With England coming crashing down yet again in an Ashes opener, former skipper Michael Atherton took the team’s batting unit to task and called out its over-reliance on captain Joe Root.
The Brisbane Test, which England lost by nine wickets inside four days, saw their skipper continue his great form this year. After a rare failure on Day 1, the modern-day giant was back in his element and made a defiant 89 in the second innings. In partnership with Dawid Malan (82), Root made Australia work hard for their wickets.
However, once those two departed at the start of Day 4, England lost their last six wickets for just 68 runs and were bundled out for 297, leaving Australia 20 runs to chase. This, after being dismantled on an opening day for only 147 runs.
Atherton, taking note of it, said while Malan’s fight with the bat in the second innings was encouraging, England and Root need a lot, lot more from the rest if they are to compete against Australia.
“If you look at England in the last dozen Tests… they’ve become so reliant on Root. And if England are going to do well in Australia, you’d think he’s going to have to have a productive series, but he needs others around him to support him as well.”
“Malan batted well … but England’s batting in both innings, other than that one partnership, was poor and that’s going to cost them. They were completely under-prepared, and I have a lot of sympathy for them in this regard.”
he wrote in his column for Sky Sports.
Atherton, however, was also sympathetic towards the touring England side after their preparations ahead of the Ashes opener were spoiled largely by the poor weather in Queensland. Both of England’s pre-series warm-up games were affected by rain, which meant Root & co had to make do with limited prep for the marquee series.
The next Test starts on December 16 in Adelaide. It will be the series’ first D/N pink-ball game, with the next one – the fifth and final Test – scheduled for Hobart. Melbourne and Sydney will host the traditional Boxing Day and New Year’s Tests between them.
