NO X-FACTOR AND NO FIGHT
Root’s been let down badly so change the system to give him pacemen and quality spinners
It all goes back to the early hours of September 25 outside a Bristol bar. From the moment Ben Stokes became involved in an incident that ruled him out of the ashes, whatever hopes England had of winning in australia all but disappeared.
History tells you only exceptional England teams win the greatest prize in cricket away from home and Joe Root’s side could ill afford to lose their best player — a man who should be destined to become one of the greats.
Whether he goes on to be a great will depend on Stokes learning from what he is going through now rather than blaming anyone but himself for his absence from a side who again lost the ashes here in inexcusably quick time.
Root dodged the question when asked after England’s eighth successive test defeat in australia yesterday if he felt let down by his erstwhile vice-captain, and great friend, Stokes. But he wouldn’t be human if he did not.
It is entirely feasible to think England would have won at least one of the first three tests had their talisman been here rather than waiting and playing in New Zealand hoping for a rapid recall.
and it is true that the incidents in a Perth bar that brought such embarrassment during this ashes would probably have been laughed off had England’s world not changed, as alastair Cook put it, in Bristol that night.
Without Stokes, and to a lesser extent Mark Wood, there has been no X-factor in England’s cricket, no bowler capable of fighting australian fire with fire, no rock for Root to lean on during this toughest of captaincy baptisms.
Consequently, there was no gumption or real fight as England lost their last six wickets in a session yesterday once the farcical delay caused by leaky covers more akin to a club ground than the WaCa held up play until after lunch. this could prove to be a hugely damaging experience for England’s other special player in Root, who showed signs of being frazzled by this uniquely difficult challenge with both bat and in the field here.
the last thing England need is for their inexperienced captain to be weighed down by what is already looking like a third 5-0 ashes defeat in four australian tours, when his batting is so important. If only Cook had been able to extend his captaincy for one more year, perhaps Root would be matching Steve Smith with the bat now rather than looking tired and drained with two to play.
Instead, Cook finds himself in his own personal battle to prove he still belongs as a test batsman after being unable to score the top-order runs that Root desperately needed from one of his senior professionals.
Yet any calls for Cook and Stuart Broad, who is enduring one of his worst series, to be dropped should be resisted, at least until the end of a tour where they have two more chances to prove their huge talents are not waning.
It would be premature to write off England’s record run- scorer and one of their best ever fast bowlers just yet, especially as they are such driven and strong characters who have proved doubters very wrong in the past.
THE
good news is that there will be no retirements mid- series this time, as we had with Graeme Swann in Perth four years ago, and no bitter unravelling of a team who remain united and, in reality, still on the way up rather than down. there are none of the factions or divisions in this England team, not like last time when a side that had climbed to the top of the world just two years earlier came crashing down around the then blameless captain Cook.
there is no point, either, blaming coach trevor Bayliss when it is an English domestic system awash with money and resources that is responsible for the lack of fast bowlers and quality spinners capable of winning overseas tests. If we are happy for the England team to win the bulk of their home tests on seaming pitches — and they will almost certainly beat australia at home in 2019, have no doubt about that — then there is no point in moaning now.
But if we truly want England to start winning away, replicating their ashes triumph here of seven years ago and their win in India in 2012, it is more important for the self-interested system to change rather than the coach.
It may be valid to question why England’s test cricket has not made the advances under Bayliss that the white-ball team have, because they are no better than when the australian took over ahead of winning the 2015 ashes.
Perhaps Bayliss’s relaxed style and emphasis on attacking cricket has not encouraged the discipline needed to rack up the scores of 600 required to win in India and australia, rather than the 400 which seems England’s peak. Bayliss, of course, was recruited