Can England please bring something extra for the Adelaide Test?

With the first Test of the Ashes recently concluded, we are starting to see the the ruins left of the opposition team.

The smoke is still clearing, with well-respected cricket figures like Brendon McCullum giving the English captain an absolute public roasting.

It was quite brutal. I didn’t know that was the way Kiwis did things.

I woke up on Wednesday morning to head to the Gabba, looking forward to a great and mighty Test.

I expected Australian domination, but as true cricket fans, we want to see a dogged fight.

Test cricket at its best is gruelling, and that is why we fill out our stadiums and still respect a trash-talking Virat Kohli when he scores hundreds in Australia.

Barring the partnership between Joe Root and Dawid Malan on the third day of the first Test and some decent bowling spells, the England Test team did not bring the energy and resilience to match a cricket fan’s expectations.

How was I to know that missing the first half an hour of the first session could be a major mistake on my part? There was cloud cover alright, but Rory Burns just got way too excited.

(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

There will be many experts sitting on a cricketing table that are trying to break down England’s selection for the Gabba Test. Here’s an amateur’s go at the most trending question in cricket circles all around the globe.

What strategy was in place for England to leave out their second most experienced seamer for the Gabba Test match?

It can be understood why James Anderson is being used in a horses-for-courses scenario, and why not.

He has been ultra-successful with the pink ball in Australia. He is old and prone to injury and still a match winner for England at 39.

However, as we now know, Stuart Broad was not left out with this plan as an aim.

Stuart Broad is an impressive bowler who has been bowling well for a long time.

His record in Ashes cricket is admirable, although his major performances have all come on English green pitches.

His bowling average sits roughly around 37 in Australia while it is 35 for James Anderson. There is not much of a difference.

Broad has also been phenomenal against left handers with an around-the-wicket angle that only a few others can match in world cricket.

He would have cherished a challenge against the left handers in the Australian line-up.

Do we have to talk about his six dismissals against David Warner in the last Ashes?

He has also played 149 Test matches with 524 scalps. That’s more Test wickets than all the English bowlers in the first Test combined.

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

This leads to the unthinkable. Did the England selection committee genuinely believe Jack Leach to be a better suit for the line-up than Stuart Broad?

I understand leaving out Ben Stokes leads to a public outcry, but Jack Leach?

Did his last-wicket stand with Stokes in that third 2019 Ashes Test match win make him some kind of shadow hero who is an automatic selection?

Jack Leach has never bowled in Australia and last bowled in England during the fifth Test against India, a Test that never happened.

He had good returns from England’s tour of India, but I don’t think he would even be talked about as a front-line spinner if he could not perform on spinning decks in India.

While on the subject, Ravi Ashwin ended that series with 32 wickets while Jack Leach ended with 18.

Ravi Ashwin is also one of three spinners who have performed well in recent memory in Australia. The other two are Ravindra Jadeja and the GOAT, Nathan Lyon.

So the English camp really must have mammoth faith in Jack Leach.

The job of holding down an end with spin when the pitches are a batter’s paradise so the quicks can rotate around you and attack batsmen when the conditions and situation is conducive to it is probably one of the most difficult full-time jobs in Australia, as many visiting spinners have found out.

Not even Muttiah Muralitharan could ever find his rhythm on Australian pitches.

So let’s just proclaim it was unfair to put expectations on Jack Leach in the first place.

Remember that famous story of why Clive Lloyd chose to field an all-pace attack even in spinning conditions after one of his spinners got decimated on an away tour?

I don’t see the same greatness coming from this English bowling line-up, but our batters really did put Jack Leach away.

I was close to the boundary watching our crowd encouraging Leach by shouting “Jack Leach is w**nker”, but he didn’t have much more to offer.

Jack Leach and Joe Root. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

So leaving out Stuart Broad, even by reputation, was a mistake by the English team. It only makes me more excited for Stuart Broad’s autobiography.

There were only two times England really got into the contest. One was between the dismissals of Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green, when it seemed to be a different wicket.

You could sense the energy rising within the English bowlers, but this was denied by a superb century from Travis Head.

Joe Root and Dawid Malan batted extremely well for their partnership, enough to raise a few eyebrows on the what-ifs.

Although Dawid Malan never looked fully settled, he trusted his defence and played his attacking shots with confidence.

Joe Root must be a disappointed man to miss out on another century, but is this something the English captain will be able to overcome?

His nightmares of not converting 50s to 100s in Australia unfortunately continues. They are not great signs if you are an English fan.

I could feel sorry for England if they lost the toss, but even that would be false.

Joe Root must’ve been spooked by mistakes of past English captains. The conditions on the first day at the Gabba would have suggested to most clear-headed captains that a bowling day is ahead of them.

Pat Cummins would have secretly been smiling, as he probably would have made the same decision due to batting-first preferences in Australia.

(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

The quality of the Australian attack was really on display, especially with the dismissals of Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope.

Those are cherries that you would be glad to walk off to anywhere in the world.

The rest of the dismissals suggested unclear blueprints for success. Jos Buttler played aggressively for his runs and it seemed to be the impetus the English innings needed at the time.

But I wonder if it is careless, especially against steady line-and-length bowlers of the class of Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. It will be interesting to see if he continues this in the series.

There were some positive fightbacks from England, which showed signs the rest of series will not be a drag.

The batting of Haseeb Hameed and Ollie Pope was solid. The English bowlers, barring Jack Leach and Ben Stokes, bowled well and kept things under control, especially during the first half of Australia’s innings.

Ben Stokes looked like he needs match fitness and for the sake of the English cricket fans, I hope he finds it.

If there was ever a time performances will be needed, it is in this series and he can deliver on his day.

His commitment is unquestionable, as I witnessed him continue bowling while clearly walking uncomfortably after a minor fielding injury.

In general, it highlights the need for adequate practice for players no matter their calibre, as that potential no-ball wicket of David Warner could have mapped out a different first innings for Australia.

Just kidding. We had Steve Smith and he knew he didn’t have to score too many this time around.

All in all, Australia have caused a few quiet team dinners for the England camp.

But as a cricket fan, can England please bring something extra for the Adelaide Test?

And it can’t all depend on old Jimmy Anderson. It has to be a collective effort that will be close enough to scare Australia and then provide our boys an opportunity to be heroes.