By Joe Man
England’s worst 12 days of cricket and the Ashes are gone! It’s been a sad summer of cricket for England, with one of the most one-sided series in a long time. It must be said that Australia are a good side, with only India at their level. The Aussies have a wealth of riches when it comes to bowling options and are a great side at home. Only Australia’s openers have any doubt with Warner now 35 and Marcus Harris still finding his way. Otherwise, Labuschagne, Smith, Head, Green, and Carey could play for years. This could be the beginning of a dominant period for Australia with wins away and home to India now being their only real challenge. For England however, it is time for a total rebuild.
Firstly, Joe Root has to stay as captain. The only other option is Ben Stokes. With the workload Stokes gets through, captaining might be too much! Looking at the team and their body language, they strike me as a team that are not happy and communication is broken. I would look at sacking the coach straight away. The idea that Chris Silverwood is the only selector is crazy and clearly his plans don’t work. I don’t believe the players believe in them either. It is worth a mention that all of England’s build up was a mess and not totally their fault. Bad weather, Covid and the T20 World Cup prevented any worthwhile preparation. Whilst it is easy to criticise the players, it is important to remember that it’s a different game when you know you will be picked for every game. So many of the English batsmen go to the crease knowing it could be their last chance every innings. Zac Crawley is a great example. He clearly has a lot of ability and is still very young. He scores straight away, rather than just occupying the crease until you’re out for pretty much nothing. Yet having been out of the side you are brought in for your next go having played no cricket, averaging 11 in the last year and thrust into an Ashes shambles. It’s hardly great prep for your up and coming talent. Ollie Pope is the same. Great talent but in and out. Sadly if you’re a winning team it’s easy to let a young player find their way through mistakes.
Take Australia’s Cameron Green. In Green, they have found an incredible talent both with bat and ball. As the series has gone on his bowling has got better every game and at six foot seven,145kms bowling speed and still so young he is a frightening prospect. With the bat he has looked a bit all over the place, even with an enviable first class average. Australia have that luxury now where they can carry his batting until he inevitably comes good. It’s hard to really see how England can find a way of getting something out of the last two games. It has whitewash written all over it. They are still so reliant on Jimmy Anderson and his brilliance. However, this cannot be for much longer as time will catch up with Jimmy very soon. There seems to be a rift with the bowlers and several members of the team even, maybe the captain. Root’s criticism of the bowlers after Adelaide may be true, but hard to take coming from their point of view when they bowl a team out relatively well, only to be bowling again in half a day after another batting catastrophe. England simply have to attack.
It’s time to send out openers with the intention to score. Crawley will do that, and he must be given the last two tests. If they feel Hameed can’t score, then send in Bairstow to play a David Warner role and put the pressure back on the bowlers. Root needs to come in at three. At this stage, I honestly don’t see the point of Root at four. He is basically opening anyway the way things are going, so send in your best to protect the rest. Malan has done well and could benefit from being at four if Root can stem the tide. Stokes needs to find his mojo again, as he has looked a shadow of his normal self. Once again, he is often walking in at 5 with only 30 runs on the board. Its easy to forget that although the likes of Stokes, Butler and Bairstow/Pope haven’t done well. Consider this however, how would they fair if they were in the Aussie side walking in with 250-300 on the board? Anyone who witnessed the start of the English second innings at the MCG would know the Australians were literally unplayable. It was a frightening display of fast bowling that any batsmen would have struggled with.
It has to be attack, attack, attack now from England. They have nothing to lose and if you try to survive against this attack, god help you!
WHEEL2WHEEL REPORTS 