BAT OUT OF HELL

Same sad story for England Down Under as the batting fails under pressure and the Aussies ease to a comfortable 2-0 lead

ALREADY this tour is beginning to feel like Groundhog Day, England giving everything they had in Adelaide and once again coming up short.

Gary Lineker once described football as a simple game in which 22 players run around chasing a ball and at the end of 90 minutes the Germans always win.

Well when it comes to cricket Down Under it is five days and the Australians always win, especially if it is a day/nighter.

These were supposed to be the conditions that suited England better than anywhere else, and they were. Cool and damp, with a ball that nipped about and thanks to the skills of James Anderson, the visitors had the best of those conditions.

Did it matter? Did it heck as the Aussies made it four wins from four day/nighters at home to take a 2-0 lead in the series.

England’s batting was simply not up to the task, just as in Brisbane, and for all the positivity that Joe Root (above) reached for in the aftermath of defeat, there was a fair bit of clutching at straws going on.

“I thought the way we responded both with ball and bat in the second innings was outstanding, especially the way we played last night in those conditions,” said the England skipper after the 120-run defeat.

“I thought we showed a lot of character, which is what you want to see in big series like this. It’s now about finding a way to do it over periods of time and over five days.

“The way we went about the second innings proved to everyone really we’re still massively in this series. It’s as simple as that.

“I can understand the public will be frustrated and disappointed because that’s exactly how I feel.”

Frustrated, almost certainly yes Joe, but disappointed? That would suggest there was a level of expectation beyond what has been produced and that might be stretching it.

When it comes to the batting, there can only really have been expectation on four of seven batsmen, Root, Alastair Cook, Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali.

All failed to deliver the matchwinning performances of which they are they capable, but maybe one is round the corner as these four know what it is like to score a Test-match hundred.

They understand the pressures and the technical requirements and have done it more than once.

But what could rightly be expected of Mark Stoneman, James Vince and Dawid Malan? What pedigree have they brought to Australia?

They brought hope, sure. They brought a selectors’ hunch, definitely. They brought a gut feeling they were up to it. Absolutely.

But unlike Ben Stokes in Perth in 2013-14, none has managed to translate that into performance and that is what will win, or lose, the Ashes.

Head coach Trevor Bayliss said: “From a batting point of view in the first two Tests everyone has shown they’ve a bit of fight in them, but have to do it for longer. I can’t see any reason to change the team for the next Test. We have to give those guys the opportunities to do it, if we think they can do it.

“They’ve scored 30s, 40s and 50s, and if you can make a 50 – which they’ve all done – all you’ve got to do is do it again.

“If you score 50, don’t look in trouble and you’re showing you can play at this level and can handle the pressure... it’s about going through that ceiling and doing it twice.”

That might be easier said than done Trevor.