Stick with Bazball or swallow some pride? How England can save the Ashes

2 months ago 19

The first two Ashes Tests have been an unmitigated disaster for England, much to the delight of Australian cricket fans.

Already 2-0 down, English fans are rumbling, the English media are frothing and the knives are out over the Bazball philosophy of coach Brendon McCullum, captain Ben Stokes and their team. So we’ve piloted in cricket writers Andrew Wu and Tom Decent to take over for the third Test. What would they do to resurrect England in Adelaide?

If you’d said to me on the eve of the first Test that Australia would be 2-0 up after the Gabba, I wouldn’t have been surprised, but I did expect more of a contest. Ever since day one in Perth, it’s been all Australia, and the gap between the two sides is widening with every session. It’s hard to believe we were once likening England’s attack to the mighty Windies quicks from the 1980s and ’90s. They’ve bowled some powder puff at times. Jofra Archer’s good for a spell, then he drops in pace. Mark Wood’s injured. Why England thought it’d be smart to bank on a 35-year-old, injury-prone quick for this series escapes me. It’s great thought bubble stuff, but once you play it out, it’s more likely than not to end in the bloke going home early. Brydon Carse was outclassed in Brisbane. Mark Waugh’s third-grade call on him was harsh, but he wasn’t Test standard. Their batters keep getting out the same way. It’s got the feel of a 1990s England team about it. How have you seen it, Tommy?

I’m the same as you, Wuey. I tipped a 4-0 series win to Australia but wasn’t totally confident in that. Two Tests finishing inside six days is remarkable. England’s top order batting, for the most part, has been rubbish. Why did they continue to drive on the up on bouncy Australian pitches? Their bowling has shown promise at times, but otherwise it’s been slim pickings. Stokes’ comments were quite pointed when he spoke about Australia not being a place for “weak men”. I suspect a couple of England’s players might be getting a knock at their hotel room door in Noosa this week. Maybe some team changes are incoming?

England players are taking a break from their Ashes preparations at Noosa.

It’s a bit rich for Stokes to imply that he’s different from other blokes in the team, like he’s the one carrying them. He’s not even in the top 10 series run-scorers, he’s averaging below 20 with the bat and his strike rate of 34 is the worst of anyone in this series outside a few tailenders. I suspect there’s some pretty confused players in those sheds who’d prefer to be batting slower and absorbing pressure when the captain’s out there getting all the plaudits for playing proper cricket.

If England and Stokes want to show real leadership, they’ll show Australia more respect and pull things back a bit. But I’m keen for them to keep it going. For three years we’ve heard why this brand of cricket is going to work in Australia. It’s too late to back out now. Maybe they should just concede that Bazball is flawed in Australia. It could spell the end of the Stokes-McCullum era, which would be pretty spicy.

That’s a good point you made about Stokes. I don’t think he entirely covered himself in glory with his comments about not wanting weak men in his dressing room. I’d argue that his tactics against Mitchell Starc, not trying to get out the No.9, and targeting Scott Boland instead, weren’t exactly all that strong.

I don’t mind Bazball as a concept, the idea of attacking to put pressure on the opposition attack, but Harry Brooks has got to pull his head in. He doesn’t need to play so many extravagant shots. He’s got to have the awareness to know when to attack and when to defend. Zak Crawley needs to play smarter. We know he can hit the boundaries. Most Test batters take the single on offer afterwards, but that’s not his way. He doesn’t like singles. He doesn’t like good shots getting ones. He needs a rethink, or maybe he’s got a better idea than the hundreds of players who have scored more Test runs than him.

I’d like to see England pick a front-line spinner in Adelaide. They’ve had Shoaib Bashir in mind for a few years, then they go for Will Jacks’ better batting instead at No.8, and Jacks muddies the waters by doing more with the bat than the ball, making it harder to drop him. Ollie Pope isn’t a Test No.3. Jamie Smith’s worth another chance, but it got too much for him in Brisbane. I’d bring in Josh Tongue for Carse, and think long and hard about Bashir for Jacks. What are you doing if you’re an England selector?

