Ashes 2021-22.

[yuppie]

Again in this test England had a chance when Australia were 6 for 60. Then the last 4 wickets nearly tripled the score putting the game well out of reach.

Through out this series England have had a chance to impose themselves but ended up letting Australia off.

No idea where England go from here, and to be fair i dont think they know.

[GarlicJam]

Home, I think, Yuppie.

[Durhamfootman]

Home, I think, Yuppie.

with their tails between their legs

[bigfluffylemon]

So beginneth the post mortem on what could quite reasonably be termed the worst Ashes tour in history. It is definitely the worst ever batting - you have to go back to 1890 to find a lower averaging Ashes tour, and that was only a two test series on uncovered pitches. A collective batting average of 20.2. The worst 5 test Ashes tour batting average in history. The only worse averaging overseas tours since the days of uncovered pitches were when we were destroyed by the greatest ever fast bowling line up courtesy of the West Indies in 1985 (and even then we made 300 twice), and the 2021 tour of India. First time since 1958 that England failed to register 300 in an Ashes tour (and that's the only other time in a 5 or more test series they've failed to do so). Consider we've had two 20-averaging series in a year, and the stats about how many times we've collapsed in under 30 overs in the last four years, and I think it is now unarguable that we have the worst ever England test batting line-up.

Not 5-0, but only averted by a single wicket and the dying of the light meaning Jimmy was facing six balls of Steve Smith rather than Pat Cummins.

The bowlers hardly covered themselves in glory, but at least avoided the ignominy of failing to bowl Australia out five times in a row. Wood, Broad, Anderson and Robinson all had averages of 27 or better, but were let down by a combination of back-up bowlers (Woakes and Leach 55, Stokes 70), inconsistent selection, injuries and the fact that they were almost invariably bowling without enough runs on the board or a decent enough break between innings. Wood's figures also heavily massaged by a single innings that was too little, too late, although he got England to as close to a winning position we had all series, and got the better of Marnus all series, so wasn't awful. The overall team bowling average of 35 is not exactly great, but is actually better than every Ashes tour since 1998, apart from the victorious 2010 trip. 1998 and 1994 weren't much better (around 33-34). It's actually in the better half of England team bowling averages in Australia since the war, and England won all but a couple of the series where they averaged 33 or less with the ball, so not that far off. Partly that's the pitches, but it's hard to blame the bowlers too much for this debacle.

Preparation: Hopeless. Covid didn't help, but the grand plans that England have apparently been working on since 2019 for this series fell in a complete heap.

After two home series losses, and four series losses on the bounce, this feels like the lowest ebb since I've been watching cricket.

You have to ask if this batting line-up is the best available, but the general consensus seems to be - probably, at least currently. There aren't any batters beating down the door in the CC that haven't already been tried and failed. So it's going to take generational change before things pick up again. How depressing.

I hope I'm being hyperbolic, but I do wonder if we're witnessing the beginning of the end of test cricket. Yes, there continue to be good games - Bangladesh beating New Zealand was a cracker. But the interest in boards and players alike seems to be waning, and it might be covid, but I've witnessed less interest in this Ashes series than any I recall. When the biggest series in the game draws collective yawns while the T20 franchises keep pulling in the TV views, there only seems to be one direction the game will go. And if you're a player, what's more appealing? Graft for years at the 4 day game to try and win an England call-up to get pummelled, or practice hitting sixes to earn tens of thousands of pounds for 40 overs effort? Seems a no brainer really.

I think we're all agreed the English game needs wholesale change if test cricket is going to have any chance of flourishing, maybe even surviving. I don't know what that change might be. I just hope something happens and it's not too late. As long as making money remains the ECB's primary objective, we're doomed.

