It is really hard to believe that England have been planning for the 2021 Ashes series for 2 years. Yes, that is what is everyone made to believe. The rest and rotation policy that was followed in Sri Lanka and against India, both at home and away, points in this direction. As was the selection and discarding of certain players who were thought to be the main players during the Ashes. Yet, none of them is having an effect. England have descended from bad to worse. One shudders to think what is left in the remaining 3 games. Let me analyse in the review of England after Adelaide.
How on earth can England drop Wood?
For starters, it was baffling to find Mark Wood, out of the playing eleven. In came Broad and Anderson whose combined wicket taking ability in Australia is open to question. Chris Silverwood, the England coach wanted to base an attack on tall fast bowlers. He had the perfect group in Archer, Stone and Wood. Unfortunately, Archer and Stone have been sidelined due to injuries but Wood is in Australia. He is fit and he is fast. What was the point in resting him? Wasn’t he supposed to be part of a group of fast bowlers who can all bowl at 145KMPH and above throughout the day? Wasn’t it the plan afterall?
However, for some strange reason, Root and Silverwood thought it fit to drop Wood on an Adelaide deck that was as placid as it can get. England’s group of seamers will never really have an effect on such a pitch. Yet, England went in with not one not two but five of them. Five kiss the turf bowlers who can all bowl at the same pace.
Yes England picked the wrong bowling unit in both the games. The Adelaide pitch called for pace and Wood was the only option they had and yet they chose to drop him. Yes Wood is injury prone and all that but being down by one game and faced with a must win game, wouldn’t it have been better to play your fastest bowler? What was the guarantee that by the time the Boxing Day test arrives, the series will be one apiece? Wouldn’t it make sense to go with the best bowling combination atleast until the Ashes is decided? If this is what 2 years plan can do, I would rather not have one.
and Root has just become a specialist spinner
Then they missed a spinner. So much so that Robinson ended up bowling off-spin. It was a ghastly sight to see a gangly medium pacer bowling off-spin. Root bowled as many as the main bowlers. Mind you he is the only batsman in the team and yet, it was thought that he will carry on with the spinner’s duties. Whoever on earth makes such decisions in the English management must be punished. If Root had injured himself while bowling, England would have lost their only player who can score.
It is not always correct to blame the bowlers alone when the batsmen is taking turns to run to the loo. Joe Root said so himself.
“We could have bowled a lot fuller on the first day as in the second innings as soon as we got the ball up there we created all sorts of problems and chances. “We needed to make Australia play more and we weren’t brave enough at times to get the ball up there and create those chances.
“With the bat, we need to be better, need to make bigger scores. Guys need to apply themselves better. Look at the second innings. That’s the desire, the attitude, the way we need to go.
What about the English batsmen?
England have only one batsman who averages more than 45 and Stokes returns in the last couple of years is good enough for him to be considered as a batsman though his current average does not justify that. Otherwise, the rest average less than 40. Couple of openers who average less than 30. It is impossible for any team to start their innings with such batsmen. That too in Australia. Remember, Hameed wasn’t even part of the plan until 5 months ago.
Hameed has been thrust into the limelight on the basis of a couple of decent innings against India in the summer. He has now been found wanting in the toughest series of his career so far. Rory Burns failed to do what he usually does. Play out time. His technique or rather the lack of it has been brutally exposed by Starc. It is difficult to either Hameed or Burns playing any more test.
Malan has equipped himself pretty well. Perhaps after the series is over, Malan will probably be the only find for England with the rest in shambles. Ollie Pope and Stokes seems to look like ghosts of themselves. Neither is having a clue as to what is happening in the middle. Perhaps, too much emphasis has been made on Stokes and he is beginning to feel the pressure. He has just come back from mental health problem and it takes time for such an individual to be himself.
Batting bowlers
England always have this habit of picking batsmen who can bowl. Woakes, Moeen Ali, Rashid, Overton, Robinson and quite a few others belong to this category. The ECB and the English selectors are not looking at bowlers who can get wickets irrespective of whether they can bat with the sole exception of Anderson. Dom Bess and quite a few other spinners were picked not for their bowling but what can they contribute with the bat alongwith their bowling.
Root captaincy
It is difficult to see Root retaining the captaincy after this series. He may himself want to resign. If he fails to he will have to be made to resign. England have wasted precious years of Root by burdening him with captaincy. Mind you, he is yet to score a hundred in Australia. It must weigh on his mind because otherwise, his legacy will not be complete. An hundred in Australia is mandatory for any great batsman.
Ian Chappell has summed up pretty well about Root and his captaincy
‘Root is an excellent batter but a poor captain. it would not be unfair to describe him as an ordinary and unlucky captain.
‘Rarely do you find a long-term captain who is lacking in imagination but is also lucky. A fortunate captain is usually lucky because the players believe he is some kind of miracle-worker and things tend to work out because of the team’s belief.
‘It showed again at Adelaide Oval that misfortune follows Root’s team around. The England bowlers beat the bat regularly but had little to show for their honest toil.
Conclusion to review of England after Adelaide
England aren’t that bad a team as they are made out to be. They still remain one of the 3 teams to have won atleast one series in all the countries. The fact is that, whenever they come up against Australia in Australia, they lack belief. They believe that they do not have the resources to defeat Australia and therein lies the problem.