“I’m a little embarrassed, to be honest” - Sir Ian Botham slams England over Ashes disaster
England legend Sir Ian Botham has admitted that he is a "little embarrassed" after the visitors handed over the Ashes to Australia without any resistance.
The Englishmen rolled over for a paltry 68 on Day 3 of the third Ashes Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Following an innings and 14-run win, Australia took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.
Reflecting on England’s insipid show, Botham told Channel 7:
“I’m a little embarrassed, to be honest. To lose the Ashes in 12 days ... I just think that England have lost their way. The performance today summed it up.”
England resumed Day 3 of the MCG Test at 31 for 4, having faced 12 overs the previous day. The visitors’ second innings lasted only 27.4 overs as debutant Australian pacer Scott Boland blew them away, returning with figures of 6/7.
Player POV, around the 'G! 🏟
Special shoutout to the 140,671 fans who joined us at the Boxing Day Test as we retained the #Ashes on home soil 👊🇦🇺 https://t.co/CzQldMWIv4
Botham conceded that England were completely outplayed and feared that ticket sales for the English summer might not be very encouraging. He added:
“It’s been a walk in the park for the Australians. It burns me to say that but they have completely outplayed England. Three or four of the England players can say ‘I gave it a go’…”
The England legend added:
“I think people at home will be worried. It won’t do a great deal for ticket sales for the (English) summer. They will be saying now: ‘Ok, you’ve gone there, it’s been disastrous. You have a period of time now to sort this out.’”
Root (28) was the only England batter to cross the 20-run mark in the team’s second innings in Melbourne. Ben Stokes’ 11 was the next best. No other batter reached double-figures.
“Experiment with a couple of players, the series has gone” - Ian Botham
Ashes ✅ https://t.co/Sf4ugF1QFi
With the Ashes lost, Botham urged England to give new faces a chance in the remaining two Tests. According to the 66-year-old, the visitors are stagnating at the moment.
Botham, renowned for his 1981 heroics in the Ashes, opined:
“You’ve got enough time to get a couple of players in from the Lions tour because we need to freshen it up, at the moment it’s stagnating. If you want do experiment with a couple of players, the series has gone, you might as well blood them. There’s a long way to go for England before they are competitive against this Australian team.”
Before the MCG defeat, England went down to Australia by nine wickets at the Gabba and by 275 runs in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide.