"Simple mistakes, avoidable mistakes" - Sir Alastair Cook slams England following Adelaide loss
Former England skipper Sir Alastair Cook has come down harshly on the England team after they went 2-0 down in the ongoing Ashes. The veteran lamented the fact that the visitors made simple and avoidable mistakes and lacked planning for the second match in a row.
Australia were too good for England and beat them by a massive 275 runs at the Adelaide Oval on Monday. The Joe Root-led side did show some fight by taking the game into the final session. However, it wasn't enough against a spirited Aussie bowling attack.
Sir Alastair Cook said that England will be ruing the fact they have made too many mistakes in the last two Ashes encounters. While criticizing the visitors' fielding as compared to the hosts', the 36-year old told BT Sport:
"Ultimately, England are ruing the fact they've made too many mistakes in these two games. The fielding isn't as good as Australia's. The decision-making off the field hasn't been good enough. You can't afford, on a tour like this, to make mistakes.
According to the former opener, England made an avoidable mistake when they played a bowling attack that didn't feature in the first Test. Root kept the two most-experienced bowlers in James Anderson and Stuart Broad out of playing XI in the first Ashes Test in Brisbane. Cook explained:
"We've gone into this tour saying they are going to be the best-prepared England team. Yes, there have been some circumstances that they can't have avoided, like the COVID situation, the weather they had."
He continued:
"But they turned up to play the biggest Ashes game, which is the first one where you set the tone for the series and played a bowling attack that had never played before. Where's the planning? That's the bit I found frustrating. It's simple mistakes, avoidable mistakes."
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Wicket-keeper batter Jos Buttler showed great valor with his 207-ball knock of 26 runs and Chris Woakes contributed 44 from 97 as England tried to dig deep. However, they slipped to help Australia continue their 100% win record in the day-night Test matches.
"We weren't brave enough at times" - Joe Root
Following the heavy defeat, English Test skipper Joe Root admitted that his team weren't 'brave enough' in their bowling and could have bowled a lot fuller.
After losing the toss and bowling first, the visitors gave away 473 runs in the first innings and never really recovered from it. While speaking to BT Sport, Joe Root said:
"We could have bowled a lot fuller on the first day as in the second innings as soon as we got the ball up there we created all sorts of problems and chances. We needed to make Australia play more and we weren't brave enough at times to get the ball up there and create those chances."
Australia take the 2nd Test.
Amazing support from the Adelaide Barmies and back in the UK in the early hours right until the very end 👏
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The third Test in the Ashes will be played on December 26 at the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne.