England have lost the first Test of the 2019 Ashes, and does it come as a surprise? No. After the World Cup win England Cricket was on a high, and the delirium only seemed to mask the multitude of problems with the Test side. The close-run win against Ireland was a perfect showing of the batting incompetence and highlighted for all to see that something, or anything had to change in the batting line up.
The squad selected for the first test made no such changes, and if anything made the side worse. Moeen Ali has been diabolical with the bat in recent times and almost as bad with the ball, so sticking him into the fray instead of Jack Leach seemed very questionable. Then the decision to keep Joe Denly in was even more baffling, he only seems to be selected because he plays for a fashionable county, and doesn’t provide anything like a long-term solution to England’s top order woes.
Despite these obvious flaws, the first day of the Test at ‘Fortress Edgbaston’ started well and Australia were 122/8. This if any, is the time to aggressively and positively go after the wicket of Peter Siddle. He isn’t exactly a world Class batsman, unlike Steve Smith at the other end. What does England’s captain and golden boy Joe Root do though? Allow Smith to easily rotate the strike on the fourth ball of every over, by not moving the field in. Then with the final ball at Siddle, the field was hardly aggressive either, and the ball was chucked outside off so that Siddle could easily leave it and wasn’t threatened. This allowed Smith and Siddle to build the partnership that would essentially cost England the game. Joe Root continued blindly with this strategy, even though it clearly wasn’t working, and bowled Ben Stokes for about 6 more overs than he should have. Stokes is inconsistent and expensive, and Ali bowling at the other end was no better. Root had the arrogance to assume that England would simply get out Siddle and Lyon with ease, and cruise to a victory.
After Australia were all out for 284, about 130 more than they should’ve been out for. England’s poor batting showed itself yet again. The Century from Burns only masked the continuing issues that England have. Root can’t convert 50s into 100s like a world class batsman should be able to do, and the rest of the batting is not performing anywhere near the level it should. Jos Buttler isn’t a test player, and Jonny Bairstow looks more like a club cricketer who is massively out of his depth at the moment.
Australia’s second innings was a mixture of a Smith masterclass and Moeen Ali bowling poorly on a brilliant pitch for spin. Matthew Wade, a left-handed batsman, easily picked up a century when Ali is supposedly ‘excellent’ at bowling to left handers. Again, Root’s lack of imagination in terms of field placement and plan of attack with the ball reared its head. Australia cruised to a lead of 397, that England were never going to catch. A far cry from the 122/8 on the first day. To rub salt into the wound Root brought himself on to bowl within 10 overs of the new ball being taken, stressing his complete lack of ideas.
Batting for a day with a ‘deep’ batting line up like England should be simple. Despite this, as soon as one batsman fell, the next came in and got out. England’s batsmen are refusing to take any responsibility and think ‘I’m going to step up and change this match’. Once the wickets start to fall there’s no stopping the dismal collapse. Joe Root seems to hold himself in very high regard but he has been distinctly average, but still somehow better than the rest of the batsmen. His soft dismissal to Nathan Lyon emphasised this, and Lyon looked more like Shane Warne than the decent spinner he is in reality. The depth of the England batting line up only seems to make the batsmen think that someone else will get the runs if they don’t. Too many times has the tail end had to pick up the slack from a forgettable showing from the top six.
The pundits and Joe Root himself will focus on the loss of Jimmy Anderson as being the turning point, and yes that made an impact. However, Australia managed to skittle the England team over with 4 bowlers, so why couldn’t England do the same? Why couldn’t Joe Root or one of the other ‘World Cup heroes’ take responsibility and do what Smith had done. Australia only played 1 less game at the World Cup than England, so why is the effect of the World Cup win and the ‘fatigue’ emphasised so much by the media? In reality, England have a lot to work on. Root has lost the plot in regards to both his captaincy and his batting, and Moeen Ali needs to be dropped immediately, and go back to county Cricket to regain his form. He was showed up massively by Nathan Lyon. Overconfidence and arrogance from the World Cup win and poor captaincy and selection cost England. Things should be mixed up for the second test, but that would be asking too much of the selectors and Root to use some imagination.
Jon Parkin Sports 