LONDON: Joe Root’s England team is simply not good enough to beat Australia in their own backyard and lack fast bowlers who can scare the opposition.
That’s the harsh verdict from the British press after the tourists slumped to a 3-0 Ashes deficit following a painful innings defeat in Perth, leaving them staring at a 5-0 whitewash for the third time in four series Down Under.
Australia have outbatted and outbowled their visitors in all three Tests and on Monday regained the famous Ashes urn with two games of the five-match series left to play.
“Many reviews could be conducted into the state of English cricket and the lack of incentive for young outright fast bowlers, the state of pitches — nothing like the WACA in Perth — and the questionable coaching methods,” wrote Daily Telegraph cricket correspondent Scyld Berry. “But the fundamental fact is that Root’s squad does not contain enough good players to beat Australia here.
“For an Ashes series in England, half of Root’s team would be in contention for a place in a composite XI,” he added. “In Australia, on the basis of the first three Tests, only Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow would get into a composite XI.”
Former England batsmen Geoffrey Boycott said not even the missing Ben Stokes — banned from international duties over an alleged fracas outside an English nightclub — would have made the difference.
“Nothing we have in English cricket would have changed the result. I can’t think of any player at home who could have made so much difference,” he was quoted as saying on the BBC website.
“Ben Stokes would have helped the batting and I would be surprised if he didn’t score runs at some point over here because he’s a good player but we’ve been outplayed.”
Former England Test all-rounder Vic Marks, writing in The Guardian, agreed that England’s troubles did not start with the Stokes incident, highlighting the batting of captain Steve Smith, averaging 142 in the series, as a key strength.
“At the head of the Australian team is the best batsman in the series and probably the best in the world,” he wrote. “Steve Smith has been superb, rescuing his side in Brisbane and forging the match-winning partnership in Perth.”
Former England captain and The Times chief cricket correspondent Michael Atherton said England’s bowlers have paled beside their Australian counterparts.
“While England have relied on two ageing bowlers who spearheaded their last whitewash here — [James] Anderson has done himself justice, [Stuart] Broad has not — Australia have revamped their pace attack completely, through the compelling combination of Josh Hazlewood, five wickets to the good in the second innings, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc — all younger, hungry, vital and fast,” he said.
Anderson has taken 12 wickets in the series so far but Broad has managed just five scalps.
By contrast, Australia’s top four bowlers — Starc, Hazlewood and Cummins plus off-spinner Nathan Lyon — have taken 59 wickets between them.
Former Ashes-winning fast bowler John Snow said England are having trouble unearthing fast bowlers to shake up opposition batsmen.
“Fast bowlers don’t grow on trees,” the 76-year-old told the Press Association. “The wickets used to be better, they’ve got slower here in England for years and years. They’ve been messed about by directives rather than just focusing on producing good, true wickets.
“Fast bowling is about physical ability, physique, the mentality, the coordination. But you’ve got to want to learn how to bowl quick and for it all to slot into place.
“You’ve got to learn how to do it yourself, the coaches don’t bowl the damn thing, the bowler has to bowl it.”
Meanwhile, a 5-0 series whitewash and the playing futures of England veterans Alastair Cook and Stuart Broad were focal among Australia’s reaction to winning back the Ashes on Tuesday.
“Cricket is getting shorter, and not just in the ways intended. It has taken Australia 15 days to regain the Ashes that they lost in 14 days just over two years ago,” The Australian’s Gideon Haigh wrote. “Kudos to the Australians. They have played substantially the better cricket for significantly longer phases.”
Haigh added: “But 3-0 so soon? It leaves the summer’s showpiece Tests, Boxing Day in Melbourne and New Year’s in Sydney with no bearing on the series.”
Catherine McGregor, writing for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, noted: “England has been comprehensively routed. There are no easy or obvious answers to their problems — which now appear to include cascading mental disintegration.
“Another whitewash looms. Their batting and bowling are both deficient.
“Cook is now entering the twilight of his career.” Former cricketer Brett Geeves described the tourists as ‘putrid’.
“England have been putrid. But it’s not just against Australia they’ve been poor. They’ve actually lost their last seven away Test matches in a row, with three of those losses coming by way of an innings defeat,” Geeves wrote for Fox Sports.
The Courier Mail’s Robert Craddock said the true gauge of Australia’s abilities will be when they face South Africa early next year.
“For all of Australia’s dominance in this series, the true measure of their worth as an emerging cricket team will be how they measure up in the four-Test series in South Africa in March,” he said.
“The victorious Ashes campaign has confirmed a lot of the things suspected about this constantly remodelled Australian team.
“Steve Smith is a cut above the rest. It’s remarkable what one brilliant player is capable of.”
The Age’s Greg Baum added: “Australia can be well pleased with this Ashes reclamation, for it was at a level more of a triumph than their previous two successes. They are not yet a great team, but they have done a great thing.”
