with just three matches before the Ashes series this winter, England remain a work in progress.

What went well?

It was a series where the positives outweighed the negatives for England. They won consecutive Test matches, at the Oval and in Manchester, for only the fourth time since the beginning of 2015. Given a worrying tendency to play well one game and then disastrously the next, two good performances in the final two games of the series was in itself progress.

The middle order powerhouse of all-rounders Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali had impressive series, scoring 881 runs between them and taking 32 wickets. In all three of England's victories, at least two of these players had game defining contributions. Moeen's improvement with the ball - he took 25 wickets in all - and Stokes' increasing maturity with the bat, evident in his fine century at the Oval, bode well for England's future prospects.

Joe Root's captaincy was largely impressive although he still needs to improve his use of the Decision Review System (DRS) and occasionally erred on the side of caution when filling his slips cordon. His form was seemingly unaffected by the leadership, too: he was the top run scorer for England in the series with 461 runs. Of the debutants, Toby Roland-Jones looked the part when he came in to the side and Tom Westley showed promising signs.

What didn't go so well?

Keaton Jennings had a miserable series, scoring just 127 runs and looking vulnerable in almost every innings. Gary Ballance played the first two Tests at number three before injury ruled him out but he again failed to convince in that position with a highest score of 34. It is unlikely either will be seen against the West Indies. Dawid Malan's lack of runs in his first two Tests is also a worry but he should be given further chances against the men from the Caribbean.

Despite their victory, England are seemingly still unsure of their best team and the balance they want to move forward with. Coach Trevor Bayliss thinks England have one too many batsmen when Moeen bats at number eight but when Liam Dawson was included for the first two matches, England had six bowlers. Root admitted before the final Test that he was still searching for the combination he wants. Two Test wins with five batsmen in the team may help his thinking.

Confusingly, at the start of the series, Moeen was labelled the team's number two spinner by Bayliss despite Dawson, the Hamsphire slow left-armer, being a batsman who bowls. When England brought in Malan at the Oval, Dawson was dropped and Moeen, the notional second spinner, was retained. It was a strange episode which smacked of inconsistency. Moeen has always been England's number one spinner and given his improvement, they simply don't need six bowlers.

The road ahead

Next up is a three-Test series against the West Indies beginning next week. How much that will tell England ahead of the Ashes is debatable, given the visitors are one of the weaker sides in the Test game. Their bowling attack, with Shannon Gabriel and Kemar Roach, may cause problems but the batting looks horribly weak. James Anderson and Stuart Broad are likely to be rested at some stage to keep them fresh for the winter.

England will likely have a new opener for the West Indies series with Surrey's Mark Stoneman and Lancashire's Haseeb Hameed leading the charge to replace Jennings. Chris Woakes has also recovered from a side strain he suffered during the Champions Trophy and will come in to contention for the first Test at Edgbaston. Given the depth in their squad, England will expect to win that series 3-0.

The future prospects

Whereas South Africa's best players are on the wane, England's are largely on an upward curve. Stokes, Root, Bairstow and Ali are delivering vital contributions while still improving. In Anderson, Broad and Alastair Cook, England have an experienced trio who are still doing their bit, too.

But Root and Bayliss will know there are still some significant gaps in the side, notably in the batting department. Those must be remedied sooner rather than later. England also need to settle on the balance they want to take them forward. Three bowlers, three all-rounders and five batsmen, as they played in the last two matches of this series, seems the best fit and could serve them well in Australia.

Overall then, England have moved their Test cricket forward during this series but there is plenty of work to be done ahead of the Ashes. That begins next week in Birmingham against the West Indies.