BAT OUT OF HELL
Desperate times for young guns
CRAWLEY
ENGLAND’S misfiring young batsmen will need to show their ‘desperation’ to stay in the Test team with big scores or face the axe this summer.
Of the top seven, only Rory Burns enhanced his reputation during the 1-0 series defeat to New Zealand by grabbing the solitary hundred scored by England.
And the quartet of Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence have all been put on notice that their current output will not be tolerated unless they show improvement during the India series.
Batting coach Graham Thorpe would love to see them succeed, but as someone who saw team-mates come and go through the 1990s, he know only one thing keeps you in the side.
“These players have to show a desperation to stay in the side as well,” said Thorpe. “They’ve got to earn the right to stay in the side with runs.
“They will be fully aware of that, because we’ve got some players who will come back into that team and there are others on the outside putting pressure on too.
“That goes with the territory of playing at the highest level. You do have to keep producing. Your right-hand column is very important – it is what keeps you in the team.
“It is for us to keep observing the players to see whether they have the temperament to apply their techniques to score runs.
“We are hugely disappointed as a group but we have keep looking at players who actually can do that for us going forward.”
Thorpe has great understanding for young players finding their feet and who are bound to be inconsistent in the early part of their careers.
But he also knows there is no getting away from just how tough Test cricket is, as James Bracey has cruelly found out over the past two weeks.
“Test cricket can be a brutal place sometimes,” said Thorpe, 51. “I expect the players to be fired up by this.
“We are trying to find the characters who can show those things we have talked about – the temperament and desire to score big runs.
“Technique is hugely important and that is what keeps you scoring runs, but it is decision-making that keeps you in the middle, whatever technique you have.”