England made me cringe – they can’t
Team must follow Root’s example in facing up to batting malaise and deal with it for second Test
When you win the toss on a flat batting pitch, it is a huge opportunity to bat your opponent out of the match. England did not do that and paid the price. Too many batsmen got starts, batted nicely, but failed to hurt New Zealand.
Some of those shots in the England second innings made me cringe. The ball was not seaming, just turning a bit, and England were trying to save the match, yet Neil Wagner, the left-arm seamer, took five wickets.
Dominic Sibley played defensively at a wide ball from Mitchell Santner, that was spinning wider and he could have left. Rory Burns was out lap-slogging the left-arm spinner from way outside off stump and out of the bowler’s rough, where there was bound to be indifferent bounce. That shows a lack of confidence in his ability to stay in.
Joe Root was caught at point off a bowler, Colin de Grandhomme, who is slightly better than me, and I was poor. Ollie Pope was caught at cover off a wide full toss he could hardly reach.
Jos Buttler was bowled playing no shot. Pure misjudgement. After that, you cannot blame the tail-enders because the batsmen have not done their jobs properly. It was nice to hear Root being honest after the game about the batting. He gave no excuses. England batted poorly in the first innings, and awful in the second innings.
All the guys need to be honest with themselves. Batting badly is not a crime. It happens.
Everyone is human and makes mistakes. It is what you do about it that matters. Making the same mistakes would be a huge concern, so deal with it and bat better in the next Test.
Their first-innings score of 353 was OK, but it was not a total that put New Zealand under any pressure. Every total you achieve should be relative to the type of surface you are batting on. If the ball is seaming and swinging or spinning, batting first and making 350 will put your team in the driving seat.
But when batting first on an easy-paced pitch, it is imperative to score 500. With an odd exception, that total has been beyond England teams for a long time now.
England have a long batting line-up, with eight batsmen. Before the match, they should be saying to themselves “a couple of us will probably get out to good
Root was caught off De Grandhomme, a bowler who is only slightly better than me, and I was poor
balls, one of us may get an unlucky decision or a run out, but that leaves five of us who will get starts and at least one or two will go on to make big hundreds”.
If one scores a big hundred they seal up an end for long periods and others can bat around them.
Making little cameos does not hurt the opposition. It is a mindset more than a technique. Concentration, patience and sheer bloody-mindedness are far more important than technique. Every batsman needs to hate giving his wicket away. It should really hurt to get out. Our guys cannot stop playing silly shots.
The idea should be to make the opposition bowl 10 good balls to take 10 wickets. Great batting teams make the fewest mistakes. Never mind all the fabulous shots they play and how many fours and sixes they hit. If you analyse their innings, they do not give the bowlers a sniff.
It is no good talking a good game before the match and then saying after defeat you will take the positives. If I hear that one more time, I am going to scream.
There are no positives in losing. After batting first, England lost badly and embarrassingly. England have a new head coach and lots of backroom staff, but they have to find someone who can get across to the batsmen the importance of individuals batting for long periods and scoring big totals.
I have said this before: bowlers win matches by taking 20 wickets, but it is the batsmen who put you in a position to win. Batsmen can create scoreboard pressure for the opposition, which can be exploited by your bowlers.
Jofra Archer’s entrance to international cricket has been electrifying. It could not have been more timely, as James Anderson’s career is tapering off and along comes this jewel to take his place. His fast, deceptive pace is like an ace in a pack of cards. He is a trump card and you must play it wisely and not waste it.
Ideally, you want short, fast spells. Do not let him get carried away bowling too many bouncers that look good and wastes his energy. If he is over-bowled he will run out of puff or get injured. He cannot be the explosive wickettaker and donkey bowler as well. In the New Zealand innings, he bowled 42 overs, which is more than any of the other seamers. Only Jack Leach, the spinner, bowled more overs than him. Crazy. If Root keeps on bowling him like that he will soon be 5ft 8in.
He is new and raw to international cricket. It is all exhilarating for him and if a captain asks him to bowl he will give everything, but the captain has to protect him from himself. Too many overs, and too many short balls, is a waste of his talent.