Its going to be a long summer for the england cricket team but its not all bad

First off, lets not forget where England were when Root stepped down.

On a heavy run of defeats, and been bowled out for less than TWO HUNDRED in 30 of the 101 innings immediately prior (stat stolen off twitter).

That England side would have lost the last 2 series as well, and the 1st test in this by a margin. England ARE better then they were.

We’ve also got a bowling attack held together by string and prayers, the loss of Wood, Archer and Leach isn’t anyone’s fault, maybe some decisions on replacements could be questioned but we knew going in that the bowling attack was creaking.

We’ve just had some brilliant test matches where England have competed and won rather than capitulated and lost.
We are better now than we were.

None of that means the current side an approach is above any criticism though, this new approach is good, but as with anything new, you need to be able to learn and adapt when it hasn’t worked.

FWIW I don’t think bowling first was a mistake, Aus have said they would have done the same, but I do feel that we are seeing the end of Anderson’s Test career, I hope to god that is wrong, that it clicks for him and he can see out his last Ashes with wickets and a swagger. He is one of the best ever and doesn’t deserve his top level time to end being ineffective in a heavy ashes defeat.

We are going to lose this series though. We are playing a genuinely good side, that is largely settled and confident in themselves. We are still a team in transition, its been a great start, but we knew there were still question marks about the team coming in to this, even before the bowling injuries.

Losing the Ashes is never nice, but its probably come a summer to early for this team, the important thing is not to get overly critical and forget the utter mess the side was in. We are still moving forward, lets hope it still feels that way at the end of the series!

Posted By: megson on June 29th 2023 at 10:33:11

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