England are rebuilding their bowling attack for two reasons.
First, the retirement of Ben Stokes has robbed them not only of inspiration, but of balance.
Secondly, Stokes has followed Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Chris Woakes and, most likely, Mark Wood out of the door. That is 1,871 Test wickets lost in less than three years.
The first stab at a post-Stokes team included four frontline seamers – Jofra Archer, Ollie Robinson, Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson – supported by the part-time off-breaks of Dan Lawrence.
In helpful conditions, it could not have gone better for England. Robinson and Tongue took eight wickets apiece, while Archer and Atkinson improved after a rusty first innings when they struggled to adapt following a month playing in The Hundred. Lawrence bowled only one over in the match.
Clearly, there will be times when England need a frontline spinner, but there is no consistently Test-class spinner in the country right now.
There is an argument to be made that England should continue to stack their attack with seamers because they are the best bowlers – Root said they “don’t know how good they could be”.
The likes of Sam Cook and Brydon Carse wait in the wings to step in or provide different skills if necessary, meaning England have a large squad of pacemen to choose from.
A trip to Bangladesh in February will mean England have to find some spin. For now, they should stay in the fast lane.
