Not that it is new, but this is another stark reminder of how tough it is for the England cricket team to travel to Australia and play Ashes – any format of the game for that matter. However, with everything going on in the past 24 months and the amount of red-ball cricket England played, compared to Australia, you may have a bit of hope that the Ashes 2021 tour may go well.
Ashes 2021: Shattered Pieces of England’s hopes
Unfortunately, those dreams were dashed as early as when Rory Burns was cleaned up by Mitchell Starc with the first ball of the 1st test in Brisbane. From that point onwards, the England batters looked woeful, especially the openers. I am certain I do not need stats to back this up. English openers have not had 100 partnership stand in any test this series. As it has been over the past 2-3 years, the pressure was always on the skipper Joe Root to bail out England.
In any case, England’s test debacle is not new. It has been a point of discussion for the last couple of years. It was at its peak in 2021, and this Ashes series has added fuel to it.
Ruthless Australia led Ashes 2021
Throughout the series, the choice made by Australia with bowling changes and the battling lineup has been ruthless. They were obviously a confident side since 80% of their squad members were part of the T20 World Cup in November. I have to say though that Australia has deserved all the accolades and has really shown the world that they are back as a red-ball team. They have the superb 4 man pace attack and top-class spinner in the lineup, and we aren’t even talking about Scott Boland – who sent down magical spells one after the other in the last 3 games – and Michael Nesser.
Read More: Is Usman Khawaja the Ideal Opener for Australia?
However, my personal player of the season has to go to Cameron Green. He has been amazing for Australia with the ball in his hand and has taken wickets whenever captain Cummins asked him. Green showed that he is capable of making big scores. He has all the ingredients of becoming one of the best all-rounders in the game for years to come.
ECB staring at Inevitable Changes
They say, that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case for England’s red-ball team at the moment. We all agree that the ECB needs to press a reset button for their Red ball game. However, the resurgence will not happen straight away since the hole is quite deep. It will take some time, maybe even years if it means new coaches or captains or new players need to be picked for the future.
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As far as county cricket setup is concerned, well it needs to be done sooner than later. The changes in the county setup are inevitable to bring up the next generation of red-ball players for England. Everyone at ECB – from the top to bottom – needs to sit down and take a good hard look at how they can help the red ball side, similar to the revolution they brought to the white ball game.
I wouldn’t mind suggesting that some of the top ECB executives – especially the ones who claimed rich bonuses – need to be shown the exit door. There is no point in having them with the hope of their contribution to the changes.
Do you have other thoughts?
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