It’s do or die at Lord’s but England are ready
Our boys can show Ashes credentials in series decider against West Indies
AS A SPORTSMAN you go into every game aiming t o win, but you al s o cherish the battles along the way — and no one who followed the second Test at Headingley can deny that it was brilliant for cricket. We’re frustrated we lost, and we know we made some serious mistakes, but huge credit must go to West Indies for the way they fought back after Edgbaston.
We never got sucked into the argument that they were ripe for another beating after that first Test. Sometimes, when one team gets on a roll — like we did on that third day when 19 wickets fell at Edgbaston — it can be hard for the other team to stop. We knew they would come back hard, and we expect t he same at Lord’s on Thursday.
But let’s be frank: when we set them 322 to score on the fifth day, we fancied our chances. And if we hadn’t dropped Kraigg Brathwaite when he had four, it might have been a different story. Hats off to Brathwaite and Shai Hope, though, they were superb over two innings. Next up is a decider, and that’s great for the game. LEARNING HARD WAY IT is not a theory you like to test out too often, but it is probably true that you learn more from defeat than you do from victory. And we learned there is no room for basic errors in Test match cricket.
On day one we scored 258, which is not enough on any pitch. Then as a bowling unit we chased wickets because we weren’t defending many runs, which was the wrong way to go.
Glenn McGrath used to talk about bowling defensively to attacking f i el ds. We at t acked with our bowling to attacking fields, and conceded runs quickly. We gave away too many four balls, and I was as guilty as anyone.
Then there was our fielding. I don’t know what it is about Headingley — maybe it’s the colour of the seats — but it’s not the easiest catching ground, and West Indies dropped a few themselves as if to prove the point. STAY IN THE BATTLE IT was that kind of match. If you’d told us after two days that we might get ourselves into a position where we could push for a win, we’d have bitten your hand off.
After we lost to South Africa at Trent Bridge, our coaches, Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace, asked us to stay in the fight a bit longer. If you’re staring defeat in the face, try to take the game as deep as possible.
Yes, we lost the game, but the character we showed to fight back in our second innings, when we made 490 for eight, is what a team need to be successful. There have been times in the past year or two where we might have capitulated instead. It’s the kind of positivity we’ll be taking to Lord’s. RIGHT TO DECLARE I REMEMBER how Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook used to get criticised for what people felt were their conservative declarations. Then Joe Root dangles a carrot at Headingley and there are a few voices on social media saying he was too generous.
In my book, Joe got the declaration spot on. It wasn’t his fault the bowlers didn’t take wickets and the fielders dropped catches. And it wasn’t his fault that the pitch didn’t deteriorate at all — it just got slower, as Dawid Malan showed by grinding out a valuable 61 in five hours.
And that meant Joe needed to tempt West Indies with a target that encouraged them to play a few shots and go on the drive. If they’d shut up shop, it would have been very hard to take 10 wickets. It was hard enough as it was!
We know that if we stick to an attacking approach, we’ll win more games than we lose. We can’t lose faith in our attitude. FINE LINE FOR BEN ONE player we don’t want to lose is Ben Stokes. He picked up another demerit point for swearing at Headingley, and the last thing we want is for him to be ruled out of the first Ashes Test.
Players have to be careful now, as South Africa’s Kagiso Rabada found out when he was heard shouting something he shouldn’t have done against us at Lord’s.
The stump mics and the umpires pick up quite a lot that’s said out in the middle. Equally, we don’t want Ben to lose his fire and his passion,
because those qualities make him the player he is.
BRISBANE CALLING
LORD’S has now become do or die. Yes, we’d rather have wrapped up the series by now, but to be pitched into a high-pressure battle in our last Test before the Gabba on November 23 is no bad thing.
Not only is a series up for grabs, but there’s a chance for guys to book a place on the flight to Australia. It’s exciting.
I reckon England and Australia are in a similar place right now, which bodes well for the Ashes. I know they’ve just lost to Bangladesh, but as we found out last year, Dhaka can be a tough place to bat against spin. We lost 10 wickets in a session! It’s tricky making any judgment on the Aussies, because we suffered the same fate.
All I know is that everything is bubbling up very nicely ahead of that first Test in Brisbane.
First, though, we need to beat West Indies at Lord’s — and we’re confident we can do just that.