I actually wouldn’t change England’s XI for this Test. Crawley is doing enough at the top and Ben Duckett is due a score. Pope’s a hard one. I’d give him one more Test, otherwise Jacob Bethell for the rest of the series. Root’s made a hundred, Brook’s the vice-captain, so you’re not going to drop him. Smith is the real concern. Given his first class numbers – he’s averaging 42 – you would expect a lot more from him. If Smith fails in the next Test, a left-field option could be 21-year-old James Rew. He was the youngest Englishman to hit 10 first-class centuries by the age of 21 since Denis Compton in 1939. Although Rew didn’t make many runs for the Lions against Australia A, he peeled off 92 in the Prime Minister’s XI game in Canberra and is a solid gloveman. But he’s not a dasher. Very un-Bazball. I still think this is England’s best bowling line-up with the guys they’ve got. Spinner Jacks did a reasonable job with bat and ball.

On the Noosa issue, I’m totally fine with it. The Australian players are back at their home bases. I’d much rather be in Noosa than Adelaide (hello to our South Australian readers). But I do think the optics of being on the booze during this period isn’t great. A few of England’s players were spotted in Brisbane the night after the Test, having their fair share of drinks. TV cameras and photographers have got shots of them on the drink in Noosa – hair of the dog for Brook.

It’s no secret they’ve been instructed to get out and let their hair down. Can you imagine a footy team doing that? And I’m not sure how many cricket nets are in Noosa. It’s a tough one for fans who’ve saved for years to come to Australia and see that players are more interested this week in cocktails than techniques. England travelling to Adelaide on Saturday means they’ve only got Sunday, Monday and Tuesday as full training days before the Test. With slightly different pitches in Adelaide to contend with and no tour match scheduled, it’s a mistake for mine. Thoughts?

It’s great fodder for us, and it’s not a great look at all sipping cocktails, but with the schedule the way it is, it’s going to be intense the next three weeks so you can understand why they’ve planned a freshen-up here. If they were up 2-0 we’d be going at the Aussies for being at home instead of the nets. The bigger issue is the preparation leading into the series. A week of intense training now would do more harm than good, but the hard work should have been done in October and early November, not December. Good on the England management for getting on the front foot. It’s been on the itinerary since day dot, so if they were to change it, the narrative would be “panicking Poms”. It’s probably one of those situations they can’t win either way. Onto the Australians. What have you made of their performance? We know Pat Cummins will come in. Any other changes you’d make?

Australia will be stoked to be up 2-0. They obviously haven’t had the big boys in Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, plus Nathan Lyon’s only bowled two overs. Outside of Travis Head’s knock in Perth, Starc in both Tests and Alex Carey’s wizardry with the gloves, no Aussie is playing their absolute best cricket. The home side has more in the tank and that’s a positive.

In terms of the XI for Adelaide, it’s a tough school, but Usman Khawaja should miss out. I think it would be very foolish to change up that opening partnership of Head and Jake Weatherald given they’ve put on 75, 77 and 37-run stands. Together, they’ve added 189 runs off 183 balls, which obviously alleviates pressure on the guys behind them. They’ve also had plenty of experience playing on the Adelaide Oval.

Labuschagne, Smith and Green stay in their positions. Khawaja could bat at No.5 but time for a change given his numbers over the past two years. If Australia want to keep Carey at six, I’m OK with that, but I’d have all-rounder Beau Webster in the XI. It gives Australia a bit more bowling cover in Cummins’ return from injury and I think Webster was very stiff to miss out to Josh Inglis in Brisbane.

In terms of the bowlers, unfortunately, Michael Neser and Brendan Doggett go out. That’s the nature of the beast. Cummins will come back in and Starc and Boland will be full steam ahead with a 3-0 lead there for the taking.

Looks like we’re both on the same page there, so it’d be a short selection meeting, which is good.

More time for the fun part of being on the road. Your shout or mine?

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