Stop blaming the pitches – we were not good enough

We always go through a cycle in English cricket when we win or lose. When we lose at home it is because the pitches have been too flat and not assisted our bowlers. When we win a series at home it is because we are really good and have played brilliant cricket.

When we lose a series away it is because the pitches at home offer too much assistance to bowlers and we cannot produce batsmen who can bat for long periods of time. It is just one big circle of excuses.

When our greatest-ever bowler, James Anderson, said this week that he was disappointed the pitches have not helped us more in this Ashes series it showed that the cycle had started up again. Eventually, English cricket has to decide whether we continue what we are doing or make a change.

We generally win in England because the ball zips around. But we are not going to beat the best teams overseas on flatter pitches if we only play in helpful bowling conditions in England. The only time in recent years we have beaten a high-quality team away from home was in India in 2012. Winning in Australia in 2010-11 was a great achievement by our best team for years.

If we want to produce cricketers who can play the relentless style of cricket then we cannot be complaining about the pitches and the ball not swinging enough. We just have to accept in this series we have not been good enough. It has nothing to do with the pitches. Australia were 122 for eight at Edgbaston and England were not good enough to capitalise. England were bowled out for 67 at Headingley and won the game because they were bailed out by one player.

The pitches have offered plenty of help; there has not been one flat wicket in this series. If they had been really flat then England should have scored a lot more runs, so what Anderson is really saying is that England’s batsmen must be really poor if they have been unable to cash in this summer on dead surfaces.

I am not having a go at Jimmy; I said the same sort of thing in my day as a player. But realistically, if England want to produce a team

that can compete all over the world then we need to change our attitude in this country.

Anderson is a legend – but what kind of message does it send to young English bowlers when they hear him complaining about the pitches not being helpful enough?

We all have to get together and ask what we have to do to improve our Test game. Maybe we play with the Kookaburra ball for a couple of rounds of the championship, like Australia used the Dukes in Sheffield Shield cricket. Why don’t we try and play on flat wickets and make batting points worth more than bowling bonus points? Something has to change. I am getting bored of the same excuses.

Old Trafford did not have the pace we expected, but England got their selection wrong. They were good at complaining about the pitch, but then picked the wrong style of bowler for it in Craig Overton. Perhaps the pitch at Old Trafford needed an extra yard of pace and bounce. But there was a result with 10 overs in the game

I do not want to hear senior players saying the ball has to do something to win in England

remaining despite the fact rain had taken time out of the Test.

The only way England are going to improve is if they train their brains to bat better for 140 overs. That means also working out how to bowl teams out in 110-120 overs, not in 50 or 60 overs – that will only win you Test matches in England. Look at the Australians at Old Trafford; they had to bowl a lot of overs to dismiss England. They have been relentless bowling that 6.5 metre length.

Anderson and Stuart Broad have done that in the past. But what I do not want is two senior players passing the message that the ball has to be doing something all the time to win in England when they have won themselves overseas by being relentless and bowling with patience and accuracy.

Five or 10 years ago Jimmy was known as a bowler who was only effective when the ball did something. Well how has he become this brilliant bowler who is reliable in all conditions? It is that knowledge I want him passing on. How does he keep concentration, hold length and produce wobble seam? He will be retired soon so we should grab his knowledge and produce conditions where we can find bowlers who can emulate his skills without relying on having dodgy pitches created for us.