"Their Test cricket has been a shambles all year" - Nasser Hussain lambasts England for surrendering Ashes meekly
Former England captain Nasser Hussain has hit out at Joe Root and co. for failing to put up any sort of resistance in the first three Ashes Tests and conceding the series without a fight. However, Hussain added that England’s shambolic show was not a shock as they had struggled in Tests all year.
England crumbled to an embarrassing 68 all-out in their second innings on Day 3 of the Boxing Day Test. Australia registered a thumping triumph by an innings and 14 runs and retained the Ashes by taking an unassailable 3-0 lead.
Reviewing England’s performance in his column for Daily Mail, Hussain admitted that the result wasn’t surprising since the visitors weren’t well-prepared for the challenge. The former England skipper stated:
“This is no news flash or shock. With the exception of that wonderful victory by Andrew Strauss’s team England have invariably struggled in Australia. But this Ashes has been a particular shambles and England have not given themselves the best chance to be successful. Their Test cricket has been a shambles all year."
Hussain added in his column:
“Yet this does seem worse than the two 5-0s and the 4-0 of the last 15 years because it has been coming for some time now and the point has clearly arrived for English cricket to have a good, long, hard look at itself.”
Australia win the third Test and retain the Ashes.
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The 53-year-old termed England’s batters the biggest culprits of the loss as their technique and application were brutally exposed by Australia’s quality bowling attack. Hussain pointed out:
“Look at the damning stat that extras have been England’s third highest runscorer this year. That tells you everything about the discrepancy between Joe Root and the rest and shows exactly where our red-ball batting is.”
The former cricketer added:
“Those issues have been there for some time even for the best of them. I watched online when England had their only intra-squad game in Australia before the first Test and it was notable how Ben Stokes who, along with Root has the best technique in the England side, suddenly had massive movements back in his crease.”
England captain Root is the leading run-getter in the ongoing Ashes, having scored 253 runs at an average of 42.16. However, barring Dawid Malan (202), no other English batter has come close to scoring 200 runs.
“Heaven forbid what will happen when Anderson and Broad go” - Nasser Hussain
Analyzing what the future holds for England’s Test team, Hussain stressed on the fact that they failed to make an impact despite having three of their all-time best in the squad - Root, James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
Hussain wrote:
“England have over-complicated things and messed it all up at a time when they have at their disposal three of their best Test cricketers of all-time in Root, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. Heaven forbid what will happen when Anderson and Broad go.”
The former England captain concluded that England have plenty of soul-searching to do in the wake of the Ashes disaster. Hussain stated:
“In the short-term England have to somehow salvage as much pride as possible in these last two Tests. Then there will be a lot of soul-searching before they can emerge from this crisis. Where the English game goes from here with our red-ball batting is the biggest question of all.”
England nowhere near good enough .. they will know that .. but seeing a 32 yr old on debut on his home turf with the Crowd going berserk is what makes Sport so special .. Well done Australia .. Far too good for England .. #Ashes @FoxCricket
The 4th Ashes Test of the ongoing series will be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) from January 5.