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I, like most human beings, enjoy sleeping. So when I trade hours of dreaming with my eyes closed in order to support my national team, I expect a decent effort. Sadly, unlike at Lord’s, this has not happened at Edgebaston.
The despairing nature of the last two days is so hard to fathom. A team of 11 men who were so scary and dominant at their last performance, have been reduced to a team of amateurish professionals.
The nature of this performance is so hard to understand. Somehow Australia fell 145 runs behind on the first innings and England batted about as bad as we did. While credit must go to Steve Finn for his second innings effort, Australia’s lack of fight and more concerning their lack of application was disturbing to say the least.
The middle order of this team has failed to produce in all three of the Tests. The idea of playing an all rounder is not providing any benefit apart from the chop ons that Mitchell Marsh drew at Lord’s. Further more, the batting plans established by the coaching staff must also be questioned.
In this questioning, it must be asked why it is so hard for this batting line-up to balance the desire to hit ball with the ability to leave the ball alone. It must also be asked why million dollar players suddenly start looking like an under 12 team when the ball moves a couple of inches.
These aren’t new questions in an era where an ability to belt the ball has overtaken the importance of the technique used to achieve it. But clearly at the moment, their are no answers being offered to fix the problem.
Surely by now patience must be wearing thin. It is clear that this lack of application and skill is a generational problem. Performances like those produced in India and the Middle East show that as soon as a ball moves or spins Australian batsman look like lost souls.
Sure names of lost souls past will be put forward. Shaun Marsh looks in decent form, but England would hardly be scared of a man notorious for offering slip and gully fielders catching practice.
As for others, well it may help them achieve the minimum series result, but long term the problem will remain.
Test cricket has always been designed to ask questions of those who play it. Boof and his coaching staff now need to find some long-term answers. Otherwise people will drift away from following a team who performances are so disturbingly different from week to week and from series to series.
Over to you, Boof.
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