ABJECT LESSON
Thorpe: If players want a future they must learn from Ashes meltdown
ENGLAND’S underachieving cricketers have been told to face up to their failings on this Ashes tour if they want to stay in the team and improve.
With the Ashes long gone and one final match to come in Hobart, the Aussies put the squeeze on England in Sydney before setting a fanciful target of 388 to win the fourth Test.
But whatever the final result at the SCG the focus has already switched to what the players can take out of the tour with several changes to be made next week.
Subject to medical assessment it appears unlikely that Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler or Jonny Bairstow will be available to take part in the fifth Test due to their various ailments.
It will clear the way for Sam Billings to make his Test debut behind the stumps, even though Ollie Pope did an outstanding job filling in on Saturday, claiming a record-equalling four catches in the job.
Pope can expect to earn a recall as a batsman while Dan Lawrence will be itching to play some part in the series.
But for all the players on this tour, the lessons dished out by Australia have been severe, and assistant coach Graham Thorpe (below) wants to make sure they don’t go to waste.
“This is the harsh end of the game,” he said. “I do believe that some of these young players in this team will have very good and long Test careers.
“But they have to be able to front up and accept some of the failings whether they be either technical or mental for periods on this tour.
Temperament
“I know they’re trying to correct it, and I’m hoping that some of these younger guys will be far better players down the line with their awareness and their smartness.
“Decision-making is key. Everyone goes on about technique, but you’ve got to make good decisions constantly when you’re out in the middle and that requires a good temperament.”
There was no better example of a good temperament than that of
Usman
Khawaja, who at 35 made the absolute most of his chance with a second hundred in the match.
Khawaja is a class act with the bat, but has had to battle hard for his chances and even now accepts that twin tons might not be enough to keep him in the side.
“I’m not a selector but I’ve spoken with them and I understand the process,” said Khawaja. “Having been on both sides of it, I’m in favour of it.
“If you work so hard to get your chance, when it comes along you should get a fair crack at it with a decent amount of games, so I may miss out next time.”
Where his 101 not out will find favour in the Aussie dressing room though is how it managed to hurt England in the field, even though the heroic Mark Wood kept charging in regardless.
There can be no more wholehearted a cricketer than Wood who has turned up the heat on the Aussie batsmen for three matches and even though he has dismissed Marnus Labuschagne three times in a row for a combined 17 runs, deserves far more luck than he’s had.