A slew of England greats have lined up to blast the current administration in the wake of another humiliating Ashes loss.
None were more blistering that Mike Atherton, who wrote in his column for the The Times that changes at the top weren’t just an option, they were a necessity.
“Any notion that there should be no overhaul to the make-up and management of the England cricket team — as you are, Ashley Giles, Chris Silverwood and Joe Root according to some — has been demolished by the nature of this latest defeat in the Ashes,” he wrote.
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“Another utterly abject, humiliating collapse, devoid of any technical competence or fighting spirit, saw the series surrendered by a frightening margin in Hobart.”
David Gower took higher-ups to task over their prioritising of short-form cricket, which reached its nadir in a humiliating 4-0 series loss.
Gower, who played 117 Tests, said that England’s white ball cricketers had everything they could ever want in terms of depth and resources – but that Joe Root had been left out to dry.
“Poor old Joe Root, and I do have genuine sympathy for him, finds himself with people unavailable, because where are they? They’re in the IPL. What good is that to English Test cricket?” He asked on BT Sport’s coverage.
“This is the oldest, more important form of the game, we need to defend it. We need an England team that plays it well, that is not languishing at the foot – it’s barely even at the foot of the World Test Championship.”
He said this result could be the ‘big kick’ that England needed, and that people would be fearing for their positions in the side – but was doubtful of where replacements would come from.
“There are players out there who would hope that they might get a go as a result of other people’s failures – but they’ve got to show character, they’ve got to come into a game.”
Another ex-captain, Michael Vaughan, was furious in regards to the team’s attitude during an embarrassing final few overs – where several tailenders were dismissed extremely softly.
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“That’s not the way to finish a Test match, the way that the England side has played in that last hour or so,” Vaughan said on Fox Cricket commentary.
“We were only on the pitch at tea time Warney (Shane Warne), saying England have a genuine chance of winning.
“Then you see that two hours’ later – it’s just not good enough. As much as the bubble life and everything, the lack of preparation has not been there for the England side. When you see a team just throw in the towel that’s when you go ‘there’s problems’.”
“There’s real problems in English cricket and we need to try and iron it out. Joe Root, he’ll clap the fans, he’ll be smiling, but I think there’s some real hard questions that the England team need to answer after this.”
Former opening batter Mark Butcher was even more scathing, but offered a defence to bowlers throwing away their wicket when the match was already lost.
“I was about to say the collapse came as a bit of a surprise, but it doesn’t really, does it? These quick losses of wickets seem to dog this team wherever they go,” he said on BT.
“They do not seem to be able to bat for any sort of length of time, and withstand any amount of pressure. That was ghastly, it really was.
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“I don’t blame the bowlers for coming out there and having a swish, the game is done, they’ve done their job in this Test match, they’ve done their job in this series, really.”
“Batters just haven’t been able to give them enough rest, and that was the epitome of the way the tour’s gone – it was pretty pathetic in the end.”
England had started the fourth innings brightly, and at one point were 0-68 before being all out for just an additional 56 runs.
“There was no resilience there,” Sir Alastair Cook, who was sitting next to Butcher, added.
“As soon as they get put under pressure you see how much resolve there is. They showed a lot in Sydney, and they used it all there.
“That has to be our rock bottom.”
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