Joe’s taste of gory as England flop again
WHEN Trevor Bayliss, the england coach whose stockin-trade is dry understatement, calls your performance ‘a shocker’, you know you’ve had a bad day at the office.
his players, duly chastened, took a while to emerge from the Trent Bridge dressing room after slumping to a 340-run defeat by South Africa that felt like a re-run of the dark days of the 1980s and 1990s.
Inside, they had discussed — passionately and at length — why it is that they have developed the maddening habit of winning one game and losing the next. It is a habit that will stunt their growth as a Test team. And, for once, it drove Bayliss to distraction.
‘I watched in a bit of disbelief,’ he said after england had been skittled for 133 inside 45 overs. ‘It was a poor performance. I wish I could explain it, as it has happened over the last few years: we put in one good game and win and then a poor game and lose well.
‘The boys are honest: they realise they have had a shocker. We have to make sure we don’t panic.’
For Joe Root, it was an immediate introduction to the realities of life as england’s Test captain: glory one minute, gory the next.
And Root’s mood was not helped when it was put to him that Michael Vaughan, one of his predecessors and these days something of a mentor, suggested the team’s batting had shown a ‘ lack of respect about what the game is’.
Root said: ‘I think that’s very unfair. I can’t believe he’s actually said that, to be honest. We pride ourselves on winning series like this and unfortunately we’ve played poorly this week, but the most important thing now is to respond well and make sure we put it right at The Oval.’
Root knows he must find the key to solving england’s crippling inconsistency if they are to have any chance of beating South Africa, let alone retaining the Ashes this winter. Since winning three Tests in a row at home to India in 2014, they have won two in succession on only three occasions — at home to Australia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
‘I can’t put my finger on it,’ said Root. ‘I look at the talent in the dressing room and it shouldn’t happen. It’s something we’ve spoken about and we want to make sure we put it right.’
To add to Root’s woes, Mark Wood is to have a scan on his bruised left heel, while Gary Ballance, who owes his Test recall to the advocacy of his captain, was due to have an X-ray on his left index finger last night after he was struck by Morne Morkel. There are plenty in nottingham and beyond who would argue that Ballance, averaging 21 in this series, should not be in the team anyway.
But, after only two Tests in the job, Root was already reaching for that old favourite of embattled england cricket captains down the years, and pleading: ‘Don’t panic!’
‘It’s important to stay calm,’ he said. ‘There’s a lot of cricket left in this series. It’s important we don’t sulk or get too down on ourselves. We’re a good side and we don’t lose that overnight.’
South Africa, though, have noticed what plenty of others have observed, which is that england’s preference for aggressive cricket — especially in their second innings — will always keep the bowlers interested.
‘We know england are a very good team with trying to transfer pressure,’ said their captain, Faf du Plessis. ‘But if they’re playing shots we know we have a chance to take wickets.’
he was echoed by man of the match Vernon Philander, who complemented his five wickets with 96 runs and made the life of england’s top order an unrelenting misery.
‘The most exciting thing about them being attacking players is you’re always going to have opportunities,’ he said with half a smile.
While South Africa knuckled down twice in testing conditions, scoring 335 and 343 for nine, england boasted a lone half-century — Root’s stellar 78 off 76 balls on Saturday — and an eye-watering 13 single-figure scores.
When the new captain talks about the need for great consistency, that is presumably not what he meant.