England, in the first Test, learnt a lot about themselves and there were a lot of realizations - both from a team’s perspective and an individualistic standpoint. Joe Root’s men, for starters, learnt that they are now a team strong enough, at least at home, to not be bothered by the outcome of the toss - yesterday’s win was their third straight Test win after having lost the toss and each of their last four Test wins at home has come in matches they’ve lost the toss. On top of that, they learnt that at some point or the other, the batting prowess of their bowlers will come to their aid regardless of the form the bowlers find themselves in - Woakes’ 84* was a prime example but so was Broad’s 29* in the first innings and his 62 against the Windies. They also learnt that Ben Stokes has some way to go before becoming a run-machine like a Smith or a Kohli. But their biggest takeaway from the Old Trafford, unarguably, was that a five-bowler ploy does little good to the team, irrespective of Stokes’ bowling fitness. 

England’s fragility up top and the failure of their batsmen to convert starts, however, has meant that they’ve been instead forced to play catch-up. The absence of the cushion of having an extra batter up top, in turn, has ended up putting them in precarious positions. Their top-order faltered in each of the two Tests in which they employed the system - 122/4 versus the Windies and 62/4 against Pakistan - and while they did scamper to somewhat decent scores - well, not so much against Pakistan - such a handicap could easily spell the death knell against a top side or on any given day for that matter. Given their specialist batsmen are either inexperienced and/or not heavy run-getters, England are, basically, inviting trouble by asking more out of their batting line-up which is far from being prolific or cohesive. 

They are also, by employing this system, asking their talismanic players Root and Stokes to do roles they’re uncomfortable with and thereby, in turn, softening the duo’s impact. By moving up a spot in the batting order, both Root and Stokes have found themselves batting in positions they’re least comfortable with. Root, who in the new system bats No.3, averages 38.66 in the position - by far his worst position; he averages over 40 everywhere else from 1 to 6 - while Stokes, at No.4, averages (24.50) less than half of what he averages at No.5 (49.80). The only benefitter is Buttler, who has found himself batting in his favourite No.6 position where he averages 43.50 and scored his only ton, but having the impact of Stokes and Root diluted, one would imagine, will have a far bigger say on England’s results than having the impact of Buttler getting almost doubled. 

But, more than anything, one look at their bowling should be enough for England to realize that the system is not working. This five-bowler system, really, was an excuse for them to field each of their premier four pacers and keep all of them happy but while it was being hyped as the most devastating quartet in the history of English cricket - at least at home - the actual end result hasn’t been what everyone desired. 

‘Under-bowling’ was, in fact, a striking facet of the system as, in both Tests, despite having five bowlers on paper, England really ended up using just four. Versus the Windies in the third Test, Dom Bess got through the entire match without bowling a single ball while against Pakistan, Anderson, Broad and Bess were the only 3 bowlers who ended up bowling over 30 overs in the entire game. All the bowlers ended up ‘needing’ to contribute with the bat - this would have been so much simpler had England, instead, stacked the batsmen, which they should have. 

Perhaps extremely flat decks - like say in India, Australia or a UAE, where conditions are easy for batting - might demand the need of having an extra bowler but by fielding five specialist bowlers in the name of keeping their pacers happy, all England are doing is shooting themselves in the foot and making it harder for themselves. There were, certainly, a lot of red flags - none more so than an injured Stokes being used as an enforcer despite the team boasting four other specialist seamers - and while this experimental system came to their aid as a temporary fix, the sooner England move away from it, the better it would be for them. Old Trafford was indeed a sign from the gods for England to do away with the five-bowler ploy.