{"id":82925,"date":"2021-12-30T18:47:12","date_gmt":"2021-12-30T18:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=82925"},"modified":"2021-12-30T18:47:12","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T18:47:12","slug":"after-awful-ashes-defeat-will-england-ever-be-good-at-test-cricket-again-by-jonathan-liew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/after-awful-ashes-defeat-will-england-ever-be-good-at-test-cricket-again-by-jonathan-liew\/","title":{"rendered":"After awful Ashes defeat, will England ever be good at Test cricket again?-by Jonathan Liew"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 24px; color: #000000;\">After awful Ashes defeat, will England ever be good at Test cricket again?-by <\/span><\/h1>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 24px; color: #000000;\">Jonathan Liew<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-82926 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Jonathan-Liew.jpg\" alt=\"Jonathan Liew\" width=\"209\" height=\"216\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-82927\" src=\"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Jimmy-Anderson-e1640888228102.jpg\" alt=\"Jimmy Anderson\" width=\"600\" height=\"360\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span class=\"dcr-nnoipb\">Jimmy Anderson sees a Cameron Green delivery clatter his stumps as England\u2019s second innings ends on 68 to complete their innings defeat.<\/span>\u00a0Photograph: Darrian Traynor\/Cricket Australia\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 16px; color: #800080;\">Source:<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 16px;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2021\/dec\/28\/after-awful-ashes-defeat-will-england-will-ever-be-good-at-test-cricket-again-cricket-australia\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Theguardian<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-bixwrd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"dcr-bixwrd\" style=\"font-size: 16px; color: #000000;\">It\u2019s vaguely amusing to recall now that for much of the year, the very existence of this Ashes series was the subject of fraught, board-level speculation. Tense negotiations were conducted between <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/cricket\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Cricket<\/a>\u00a0Australia and their counterparts in England. State governments, federal government, public health experts and players all had to bestow their approval. Would the 2021-22 Ashes happen at all?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-bixwrd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px; color: #000000;\">Well, as it turned out, not really. Around 850 overs separated the dismissal of Rory Burns on the first morning in Brisbane and the dismissal of Jimmy Anderson\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/live\/2021\/dec\/28\/ashes-2021-22-australia-vs-england-day-three-3-cricket-3rd-third-boxing-day-test-live-score-card-aus-v-eng-start-time-latest-updates\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">on the third morning in Melbourne<\/a>: the series decided in a little over nine days of cricket. And so as the victorious\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2021\/dec\/28\/australia-retain-the-ashes-after-thrashing-england-to-take-3-0-series-lead\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Australians celebrated wildly<\/a>\u00a0on the MCG outfield, it was possible to wonder whether they were overdoing things a touch. Was there any real satisfaction to be taken in despatching an opponent this easily? Did it not all feel a little hollow? A little comfortable? A little embarrassing?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-bixwrd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px; color: #000000;\">But then perhaps we are guilty here of reducing the contest as a whole to England\u2019s desiccated level. After all, to play Test cricket for Australia in 2021 still essentially\u00a0<em>means<\/em>\u00a0something. Winning Test matches for Australia still means something.\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/ashes\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">The Ashes<\/a>\u00a0still means something, and not just as a rivalry or as a commercial concern but as a basic test of sporting ultimacy, a seeker of truth, a gauge of character.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-bixwrd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px; color: #000000;\">Nobody exemplified this better than Scott Boland, the country\u2019s newest cricketing hero after taking six for seven on debut. Boland is a fine bowler and a lovely story to boot, but he will be the first to admit that none of this really made sense. Never again will he enjoy the serendipity of being able to face this opposition, on this ground, at this point in their sporting trajectory. All he really had to do was turn up on time, put his socks on and not get no-balled for throwing. And yet in running in hard and doing his best, Boland accorded this contest a measure of respect that England had long since mislaid.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px; color: #000000;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-82928\" src=\"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Joe-Root.jpg\" alt=\"Joe Root\" width=\"600\" height=\"563\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"6b447c64-bef9-4756-aeac-69698a5f598d\" class=\" dcr-10khgmf\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-gu-hydrated=\"true\">\n<div data-chromatic=\"ignore\" data-component=\"youtube-atom\">\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" data-component=\"youtube-atom\">\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px; color: #000000;\"><strong><strong>Ashes &#8216;not over yet&#8217; maintains Joe Root after Australia secure series victory \u2013 video<\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-bixwrd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px; color: #000000;\">What does it mean to play Test cricket for England in 2021? This is a more contested question. England have issued caps to 25 players this calendar year, from Jofra Archer to James Bracey, Dan Lawrence to Dom Bess, and it has long become impossible to discern who deserves what. Somewhere amid the bubbles and the brain-fades, the revamps and the rotations, the very point of the England Test team has become somehow blunted, dissolved, obscured. None of this makes it inevitable that you will get rolled over for 68 in bright sunshine. But it certainly doesn\u2019t help.