[from_the_stands]

Well... gee... that didn't seem to take long. What a disaster of a series that was for England. Not having a back-up spinner for Leach was strange, although that said, I thought the old enemy bowled much better than they batted. The blood letting will be fun to watch from afar. I was personally going to take in some of the action on day 3 in Melbourne, but alas, it just wasn't meant to be. I still think Ben Stokes is England's best player, but in this series he looked under-cooked, and by the end, looked in dire need of a holiday. Going forward to the next Ashes, I suspect that we might see two new Oz openers. Davy boy is getting on and Marcus Harris just doesn't look like it. Weirdly, I haven't been jumping over the moon about Cameron Green, but commentators here seem to think he's the next Jacques Kallis. He did play well in that last Test, but prior to that, looked out of his depth. Roll on Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

[sussexpob]

Root starts attacking the county game as the reason for all the problems, while his allies in the press like Agnew follow suit. Agnew has some gall; after predicting a 2-2 draw, he's now lecturing us on why only an idiot would have assumed the series would have gone differently when cricket is so fundamentally flawed. Meanwhile Root is being backed by everyone.

Root himself told us before a ball was bowled that this was his Alamo; a series to define his captaincy. We got battered, and now we are to believe actually that this series had nothing to do with defining his ability to do his job. Work that one out? It says a lot in the defence of Root that no one can really find many valid reasons to defend him. Ramprakash, who worked with him for years in a coaching role and opinioned he is the right man for the job, can only pony up some vague nonsense about Root being a nice guy, even though tactically Ramps thinks he is not up to the task. To condense other opinions about the topic into a vague overview gives us much the same; Root cant captain himself out a paper bag, but hes a cheeky chap with a sense of humour, he is popular, so that is a good thing.

I guess you dont need to look far to see whats wrong there. Being a nice guy is not an asset for a leader. When I think of great sporting coaches or captains, the uniting theme that brings them together is the ability to be ruthless, in some cases downright hostile and nasty, and constantly demanding higher standards from those they work with. I listen to Roy Keane for instance talk about leading United all those years, and he opinions that the "bonding element" was wanting to win, not being friends. If you didnt show you wanted to win, he'd pin you against a wall.... success followed.

Root says he needs to "maybe" (MAYBE??) be a bit harder. After so many years, if he is only just coming to this realisation, I guess he is a lost cause. The fact is, if he isnt reading the riot act at people; given a chance to dump on England's terrible batting, he instead went after the bowlers for not sticking to the plan .... in a series England didnt make 300 in 10 innings. I wonder how that affected his dressing room popularity? AS Harminson said, if I was a bowler Id have been waiting for him at the top of the stairs and have probably given him a slap. But this is England 2022; the captain is only dumping away from this own doorstep.

And there we find the major problem. Root drones on after every test we play that England know what mistakes to correct, and work towards improving them; but then whenever anything he, Silverwood or anyone in the leadership get a chance to add meat to the bones, it sounds like they very much either dont know which problems to correct, or they are totally inadequately skilled to actually remedy them.

I mean take after the second test - Hameed and Burns were sent in the nets to practice, and were asked to hop on one leg and hold a bat in one hand while they were bowled to - this was the answer apparently. Some zaney, idiotic idea - sorry, but every coach or any captain that sat back and watched that unfold needs firing. A total madcap, nonsensical load of rubbish. Hameed responded by lasting a minute, out for a duck.... turns out batting while jumping like a kangaroo doesnt prepare you for test quality bowling.

And thats another thing about Root I cant tolerate during this series - he lays into problems, but he is the most influential cricketer in the country. If you really thought the game was going to pot, where was your balls in coming out and demanding changes for the last 5 years? Well the answer is, just like when the racism at Yorkshire thing came out and we found out Root sat around witnessing someone get called a **** over and over again, and he reacted by doing nothing then years later claiming he didnt see it...... he's just a gutless coward. 99 problems, but me, the coach, my mates in the team.... we arent one. Really Joe? Really?

But he's a gentile, nice, cheeky chap style gutless coward...... with no tactical nous. So I guess in the grand scheme of English cricket, he has a job for life.

[Gingerfinch]

I suppose the problem is, who should be captain? Most players are not guaranteed a place, in fact only Root and Stokes are.

[sussexpob]

Every opportunity that this England team have, they come across as Dysfunctional and clueless, and that has nowt to do with county cricket. Another thing about Ramps Guardian article the other day that made me chuckle was his instance that he didnt need to coach elite cricketers when working with England, because they know how to bat, you are just there to tell them their hair looks great and occasionally nod and clap some encouragement.

