3 months ago
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England are headed for a massive Ashes defeat unless more of its players can show the heart of Ben Stokes, rather than the “bravado” Jofra Archer displayed when the result was a foregone conclusion at the Gabba.
That’s the view of Seven commentator Matthew Hayden, who criticised Archer for arriving at the ground with a pillow on Saturday before Mitchell Starc and the Australian tail kept him in the field for more than half the day.
Hayden was also critical of Archer’s decision to crank up his speed when the game had already gone, something also picked up on by captain Steve Smith during a heated finish to the Test in Brisbane.
“It was really quite painful to watch with Jofra Archer,” Hayden told this masthead. “That look is exactly what, as an opening batsman, I’m looking for when he’s circumnavigating the ground early on day three with a big job to do, and carrying a pillow into play.
“Straightaway my head would be ‘I’m not only going to try to not let him sleep in the day, but I don’t want him to be sleeping in the night on that pillow’. The optics are one thing, but actions speak louder than words in this case. There were periods in Perth where he cranked it up. But largely speaking, when it really counted in the first innings [in Brisbane], he bowled the majority of those overs at 130-136km/h.
“Then to see that stark difference of airspeed in Australia’s second innings, and have all that verbal barrage and fake smiles. That’s never going to endear Jofra Archer to his own fans, let alone a great player like Steve Smith.
England’s Jofra Archer arriving at the Gabba on Saturday.Credit: Seven
“Certainly, for people who know the game very well, that was a very disappointing reaction with very little humility and a whole bunch of bravado, which ended up going for 5.6 an over and the contest is knocked out of the park in 10 overs … his airspeed was well down, and that says it all.”
While stopping short of calling for the end of Brendon McCullum’s tenure as England coach, Hayden said that his former Brisbane Heat teammate pulled the wrong rein by arguing that the tourists had “over-prepared” for the Gabba Test.
Hayden also believes England made an error by putting up assistant coach Marcus Trescothick to speak after the game had swung firmly towards Australia on day three, whereupon the former opener claimed the batters simply had not discussed the dangers of driving the ball on the up in the first two Tests.
“I was right by the press galley when Baz (McCullum) made that comment, and there was an eruption of reaction from that,” Hayden said.
“On day three Australia had had that incredible comeback, and to have all the fast bowlers covering for what the Australian batting should have done really, and how bad, psychologically, that was for England.
“Then having Marcus Trescothick fronting the press corps in the evening, it said a lot about how this side, internally, is under enormous pressure as well.”
Hayden praised the efforts of Stokes and fellow all-rounder Will Jacks to hold up the Australians on day four, but argued that the England captain was desperately short of willing allies in his fight for the urn.
“At one stage, we had him talking on the audio of stump [mic] and going ‘we have to lift our shoulders here, this problem’s not going away’, and he was bloody magnificent,” Hayden said of Stokes. “He is a gutsy trier. But what he needs is 10 other blokes to go in the same direction.
“At the moment, his [team’s] batting unit had had its heart ripped out. Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett can’t score, and (wicketkeeper) Jamie Smith looks completely at sea. Every ball that came to him, he looked like he had cymbals in his hands.
“They just need to replicate Ben Stokes. In pressure situations, I could only see one bloke towering over the rest of his team, and that was Stokes.”
Impressed by the skills of two-Test opener Jake Weatherald, Hayden said a difficult selection call loomed for Australia in Adelaide about Michael Neser after he and Scott Boland each played key roles to deliver a 2-0 series margin.
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“He showed an enormous heart in demonstrating why the selectors have put faith in (him),” Hayden said of Neser. “As did Scotty Boland in the second innings of the first Test.
“The way this bowling group has carried the Australian cricket team over the past couple of years is remarkable. Both Boland and Neser I wanted to make special mention of because they are the heartbeat of this side.”
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