Young guns in the firing line
THORPE: SHOW ME THE HUNGER
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 series defeat to New Zealand by grabbing the solitary hundred scored by England.
Dom Sibley, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope and Dan Lawrence have all been put on notice that their current output will not be tolerated for much longer.
Batting coach Graham Thorpe would like nothing more than to see them succeed, but as someone who saw team-mates come and go through the 1990s, he knows only one thing keeps you in the side. “It was a bit like that in years gone by, but 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.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.
“That goes with the territory of playing at the highest level. You do have to keep producing. Your righthand column is very important, it’s what keeps you in the team.
“It’s 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 to keep working with the players and we have to keep looking at players who actually can do that for us going forward.”
Thorpe knows young players need to find their feet. But he also knows there is no getting away from just how tough Test cricket is, as James Bracey found out over the past two weeks.
“Test cricket can be a brutal place,” added the 51-year-old Thorpe. “I expect the players to be fired up from 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’s what keeps you scoring runs, but it is your decision-making that keeps you out in the middle.” Meanwhile, Ollie Robinson is set to return to the field with the Sussex second XI today against Hampshire. The 27-year-old, who has been suspended from international cricket pending an investigation into historical tweets, took a short break. He has been named in the squad for the two behind-closed-doors T20 matches at Hove.