This is the national elite team batting coach saying he didnt really believe in the need to coach elite batsman. You what?

And we wonder why we cant make 300 in 10 innings? What next? Root coming out to say great captains dont need to captain?

[Arthur Crabtree]

I guess you dont need to look far to see whats wrong there. Being a nice guy is not an asset for a leader. When I think of great sporting coaches or captains, the uniting theme that brings them together is the ability to be ruthless, in some cases downright hostile and nasty, and constantly demanding higher standards from those they work with.

Sounds like Andy Flower!

[Arthur Crabtree]

The demise in the Test team can't really be seen separately from England's limited overs emergence. The people we're all accusing of incompetence/negligence became England's best side ever. Unless it's all down to Morgan.

[Durhamfootman]

I guess you dont need to look far to see whats wrong there. Being a nice guy is not an asset for a leader. When I think of great sporting coaches or captains, the uniting theme that brings them together is the ability to be ruthless, in some cases downright hostile and nasty, and constantly demanding higher standards from those they work with.

Sounds like Andy Flower!

and Fletcher

[Durhamfootman]

I suppose the problem is, who should be captain? Most players are not guaranteed a place, in fact only Root and Stokes are.

it's a dilemma. Root isn't a good captain, he never has been, but Stokes doesn't seem to want it atm and he's never really been tested as a captain domestically anyway.

I have been persuaded by SP's observations regarding team selection over the duration of this entire series. The errors are glaring, the thought processes muddled and inconsistent from captain and coach.

I'm reluctant to suggest a return to test cricket for Morgan, because I've always believed that every player in the side should be there on merit, but I'm running out of options. It feels like a long time since England had a captain who could think on his feet and respond to changing events on the field, rather than blindly following a pre-conceived plan regardless of whether it's working or not, only changing things after an interval once someone has told him (with pictures on a laptop) what to try instead (the real Flower legacy).

If ruthlessness and a vision is what is required, and he can't get in as a player, what about Morgan as head coach?

or if England are going to take away the captain and coach's autonomy, as seems increasingly likely, how about Morgan as a selector?

told you I was desperate

[yuppie]

Ramprakash views on coaching elite batters might explain a few of the issues the team had when he was playing.

Comparing to Australian batsman who search out people when struggling as well as taking on constructive advice when in form. Even during this series we have heard of Usman taking advice over the last 2 years, not just on his batting but also his fielding. And during this series seeing Green taking advice from Pontings analysis and then working on rectifying his off stump problem leading to a much better 2nd half of the ashes series with his batting. Head seeking out advice from former players seems to have helped him out alright.

The idea that an elite player can learn no more or take on good advice is just crazy. Players never stop learning.

Talking of hard leaders as well, Australia have had Waugh, Border and Ponting who came across as ruthless and hard nosed. But now they seem thoroughly decent people. If the team needs a rocket up it, sometimes the hard truth needs to be heard. You can be nice later.

[bigfluffylemon]

The demise in the Test team can't really be seen separately from England's limited overs emergence. The people we're all accusing of incompetence/negligence became England's best side ever. Unless it's all down to Morgan.

Isn't that the point, though? They've decided limited overs games are more important, focussed all their attention on that, got in people who were competent at leading a team in that (Bayliss, for all we slated him on here, was clearly a good limited overs coach, and Morgan might be the best captain England have had - definitely in white ball). In some senses, that's reason for optimism. The 2015 world cup was a nadir, and if you'd said that four years later England would be world cup winners and the best white ball team in the world, we'd have laughed you off the board. If the management really gave the four day game and the test team the same considered focus, it could perhaps be turned around. We're saying a change of priorities and focus is needed if we want England's test side to flourish in the same way as the white ball team.

[bigfluffylemon]

The idea that an elite player can learn no more or take on good advice is just crazy. Players never stop learning.

Anderson has made that point - England's most capped player has achieved his longevity in part because he never stops trying to be better, working on new skills, deliveries etc.