England collapse a fitting finale
Tourists produced their worst Ashes batting effort in Australia since 1887
J oe Root looked down at the pitch, smiled, muttered an expletive and walked off shaking his head. Root’s tour was over, bowled by a grubber, and his hopes of winning a test in Australia as England captain were finished by another batting surrender from his team.
England have two days at leisure in Hobart to brood over losing the Ashes 4-0, their 124 all out there on Sunday a fitting finale for a series characterised by some of the worst English batting ever seen in Australia.
The brutal truth is they were one wicket away from a whitewash thanks to collapses in the series of 8-86 (Adelaide), 8-74 (Brisbane), 10-61 (Melbourne) and 10-56 (Hobart).
Heads will no doubt roll, with coach Chris Silverwood and team director Ashley Giles the two likely victims of another Ashes mauling in Australia.
Silverwood was out of his depth and floundered over strategy and selection. Giles gave him the power and created the system that has not worked. Both knew they would be judged on this series and were in Hobart to see its horrible end.
Root said this tour would define his captaincy. He wants to carry on, and will give the England and Wales Cricket Board a blueprint for change, but it was worrying he pushed the blame on the county system and backed everyone in the group to carry on. It is not all the fault of county cricket. He was culpable for most of the decisions made in Australia, too, and clings on because there is nobody else to do the job. It is a sorry state of affairs.
Only Mark Wood has strengthened his reputation on this tour and his 6-37 — 9-152 in the match — briefly gave England a sniff of victory in Hobart, only for the batting to predictably fail again under pressure, losing nine wickets in the final session to another stream of poor shots.
Australia were dismissed for 155, England taking 20 wickets in a test for the first time this tour, the tourists set 271 to win. WinViz, the broadcaster’s result predictor, even had it 52-48 in England’s favour, the first time that had happened all series, when they reached 68 for no wicket, but there was always time for one more collapse as far as this side were concerned.
They were bowled out for 124 in 38.5 overs, losing their last nine wickets for 42 in 18 overs of hopeless capitulation after the evening break to lose by 146 runs. Soft dismissals were again the theme. Only Root had cause to curse his luck, bowled by one that kept low from Scott Boland.
The bowling was high class, and the conditions tricky under the lights on a seaming pitch, but England’s batsmen lacked the defence, or fight, to stop Australia’s momentum as 17 wickets fell for the second day running.
It is now 11 years since they won a test in Australia, and when Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Starc average more with the bat than most of England’s batsmen, it is not hard to see why this series has been so onesided.
England averaged 20.21 per wicket, their worst in Australia since 1887. It was that bad.
Wood’s average pace has been 144.2km/h in four tests, and he has shown that Silverwood, who could bowl at a decent lick himself, was at least right about one thing.
England needed high speed to compete and Wood hit Australia hard, landing a few psychological blows for the 2023 Ashes, and will have noted how Pat Cummins did not like the short stuff very much.
If only Jofra Archer and Olly Stone had been fit and England had the chance to use Plan A. Wood’s success, 17 wickets at 26.64 in the series, should bury the myth that you win in Australia by bowling “dry”, backof-a-length balls that restrict scoring.
It worked in 2010-11 against a poor Australia side and the hangover from that victory is that a generation of senior England players believed it was the way forward, drumming it into others. The result? 13-0 to Australia since then.
Wood started with a three-wicket spell from six overs on Sunday, removing Steve Smith caught hooking and Travis Head off the glove down the leg side.
Wickets fell at regular intervals but England’s sloppiness cost them again; Chris Woakes bowling Alex Carey on 19 with a no-ball, the third wicket of the series to be scrubbed off for overstepping.
Carey made 49 and steered two good partnerships with Cameron Green and Cummins that brought 79 runs and just took the target away from England.
England had successfully chased only three higher scores in Australia, and all were before World War II.
Rory Burns and Zak Crawley gave some hope, with the first fifty opening stand of the series and highest by England in Australia since 2013.
Burns, run out for a duck in the first innings, was playing for his career. He made 26 but it was scratchy stuff and he could have been out three times before he eventually chopped on as Green’s bounce and accuracy brought three top-order wickets.
Dawid Malan was also bowled off an inside edge, looking distracted, but that was understandable given the arrival of his first child overnight, six weeks premature.
Crawley was caught driving on the walk. Root could not bring himself to look Ben Stokes in the eye as the all-rounder holed out to deep square leg, falling slap bang in the trap set for him, and four overs later, Root was gone, too.
Australia sensed the end was close, they never let go, preying on shattered England players. Ollie Pope was bowled middle stump around his legs, his off-side guard exposed again.
Sam Billings chipped to mid-on, Woakes was bowled having a big heave. Wood bottom-edged on to his stumps and Ollie Robinson was last man out playing a drive.
The bails flashed up as the ball hit the stumps, but really the lights had gone out on England weeks ago.