England might become a team who do all the hard work only to not win very much: Michael Vaughan
England might become a team who do all the hard work only to not win very much: Michael Vaughan
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England have improved in a massive way in Tests since Ben Stokes took over as captain but fears that all the hard work Stokes and Co have put up might not eventually pay off. England won the first Test against India in Hyderabad by 28 runs but went onto suffer a 106-run defeat in the second Test in Visakhapatnam. The five-match series is now level at 1-1.
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“England have become a difficult team to criticise too much because they are so good to watch. Every game they play has us all absolutely gripped, and they have improved massively under Ben Stokes,” Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph.
England’s “Bazball” way of playing aggressive brand of cricket had been the talk of the town in the buildup towards the Test series against India, and that had also been a major factor ahead of the Ashes series last summer, which England went onto lose.
“However, I do worry that they might become a team who do all this great work only to not actually win very much. They didn’t win the Ashes when they should have done and now they have let India back into a series when they still have a load of big names, including Virat Kohli, to come back.”
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Zak Crawley was the most consistent performer for England in the second Test, scoring fifties in both innings to finish with a total of 149 runs in that match.
“England will not win the series if they bat the way they did in Visakhapatnam. I actually think the batsmen need to take a leaf out of the bowlers’ book. With ball in hand, they have been quite traditional at times, aggressive at others, and they have gone up and down the gears in terms of how attacking their fields have been,” continued Vaughan.
Vaughan feels that while England’s spinners have been impressive in the series so far, James Anderson has stood out and stressed on the need for another seamer. Anderson took five wickets across the two innings, whereas the spinners accounted for 15 of the 20 Indian wickets in both innings combined.
“The young spinners have been fantastic but, for me, James Anderson’s brilliant performance shows that they have to get another seamer, probably Ollie Robinsall theon, in the side with him. The batsmen, meanwhile, look like they only have one way to play. They are in fifth gear from ball one. I don’t mind some of them playing like that because they are better for it,” added the 49-year-old.
“But Joe Root should forget it. He has 10,000 Test runs playing like Joe Root. He doesn’t need to be a ‘Bazballer’. It is time for someone in the management to put an arm around Joe and say “please just be yourself”. I think it’s as simple as the fact that he is too wrapped up in ‘Bazball’, the whole ethos of excitement and entertainment.”
Vaughan called Root as England’s best player when it comes to taking on spinners. “To see him bat the way he did in the second innings, that’s not Root, and it’s not the way England are going to win in India, just gifting wickets away. I knew something was up when I saw him get off the mark in both innings with reverse sweeps. He doesn’t play like that.
“He gets himself in, then takes risks. Let the firecrackers play like that. Joe has to be the rock, the calming influence while the mad men tee off around him,” added Vaughan.
The third Test takes place in Rajkot from 15 February.
