Opinion
While Jon Lewis’ international debut came in the lead-up to the 2005 Ashes, my first recollection of him as a player was when he flew in to bolster a shell-shocked squad for the ODIs that followed the historic 5-0 series in 2006-07.
After a slow start, England somehow managed to win that series – memorable (just) for the arrival of the first edition of Liam Plunkett, with his slippery pace and hooping swing, and for the bravery-turned-stupidity of Mal Loye, who was famous for sweeping fast bowlers and duly had his face smashed in by Glenn McGrath.
By October 2007, Lewis had played the last of his 14 internationals for England but continued to merrily scalp all comers on the county circuit, ending his career in 2014 with over 1000 wickets across all formats.
He retired to take up a coaching role at his final county, Sussex, as the first step towards his current position as England’s bowling coach.
Fronting up to the media after yet another sorry batting performance, Lewis has admitted their preparation was underdone (two intrasquad warm-ups were lost to or hampered by rain, and included a total of 29 overs) and he has admitted the selections were wrong.
And while these confessions are a level of elite honesty that would make Justin Langer soliloquise until green-and-gold in the face, they rather beg more questions than they answer.
Why did England leave Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson on the bench for the first Test, precisely when their poor preparation meant they needed reliability and experience most?
When Jon Lewis said of the Adelaide Test “we felt like we picked a team that would win the game,” why did that reckoning somehow exclude one of the only two bowlers Australia would like to face the least in Mark Wood?
The other is Ollie Robinson, who deserves much credit for fronting up and executing his skills where his teammates have been unable to.
(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
If this wasn’t bad enough, in between the first whimpering loss and the impending second, the England camp announced that the England Lions’ squad would return home having sort of fulfilled their minimal obligations in showing up to the ground for the intra-squad games and then enjoying a thrashing at the hands of Australia A.
Without very meaningful change, it is hard to argue this is anything other than the perfect preparation should any of these players make a future Ashes tour.
That Lions squad included Ben Foakes and James Bracey. Despite a sound victory for Australia A, Foakes (whose domestic record and exceptional glove work I wrote about last week) scored 73 while Bracey scored 113, making him the only English centurion on tour so far.
It also contained Matt Parkinson, a 25-year-old leg spinner with 103 first-class wickets at 23.35, four five-wicket hauls, and an economy of 2.77 from 32 matches. All three are now back in the UK, and would be unable to re-join the squad due to quarantine requirements even if England had a change of heart.
The curious fact about all of this is that these are not collective decisions. Chris Silverwood, it is now well documented, is England’s head coach and sole selector. He is responsible for producing every single one of these square pegs in a series full of desperately round holes.
England’s only real hope of winning this series was to pick teams built around their only two genuine match winners, and playing ugly, disciplined cricket.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
They needed to be able to bowl with control, make every single chance count, and try to ensure that Root and Ben Stokes faced as few deliveries against a new ball as possible.
While I would have picked Broad instead of Chris Woakes for Brisbane, I felt the XI was otherwise the right one.
England lost that Test because their batting was unable to absorb pressure and plan to score runs against each bowler’s second and third spells.
The result in the second Test is because of a knee-jerk selection response by Silverwood, swapping the variation of Wood’s pace and Jack Leach’s spin (not that it hit the pitch much) for five right-arm, medium-paced bowling machines and conceding 700 runs as a result.
So spare a thought for Jon Lewis when he is asked to explain these decisions despite the fact he is very notably not a selector.
For the second time in his career, he is tasked with bringing some calm and control to a shambolic Ashes campaign in Australia.
In 2006-07 his unlikely band of domestic specialists managed to salvage a small win from an otherwise hopeless tour. He will be praying he can do it again.
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While a premature retirement isn’t the solution, he or England want, he may be forced into it if he can’t maintain a long run of matches.
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