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-bixwrd\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px; color: #000000;\">A thought exercise: if you had to reselect an England squad for this Ashes tour, knowing what we do now, would it have been possible to do anything differently? Maybe you send out a distress flare to Dom Sibley or Liam Livingstone\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2021\/may\/24\/darren-stevens-has-a-cult-following-but-is-still-sorely-underappreciated\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">or even Darren Stevens<\/a>. Maybe you decide not to rush a half-paced Ben Stokes back from injury. But the raw materials of this team do not fundamentally change. This is what there is. Instinctively, we want to believe that there are 11 cricketers in England capable of collectively scoring more than 68 in a completed Test innings. But maybe there aren\u2019t.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"fdb1e285-ec66-47ac-b579-2bbbabc20fd3\" class=\" dcr-eiqqge\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1b267dg\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px; color: #000000;\"><picture><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d32ded7e52f8fb4bd2fb9c28af0df5ac9f86b1f2\/0_83_2058_1235\/master\/2058.jpg?width=860&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=d7f4089e0777757a9702065b54a160e5 1720w\" media=\"(min-width: 1300px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 1300px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d32ded7e52f8fb4bd2fb9c28af0df5ac9f86b1f2\/0_83_2058_1235\/master\/2058.jpg?width=860&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=6b328a2f2db29ce492c833cd90959fda 860w\" media=\"(min-width: 1300px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d32ded7e52f8fb4bd2fb9c28af0df5ac9f86b1f2\/0_83_2058_1235\/master\/2058.jpg?width=780&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=f27b4454c0d074b8f41013ebf30079c2 1560w\" media=\"(min-width: 1140px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 1140px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d32ded7e52f8fb4bd2fb9c28af0df5ac9f86b1f2\/0_83_2058_1235\/master\/2058.jpg?width=780&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=4423c6e5a332d1d8c31fe98beb461ad2 780w\" media=\"(min-width: 1140px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d32ded7e52f8fb4bd2fb9c28af0df5ac9f86b1f2\/0_83_2058_1235\/master\/2058.jpg?width=620&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=74615e288bf2763e5179277ff8364fd7 1240w\" media=\"(min-width: 660px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 660px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d32ded7e52f8fb4bd2fb9c28af0df5ac9f86b1f2\/0_83_2058_1235\/master\/2058.jpg?width=620&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=07b8277de3d9ab1af4317d870538b231 620w\" media=\"(min-width: 660px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d32ded7e52f8fb4bd2fb9c28af0df5ac9f86b1f2\/0_83_2058_1235\/master\/2058.jpg?width=605&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=7dfdc968d772fd4f9ddeaff5b23b7ef6 1210w\" media=\"(min-width: 480px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 480px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d32ded7e52f8fb4bd2fb9c28af0df5ac9f86b1f2\/0_83_2058_1235\/master\/2058.jpg?width=605&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=6d49948eade4591d96965b8fd6494aba 605w\" media=\"(min-width: 480px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d32ded7e52f8fb4bd2fb9c28af0df5ac9f86b1f2\/0_83_2058_1235\/master\/2058.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=67fe0112da35584e9ed10c208cb738fc 890w\" media=\"(min-width: 375px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 375px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d32ded7e52f8fb4bd2fb9c28af0df5ac9f86b1f2\/0_83_2058_1235\/master\/2058.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=3c67c785de39f1dd98d2ec2b5e4e34b6 445w\" media=\"(min-width: 375px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d32ded7e52f8fb4bd2fb9c28af0df5ac9f86b1f2\/0_83_2058_1235\/master\/2058.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=67fe0112da35584e9ed10c208cb738fc 890w\" media=\"(min-width: 320px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 320px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d32ded7e52f8fb4bd2fb9c28af0df5ac9f86b1f2\/0_83_2058_1235\/master\/2058.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=3c67c785de39f1dd98d2ec2b5e4e34b6 445w\" media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d32ded7e52f8fb4bd2fb9c28af0df5ac9f86b1f2\/0_83_2058_1235\/master\/2058.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=67fe0112da35584e9ed10c208cb738fc 890w\" media=\"(min-width: 0px) and (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 1.25), (min-width: 0px) and (min-resolution: 120dpi)\" \/><source srcset=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d32ded7e52f8fb4bd2fb9c28af0df5ac9f86b1f2\/0_83_2058_1235\/master\/2058.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=85&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;s=3c67c785de39f1dd98d2ec2b5e4e34b6 445w\" media=\"(min-width: 0px)\" \/><\/picture><picture><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"dcr-1989ovb\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/d32ded7e52f8fb4bd2fb9c28af0df5ac9f86b1f2\/0_83_2058_1235\/master\/2058.jpg?width=445&amp;quality=45&amp;auto=format&amp;fit=max&amp;dpr=2&amp;s=67fe0112da35584e9ed10c208cb738fc\" alt=\"Joe Root, one of only two England batters to reach double figures in their second innings, endured a painful day all-round and may now lose the captaincy.\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/picture><\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<div id=\"dfp-ad--inline2\" class=\"js-ad-slot ad-slot ad-slot--inline ad-slot--offset-right ad-slot--inline2 ad-slot--sky ad-slot--rendered\" style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-link-name=\"ad slot inline2\" data-name=\"inline2\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-mobile=\"1,1|2,2|300,197|300,250|300,274|fluid\" data-phablet=\"1,1|2,2|300,197|300,250|300,274|620,350|550,310|fluid\" data-desktop=\"1,1|2,2|300,250|300,274|620,1|620,350|550,310|fluid|300,600|160,600\" data-google-query-id=\"CKTC1r2RjPUCFUoxaAod-isB1g\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 16px;\"><span class=\"dcr-nnoipb\">Joe Root, one of only two England batters to reach double figures in their second innings, endured a painful day all-round and may now lose the captaincy.