Michael Atherton believes “England have blinked” in terms of their Bazball approach to batting as they stare down an Ashes series defeat over two Tests.
England lost the series opener in Perth after two days and suffered another eight-wicket drubbing in the second day-night Test in Brisbane before being slightly more competitive in the third Test in Adelaide.
Ben Stokes recorded his slowest Test fifty off 159 balls on Day 3, while Zak Crawley scored his half-century off 102 balls on Day 4.
Zak Crawley recorded his slowest Test fifty on day four of the third Ashes Test in Adelaide.
Despite Stokes’ best efforts, England surrendered an 85-run lead in the first innings and Crawley’s knock gave the visitors brief hope of chasing the Test record 435 runs before collapsing late on the fourth evening to reduce them to 207-6 but still some 228 runs short of the win needed to retain The Ashes.
“I think they blinked with the bat,” Atherton recently told ‘Ashes Daily’. Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.
“But I think they have been forced to do that by the fact that they don’t work well on the bouncy pitches of Perth and Brisbane and by Australia’s relentless attack.
“And the captain’s message before the game was ‘I want to see fights, I want to see dogs, I want to see mongrels’, which means he wants a bit of old-fashioned grit and hard work.
“I said before this game that I would like to see them continue to play aggressively and stay true to themselves, with every caveat of a bit of pragmatism and common sense at times.
“That second day Stokes was very blocked, but you could see what he was trying to do as captain – he was trying to say, ‘I’m going to leave my body behind.’
“But he found the tempo just right the next day and I thought Crawley’s tempo today was perfect.”
‘Duckett’s failure epitomizes Bazball’s failure’
Crawley’s opening partner Ben Duckett has been one of the success stories of the Bazball era, scoring 650 runs in 37 Tests at an average of 43.31 since his reintroduction to the Test arena in 2022.
However, through the first three Tests of the series, Duckett’s highest score is 29. On the other hand, he was out with the second ball of England’s second innings in Adelaide, slipping ahead of Pat Cummins.
Ben Duckett’s poor series continued when he was dismissed off the second ball of England’s second innings in Adelaide.
“Duckett’s failure epitomizes Bazball’s failure,” Atherton said.
“He has played his best innings in this regime, scored fantastic hundreds and played in a very unorthodox way, leaving the ball very rarely.”
“But that was the question: could England’s bat style succeed in Australia? Can Duckett’s bat style, which is at the top of the order, succeed with the bounce ball in Australia?
“Well, I have to say no so far. He hasn’t made it. He averages 16, he’s not yet over 30, and he’s been eliminated three times.
“He’s got a few good balls in there but as an opener you will. It was a half shot today. It wasn’t a confident shot and it wasn’t a holiday because he obviously doesn’t like the ball leaving.
“I thought it was a dangerous place to be as an opener, not sure whether to play or leave, especially for a batsman whose whole identity is putting the bat on the ball and not leaving the ball.”
Hussein: I will bring Bethel instead of the Pope
Ollie Pope’s struggles in the series continued on day four in Adelaide. Even though Marnus Labuschagne’s wonderful diving catch saw him dismissed for 17 days.
Pope went on to go 16 innings without scoring a half-century against Australia, averaging 17.62 in eight Tests and 20.83 in this series.
Ollie Pope is yet to score a fifty against Australia in eight Tests and has averaged 20.83 in this series.
“I can’t see him batting at number three (in the fourth Test) in Melbourne,” Nasser Hussain said. sky sportsHe added that he would now bring in Jacob Bethell for the number three spot.
“To be honest, his career and series follow a very similar pattern. It starts well. He started the tour game well, got a score (46) in the first innings of the first Test, and then slowly got out of the same way outside the stumps.
“You want No. 3 to calm the dressing room. Great players calm things down. On this tour, Pope has looked vulnerable at the front when batting.
“I personally would like to make a change now by getting away from Pope. Jacob Bethell, who is here and has been around England for quite some time, I think he should probably come to Melbourne.”
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