England are in real danger of suffering an embarrassing whitewash in the Ashes series in Australia after a thoroughly dismal three matches so far for Alastair Cook's side.
The 3-0 scoreline, which means the Baggy Greens reclaimed the urn for the first time since 2007, is no more than the home side deserved after totally dominating in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. England, who came into the series as slight favourites in the Ashes betting remember, have failed in pretty much every aspect of the game down under and there are now many questions to answer.
The recriminations - which are totally justified - have well and truly started with plenty of pundits suggesting changes are needed now to try and shake up a team that has underperformed so badly it is barely believable.
The fact newcomer Ben Stokes is the only man to hit a century in three Tests shows you just how poor England's supposed leading batsmen have been. Time and again, skipper Cook, Kevin Pietersen and Matt Prior have given their wickets away too easily and only Ian Bell can truly say he has played anywhere near his best level on a consistent basis.
The tail have, sadly, been unable to offer much support either with Stuart Broad, Jimmy Anderson and Graeme Swann struggling to make much impact when it mattered most.
Equally, the bowling and fielding has not been up to the required standard with Anderson and co being nowhere near as dangerours as in the previous three Ashes series' - admittedly on three good batting pitches so far.
So what now? There are two important Tests to come in which England must approach with the positive mindset of at least recovering some pride. Plenty will say, 'what's the point in coming to the party now when the damage has been done and the Ashes lost' but some of the squad could well be playing for their futures.
No matter how the remaining Melbourne and Sydney Tests go, England have been so far behind that serious questions need to be asked and senior players - with the finger being pointed firmly at Cook, Pietersen, Prior and even Broad here - now need to stand up and be counted, if only to save some face.
That desire to look at new players did lead to a rather lopsided line-up, with many believing the team was a bowler light. However, one bowler may have just played his way onto the plane to Australia this winter.
Alastair Cook has made it clear England will be going all out to win their first ever Champions Trophy title when the tournament gets underway this summer. The hosts have never won the 50-over ICC event in six attempts, but Cook has admitted he is confident England could end that run in this summer’s competition.
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| Samit Patel, Johny Bairstow, Nick Compton and Joe Root celebrating England's win |
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| Kevin Pietersen with the signatures of himself, Cook, Compton, Trott, Bell, Patel, Root, Prior, Swann, Anderson, Bairstow and Flower |
This much exciting series took a dramatic turn today. England finished Day 2 at 178/2 with Cook and KP at the crease. Thus, there was every chance for England to put on a good total. But given that wickets have usually fallen in the first session in this series so far, which team would win the first session was not predictable.
England tour of India continues to be exciting. The teams were evenly matched on Day 1 of the 2nd Test as the English ripped 6 wickets as India put on 260 odd runs. England were ahead for most of the day as the 6th wicket fell at 169. Pujara, who scored 206* and 41* in the 1st Test, is batting on 114 and Ashwin on 60. The umpiring was disappointing in the 1st Test and today as well. Pujara was out on 94, caught off Swann. The ball first hit Cook's toe, standing at slip and then was caught by another fielder. After checking it out from only one angle, which was clearly inconclusive, the 3rd umpire ruled that he's not out. India is the only team who doesn't use Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS), which is pathetic. The lack of use of technology is apparent in this series. It seems as though the BCCI are reluctant to spend on it, despite being the richest cricket board. No wonder they are the richest. It happens with every team that wrong decisions are given against them, but England seems to be the one most affected. That's because these decisions prove to be pivotal, by coincidence or perhaps because it demoralises England more than other teams. Whatever the case may be, England are a happier bunch with the review system active. It doesn't seem right that a rule is applied in all matches except India's matches. If a rule has been passed by ICC, it must be applied to all International matches. And then, not viewers would have known about this at the start of this series.
Monty Panesar made an impressive comeback, by taking 4 wickets, as predicted by Shane Warne. It was his day. England must be regretting their decision not to play him in the 1st Test, but they should be happy they chose him sooner rather than later. Though Steven Finn is still injured so it was an easy decision. Playing Tim Bresnan in the 1st Test definitely didn't make sense. Monty couldn't have done worse. It's worth the risk to try spinners in India. Why Samit Patel is playing is beyond my ability to comprehend though. He doesn't ever look confident enough to take a wicket in Tests. Plus, he has had more success with the bat than bowl and he doesn't have the making of a Test batsman either. Johny Bairstow replaced Ian Bell, who has gone home to witness the birth of his child. It will be interesting to see how Bairstow, who is playing his 5th Test, bats and if England will omit Patel to keep both Bairstow and Bell in the team in case Bairstow succeeds in impressing.
India are ahead of England at the moment, given India won the toss again and will make England bat last and how the pitch has played so far and their quota of spinners but if England can wrap up the 1st Indian innings early, they'll have a chance to take lead. The English batsmen must come to the party this time as captain Cook, deserves a better chance to win than the hard fought two men against eleven battle in the 1st Test.
The only England bowler who can be praised in this match is Graeme Swann. The man never fails to perform. He does what Trott does with the bat. Other England bowlers lacked lustre and clearly missed injured Steven Finn. As is often said, Nick Compton is tailor made for Test cricket and scored runs in the warm-up games as well. Cook and Compton looked like a solid pair and I won't blame Compton for getting out the way he did. Some deliveries are such that any batsman can be pardoned. James Anderson, who is the permanent nightwatchman for England, was sent in yet again, though he didn't last long this time. England always sends a nightwatchman in this situation nowadays but it definitely shouldn't be this way. I think a nightwatchman is sent when only a couple of overs are left and you can't afford to lose a wicket and perhaps to surprise the opposition, since they have plans for the big batsmen. But, this is a decision which should be taken on impulse. A nightwatchman is not always needed, like when you are trailing behind by 500 and can't let the opposition mentally dominate you. India celebrated the fall of three wickets today. And England were shaken up thrice. Now, when either side looks at the scoreboard, they'll see the wickets as three, not two, even though No.11s usually score less than 10.
After being white-washed in the Test series, England have managed to bounce back. And in what exhilarating fashion. England began the series with the new opening partnership of Captain Cook and Kevin Pietersen. The first two one-dayers had a striking similarity - a century by Cook and 4 wickets by Finn. Yet, they were extremely different. While England won the first with no struggle, the second tested them. They would be proud of winning the first, especially since it followed their drubbing in Tests, but it's the battles like the second, which give you a rush. From the spectators point of view, all three had something interesting to offer. The first made sure that this tour isn't going to be one-sided. The second was a close contest. And the third? The third had Kevin Pietersen. When KP is on song, he takes cricket to a higher level. The transition from other cricket to Kevin Pietersen's batting is the same as the one from school books to erotic fiction. Not to forget, I predicted an entertaining show from him in my last post, England at a loss in victory as Lions crushed before one-day against Pak.
These 3 matches couldn't have been better for me. Two centuries by Cook, success for Finn and KP, it just couldn't get better than that. Before this series, Finn had expressed a desire to play in Tests, and again, he has said that Tests is where he wants to be, for the rest of his career. Performing in all the three one-days means that he is pushing harder for a place in Tests. England next head to Sri Lanka for 2 Tests, the squad for which will be announced after the 3rd Twenty20 in Abu Dhabi.
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Well, this is hilarious. The team which beat Pakistan (at home) by 3-1, Australia (away) by 3-1 and India (at home) by 4-0 has been whitewashed by Pakistan. England are still No.1 on ICC Test rankings though.