<\/span>\u00a0Photograph: Joel Carrett\/EPA<\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-link-name=\"ad slot inline2\" data-name=\"inline2\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-mobile=\"1,1|2,2|300,197|300,250|300,274|fluid\" data-phablet=\"1,1|2,2|300,197|300,250|300,274|620,350|550,310|fluid\" data-desktop=\"1,1|2,2|300,250|300,274|620,1|620,350|550,310|fluid|300,600|160,600\" data-google-query-id=\"CKTC1r2RjPUCFUoxaAod-isB1g\">\n<p class=\"dcr-bixwrd\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px; color: #000000;\">This is, after all, a game England have been playing for a while. It\u2019s tempting to regard this as a nadir, but England were\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2019\/aug\/23\/england-australia-third-ashes-test-day-two-match-report\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">all out for 67<\/a>\u00a0five Ashes Tests ago. Before that there was the\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2019\/jul\/24\/england-ireland-test-match-report-tim-murtagh-lords-cricket\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">85 against Ireland<\/a>, the\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2018\/mar\/22\/england-all-out-58-spectacular-collapse-new-zealand-cricket-first-test\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">58 against New Zealand<\/a>,\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2019\/jan\/26\/roston-chase-humiliates-england-as-dominant-west-indies-win-first-test\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">eight wickets for Roston Chase<\/a>,\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2016\/oct\/30\/bangladesh-beat-england-draw-test-series\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">10 wickets in a session against Bangladesh<\/a>. Every time lessons were learned, approaches were altered, decks were shuffled, and the same thing happened again. Nobody gets to act surprised at any of this.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-bixwrd\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px; color: #000000;\">Naturally, there is a certain sense of climax here. Joe Root and Chris Silverwood will probably pay for this latest debacle with their jobs. Silverwood is clearly a capable coach, but something about this team and this moment appears to have detached him from reality, like a waiter in a restaurant talking you through the specials while the kitchen slowly catches fire behind him. Root is approaching five years as captain and either there\u2019s nothing more he can do, or he\u2019s actually making things worse. Either way, best to move on and concentrate on the one skill in which he genuinely has a claim to greatness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-bixwrd\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px; color: #000000;\">And yet, what is the wider aim here? Where is the institutional will to turn this team around? Will it really come from the England and Wales Cricket Board, which derives the vast majority of its revenue from selling home Tests and short-form cricket to punters and broadcasters? Producing Test teams that win big overseas series may be very nice, but it doesn\u2019t keep the tills ringing. Staging a high-quality County Championship at the height of summer may produce better cricketers, but it won\u2019t keep the bonuses flowing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-bixwrd\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px; color: #000000;\">Besides, if you think about it, England really has no divine right to be good at this. It is by no means inevitable that England will be good at Test cricket again. This isn\u2019t Pakistan or India. The game does not live and breathe in our streets or our public spaces or our school system. History and tradition aside, cricket does not flow through the national bloodstream any more than judo or surfing or esports.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-bixwrd\"><span style=\"font-size: 16px; color: #000000;\">Perhaps a close parallel is with the West Indies around the turn of the century: powered by one of its greatest batsmen (for Brian Lara, read Joe Root) and two of its greatest bowlers (for Ambrose and Walsh, read Anderson and Broad), and yet infected with a basic, complacent decadence. Over time they would recover their dignity. They would be competitive. They would occasionally even win. But their true calling \u2013driven largely by commerce and circumstance \u2013 would be to produce brilliant short-form cricketers for the global marketplace. As for Test cricket, the sun had already set and risen somewhere else.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure id=\"6b447c64-bef9-4756-aeac-69698a5f598d\" class=\" dcr-10khgmf\" data-gu-hydrated=\"true\">\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" data-component=\"youtube-atom\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After awful Ashes defeat, will England ever be good at Test cricket again?-by Jonathan Liew Jimmy Anderson sees a Cameron Green delivery clatter his stumps as England\u2019s second innings ends on 68 to complete their innings defeat.\u00a0Photograph: Darrian Traynor\/Cricket Australia\/Getty Images Source:Theguardian It\u2019s vaguely amusing to recall now that for much of the year, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":82927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[40549,40548],"class_list":{"0":"post-82925","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-aside","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-articles","8":"tag-darrian-traynor","9":"tag-jimmy-anderson","10":"post_format-post-format-aside"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.7.1 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>After awful Ashes defeat, will England ever be good at Test cricket again?-by Jonathan Liew<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s vaguely amusing to recall now that for much of the year, the very existence of this Ashes series was the subject of fraught, board-level\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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