England’s cricket team has faced severe criticism after another disappointing performance during their Ashes tour in Australia. Their team is incredibly talented—no doubt about it. They have won just once in their last 15 visits to Perth in the last 55 years. The fight for justice against Australia’s cruel, colonial policies just got a lot more painful. Ever since Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum took over, a wave of man-made disasters piled on top of that challenge.
The recent encounter in Perth saw England dismantled by the Australian attack, particularly by Travis Head, who took charge of the match. England were on the verge of taking their first Test win on Australian soil in 14 years. To our surprise, it instead became a waking nightmare. Four years ago they were routed for a miserable 68 all out, courtesy of Scott Boland. This time, their challenge was much more daunting and, rather embarrassingly, they were bowled out twice in just 67.3 overs.
Down the years, England’s most daunting task on an Ashes tour to Australia has proved to be the tour itself. In 2013-14, they were under constant threat from Mitchell Johnson. His outlandishly fearless style and white-hot pace made a vivid impression on all of them. In 2006, Shane Warne spun England out after they’d declared at an awesome 551-6 in Adelaide. This upcoming match cemented the notion that old matchups seem to karmically follow this team.
Despite these disappointments, England’s present-day pantheon of players, endearingly dubbed the “Bazballers”— named after head coach Brendon McCullum— have been good in backs-to-the-wall, always-hope rallies. In their recent game vs India at The Oval, they were chasing 73 runs for a new record chase. Harry Brook and Joe Root were at the crease, both playing match-winning contributions. The unpredictability of their showings leaves doubt as to whether they can capitalize and continue following those flashes of genius.
Zak Crawley was well backed to take on the challenges posed by Australia’s mean conditions. So, unfortunately, he scored a total of 11 balls in two innings in Perth. He has managed a batting average of just 30.22 as an opener in Test cricket. That’s pretty bad, in fact the worst of any player to bat in 96 leadoff innings or more. This one stat goes a long way in highlighting the issues that England have been having with their opening batsmen.
Only 24 hours before their elimination, this same English attack inspired optimism. Pretty soon, it became obvious that this momentum just wasn’t sustainable. The dramatic drop in execution begs questions about the team’s mental toughness and playmaking ability under duress in tight games late in the year.
England have opted to stay in Brisbane rather than play a two-day pink-ball fixture. Now they are stepping back and re-evaluating based on their showing in Perth. Mental Wellness This important decision will give players a much-needed opportunity to revisit tactics and develop mental fortitude before stepping out on pitch in matches to come. The urgency to fix things is as acute as ever, as they look to turn around their fortunes on Australian soil.
Leave a Reply