The cracks are starting to show with this England team and with the narrative we’ve been fed for three years after another defeat. Their identity of always taking the aggressive option, of relentlessly putting pressure on their opponents, isn’t holding up to scrutiny. So far in this series they haven’t had the strength needed to achieve it, and they haven’t had the skills either.
I was confident that they could win the Ashes this time, mainly because I thought there was quality in the squad and that they had adapted their game to add intelligence and adaptability to their armoury. It’s becoming clear that neither of those beliefs were completely true. And meanwhile I’m seeing things at home that make me worry that this team aren’t just messing up this series, they’re messing up a whole generation of young cricketers.
In their first innings at the Gabba Australia added 189 for the last four wickets, and how did they do it? They were ruthless, gutsy, determined and they had the big picture in mind. Beyond the brilliant Joe Root’s wonderful, classy century England showed none of those qualities until the fourth day, when they were already facing near-certain defeat.
At this point Ben Stokes and Will Jacks displayed the adaptability I had hoped to see more of, as the two faced 220 balls in a battling partnership of 96. Stokes has proven many times that he is a very adaptable cricketer, capable of batting in different styles at different moments, and here we saw that quality again. But he’s not seeing any of that adaptability in his players, who for three years have been bombarded with messaging about taking the aggressive option, pushing the game forward.
Of course I don’t know what is said inside the dressing room, but there has not been much nuance in what they say to the media or how they play on the pitch. We need to see more of it when the game is there to be won. There are times when taking the game forward means scoring quickly, and times when it means showing grit, fight and determination when the game is on the line to make sure it goes your way.
My worry is that there will be real, long-term implications from all this. I work with boys in county pathways and they are absolutely scrambled. Counties are bombarding young players with talk of power hitting, reverse sweeping, aggression. In the past couple of weeks I’ve spoken to three boys, all with different counties, and when I have asked about their batting all three told me they are hyper-aggressive and look to score off every ball. One thing we have seen, in this series and across Test history, is that on pitches that do a little bit, that have uneven bounce, and against bowlers of the highest skill, that isn’t going to be possible.
The really amazing thing is that there is another approach, and England have the best in the world in their dressing room. But no one seems to be looking for the next Root, and England have certainly not looked to pick anyone else with anything like his skillset. They’re saying: we like what he does but we’ve got something better, more entertaining, more successful. And we’re seeing the limitations of that philosophy in every game.
There are players in this team who have technical issues, which is another problem entirely, and others whose issues are with their mindset. Harry Brook is a wonderful player who will have a great career, but his dismissal in the first innings was astonishing in the context of the match situation, the changing light, the fact Stokes was in next, that Mitchell Starc was likely to come back quite quickly. England have zero chance of winning the Ashes while players are being so carefree.
The bowling showed similar problems. I was so frustrated to see how fast Jofra Archer bowled at the start of Australia’s second innings – at that point it was irrelevant, as Steve Smith apparently told him. I thought he would have got a lot more out of that pitch, given his pace, height and accuracy, but if so far he hasn’t done what I expected of him he is one of several. Though Starc is of course a wonderful player, Australia’s seam attack in this game wasn’t incredible – but it was incredibly disciplined and very well led. When they had a bad spell at the start of England’s second innings they identified it quickly, had a chat at the next break and went back to basics.
What a contrast with their opponents. In Brisbane barely 5% of England’s deliveries in Australia’s first innings would have hit the stumps. That’s on a pitch that was showing uneven bounce. To me that displays a lack of discipline, a lack of accuracy, and a lack of clarity in their plans. Meanwhile Michael Neser, a very English-style bowler – not express pace but very accurate – took six wickets in the match. There were just too many poor deliveries from a group of English bowlers who couldn’t exert any kind of control, and they went all over the park.
Brendon McCullum suggested England had probably trained too much and spoke of the need for more variety in their practice schedule, which was a fascinating comment. I think perhaps he was referring to the limitations of training in nets, which they have been largely restricted to because of their lack of match practice. Now they’re off to Noosa on a golfing mini-break.
This is a very talented group of players, but we’re seeing a mentality that after three years of consistent messaging has lost nuance. From what Stokes said after the match I think he has become aware of this, and it looked as if he is planning to have some very honest discussions with his players before they head to Adelaide. Perhaps their training has to change, but so does their attitude. And if the people in charge can’t make that happen over the next three Tests, there will be a strong argument for changing them too.
