I feel for Joe Root. The openers do okay but the middle order then collapse...again. Or the openers crumble and the middle order managed to scrape a few or also collapse. Meanwhile he's there carrying the team with the bat...again. And he's also a pretty poor captain. So many things need to change with this test side for it to challenge the India, NZ and the Aussies. The Aussies have their own issues but they have enough good players to score 300 and avoid constant collapse and good enough bowlers to take ten wickets.
The extra pace of Wood/Archer would have been good in the second innings and Stokes is of course a big loss. But Woakes, from little cricket and very little test cricket, has shown that unfortunately Moeen and Bairstow shouldn't be in this test squad. They just don't offer enough.
I don't know what the solution is to the current problem. I think losing the Ashes in Australia tends to be the catalyst for major change so we might not have to wait long for a complete reset. I'd be surprised if Jimmy goes beyond this winter.
Many of the problems you highlight were all too apparent the last time England toured Australia, so they’re not current in the sense of new. The post mortem then was supposed to be the catalyst to improvements before this winter’s return, yet England are still no nearer having an established batting order, a harnessed bowling attack, recognised spinners, or a settled wicket keeper.I feel for Joe Root. The openers do okay but the middle order then collapse...again. Or the openers crumble and the middle order managed to scrape a few or also collapse. Meanwhile he's there carrying the team with the bat...again. And he's also a pretty poor captain. So many things need to change with this test side for it to challenge the India, NZ and the Aussies. The Aussies have their own issues but they have enough good players to score 300 and avoid constant collapse and good enough bowlers to take ten wickets.
The extra pace of Wood/Archer would have been good in the second innings and Stokes is of course a big loss. But Woakes, from little cricket and very little test cricket, has shown that unfortunately Moeen and Bairstow shouldn't be in this test squad. They just don't offer enough.
I don't know what the solution is to the current problem. I think losing the Ashes in Australia tends to be the catalyst for major change so we might not have to wait long for a complete reset. I'd be surprised if Jimmy goes beyond this winter.
Yeah, he made up his mental health issues to avoid losing a test series.He saw the writing on the wall and got out before the ship sank.
6 abysmal World Cups between 92 and 19 felt a long time to me!I don’t follow the one-day game closely, but I don’t think England took quite so long to address the failings in that format.