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England's leaders have let them down badly

17th December, 2017
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England wasn't good enough – but Australia was a cut above. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
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17th December, 2017
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Since England were whitewashed in Australia four years ago, they have relied heavily upon Alastair Cook, Joe Root, James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Those same four players have let them down badly this current Ashes series.

With superstar all-rounder Ben Stokes unavailable due to a police investigation, it was imperative Cook and Root found a way to score runs, and Anderson and Broad regularly sliced through the Australian batting line-up.

It always seemed unlikely England could win this series, but they needed to at least be competitive, as Australia have been in each of their last four losing series in the UK.

In 2015 in England, Australia won two Tests, both by enormous margins – 405 runs, and an innings and 46 runs. Two years previous to that, rain rescued England from precarious positions in the third and fifth Tests, allowing them to earn draws, and the first Test went to the wire, with England winning by 14 runs.

The 2009 and 2005 Ashes series both were closely fought, with England emerging 2-1 winners each time. Never in the modern era have Australia been feeble across a whole Ashes series in the way England were during their 5-0 hammerings in 2013-14 and 2006-07. England now are at risk of producing a similarly weak-willed series performance, with Australia on the cusp of their third consecutive easy win in this Ashes.

There has been heavy criticism directed towards England’s second-tier players such as James Vince, Moeen Ali and Chris Woakes, each of whom has laboured in this series. The majority of the blame, however, should be apportioned to Root, Cook, Anderson and Broad, England’s four most accomplished cricketers.

This series was billed in some quarters as the battle between Root and Australian skipper Steve Smith, who were the second and first ranked Test batsmen in the world respectively leading into this Ashes. Smith has loomed over this series like a cricketing colossus, piling up 426 runs at 142, including two Test-turning tons. Root, meanwhile, has been a ghost.

Steve Smith

(Photo by Philip Brown/Getty Images)

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In all Test matches, but particularly those played away from home, scoring first innings runs is the key. As the leader of a shaky batting line-up, Root had to make a statement in the first innings of each Test but instead has flopped, making first innings scores of 15, 9 and 20. Adding to his ignominy is the fact he’s been outscored by rookies Dawid Malan, Mark Stoneman and Vince, all of whom started this series with their positions very much in doubt.

Root, of course, hasn’t been helped by the unmitigated failure of former skipper Cook. So poor has Cook been in Ashes Tests for so long now that it’s hard to remember just how he managed to dominate in Australia seven years ago.

Setting aside that one extraordinary summer, Cook has averaged just 26 with the bat across his other six Ashes series. While he’s struggled again and again versus Australia, never before has he looked as bereft of answers as he does right now.

Australia’s openers Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood haven’t even used the new ball as well as in other series, yet Cook has floundered. With just 83 runs at 14, this is shaping up to be the worst series of his career. There is already talk in the English media that Cook’s storied career could be drawing to a close.

There’s also doubt about the futures of Anderson and Broad. That is no great surprise when it comes to Anderson considering that he is 35 years old. But Broad is only 31 and England would have hoped he would be around for years to come to help ease the transition once Anderson retires.

Instead, there is speculation about his longevity, too.

Statistically, Broad has had the worst year of his career since 2008, back when he was a 22-year-old greenhorn. In fact, his strike rate of 82 this year is easily the worst of his career, a shocking figure which highlights how badly he is struggling for penetration.

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From ten Tests this year, Broad has taken just 25 wickets at an average of 40, with his rate of 2.5 wickets per match also his worst-ever return. It is not as though Broad has lost rhythm and is spraying the ball across the pitch. His accuracy is still there, he just lacks the cutting edge he possessed as a younger man.

England bowler Stuart Broad during a bowling spell on Day 4 of the First Test match between Australia and England at the Gabba in Brisbane, Sunday, November 26, 2017.

(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

While Broad may well rebound from this slump, right now his decline reminds me of what happened to Australian quick Peter Siddle about four years ago. Siddle, to this day, remains a persistent and precise seamer, capable of tying down world-class batsmen. He just has limited penetration.

This describes Broad at the moment – a whole-hearted and frugal bowler but one who rarely looks like making an impact on a match.

His new ball partner Anderson has had no such problems in 2017, which has been, statistically, the best of his career, with 51 wickets at an average of 17. Anderson’s stats in this Ashes are impressive, too – 12 wickets at an average of 26.

To the casual observer, it would appear as if Anderson has had a great series. The reality is that he has been a big disappointment, failing to make an impact when required, only to take wickets when it has barely mattered.

In the first Test, the most important of the series, Anderson took just two wickets.

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Then in Adelaide, he took 1-74 as Australia cruised to a 215-run first-innings lead. Once England had all but lost that Test, Anderson belatedly produced a masterful display in the second innings. That five-wicket haul was not dissimilar to scoring a ton in a dead rubber – it looks good but is of minimal value in the grand scheme of things. When the Adelaide Test was there to be won, Anderson went missing. Once the horse had bolted, he made a pretty but largely inconsequential contribution.

So it has been again for Anderson at Perth, where he went wicketless as Smith and Mitch Marsh led Australia to 4-549, batting England out of the Test. Anderson then grabbed four late wickets, an effort which achieved little but to pad his stats.

While his series figures look nice, Anderson has not once stood up when it really counted, and so it is arguable he has been just as big of a let down as any of Root, Cook or Broad. Of course, such a comparison is pointless. All that matters is that, in this series, these four giants of English cricket have played like pygmies.

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