By Blake Bint
The 2021/22 Ashes series proved to be six weeks of horror for any England supporter as the dominant hosts’ maintained their undefeated home ashes record dating back to 2011 with a 4-0 series win.
The series saw an imbalance of negatives and positives in the England camp, here we will discuss five key talking points from the visitors’ humiliating series.
- The Opening Batters
England’s opening partnerships proved underwhelming throughout with just a solitary 50 partnership coming in the fifth and final test match when the series’ fate was already decided. From the wicket on the first ball of the first test, Australia’s quicks were under the skin of the visitors.
Rory Burns, opened in three of the five test matches in unorthodox fashion. Struggling in the first two, he was dropped for the following two, only to be recalled in the final test where he and Zak Crawley reached 50 runs without the loss of a wicket for their first time in the series. Following his first two tests, it was easy to see why he had been dropped. Recording just 51 runs in his four innings at an average of 12.75. He looked to better his previous woes with a start of 26 in the second innings of the fifth test but failed to go on to make a significant impact.
Haseeb Hameed had the worst time statistically of the three openers which England used during this ashes tour. Playing four consecutive matches, he got off to a steady start with scores of 25 and 27 in Brisbane, only to be followed by six consecutive single figure scores. After this, Rory Burns’ readmission into the side was almost guaranteed. Hameed finishing the series with 80 runs at an average of 10.
Zak Crawley looked to be the most positive of the three English options at the top of the order. Scoring a 77 in his second test of the series at quick rate, he showed signs that his 267 against Pakistan back in 2020 was not a stroke of luck. His dip in form of late, meant he was sidelined for the first two tests but replaced Burns for the next three. The 23-year-old’s future is still uncertain in England whites, finishing the series with 166 runs at an average of 27.66.
- Poor Selection or Lack of Talent?
The older generation of England supporters are starting to relive bad memories of the late 1990s where the selection is being questioned or potentially worse for the future of calling players up from misleading county cricket success; is the current side the best there is to offer? Many England fans have different opinions on who is the best 11 England have to offer and with the constant chopping and changing, it would appears the selectors are unsure too.
Senior bowlers’ Stuart Broad and James Anderson’s absence from the first test raised more than a few eyebrows as a starting point, on what appeared to be an English conditions lookalike pitch. Jack Leach’s selection for that match also raised eyebrows and following the first innings it wasn’t hard to see why as he suffered an economy rate of over seven runs per over.
England’s selection questions were summed up in the fifth and final test of the series when the series was already decided. Both Rory Burns and Ollie Pope were recalled after being dropped due to poor form earlier in this very series, a 30 year old capless keeper was called into the side and was forced to drive 10 hours across Australia to join the squad the day before the match. An injured key man, Ben Stokes, was picked despite the risk of worsening his injury and running the risk of missing the next tour. And a fragile, yet promising looking Mark Wood was picked for a fourth match of the series despite his worrying injury records in the past.
With all the questioning over selection being said, it has to also be asked that is it possible England are going through a bad period for players? The ‘excelling’ county championship run scorers in recent years are averaging in the 40s, the majority of which have done so their whole careers and are now in excess of age 30 to take James Hildreth and Sam Northeast as a couple of consistent examples. It is not difficult to see why Haseeb Hameed and Sam Billings struggle in the test arena when they only manage averages of 31 and 33 respectively in first class cricket. Jack Leach, another questioned selection looked unthreatening for the most part of the series is another player who’s future in an England shirt is uncertain despite his consistency in the county championship in recent years.
- The Overwhelming Statistical Comparison
In a 4-0 series defeat it would be expected that one team would have more statistical success comparatively; the difference between Australia’s and England’s from the 2021/22 ashes however, is remarkable.
Scott Boland’s dream debut figures of six for seven at his home ground in the third test led to the visitors collapse to 68 all out. Brought in as a replacement for the injured Josh Hazelwood and Covid-affected Pat Cummins, he wasn’t seen to be a major threat by the English batters. With his record breaking figures making him impossible to drop, he finished the series with more wickets than any English bowler and an average of under 10 runs conceded per wicket taken.
Usman Khawaja is another replacement who was fighting for a recall to the core side. Coming in at number five for the impressive Travis Head, he had big boots to fill. He scored twin centuries in the fourth test, overtaking all English batters except Joe Root in the leading run scorers list for the series, in just his second innings, that compared to a majority of the Englishmen’s eighth innings.
Due to Hazelwood’s injury in the opening match, another fast bowler was brought in for the second test prior to Boland’s success. Jhye Richardson, may not be remembered for playing in the series as he was dropped for the following test, took a five wicket haul. England only had one five-wicket haul in the entire series.
Mark Wood was the only England representative in the top five of the wicket takers for the series. Australia’s fifth bowling option throughout the series, Cameron Green, also outperformed the majority of England’s frontline bowlers.
- Joe Root’s Captaincy
Joe Root wasn’t at his best with the bat in hand during the 2021/22 ashes compared to his remarkable 2021 test record. Averaging just 32 in the recent series, he was still 82 runs better off than England’s next best across the five test matches.
However, throughout the series it was questioned that his captaincy played a key part in England’s downfall. Commentators from both England and Australia picked up on some of his decisions frequently on BT sport’s coverage of the six week event.
Pat Cummins discovered that Australian fast bowlers had a lot of success with plenty of aggressive fielding positions in play, Joe Root notably was much more defensive and conservative which brought on a large amount of critics in both the commentary box and on social media. Mark Wood in particular was very much an ‘enforcer’, bowling a lot of aggressive deliveries aimed at the batters. Despite his successful series, questions were frequently being asked of why there wasn’t more attacking positions in place when he was bowling, making it much easier for the Australian batters to settle.
Joe Root’s personal batting record has been largely unaffected since taking over from Alastair Cook in 2017 but with a win rate of just 46%, there are a large number of doubters.
With no obvious replacement for the near future it seems unlikely that Root with lose his post before the upcoming West Indies series next month.
- Chris Silverwood
Behind every concern mentioned above is responsibility of the head coach. Chris Silverwood’s methods have attracted a large number of doubters during this recent series. The techniques of batters and the inability to survive a barrage of fast bowling appeared to be a noticeable point of questioning by viewers. With only Mark Wood available as a bowler capable of surpassing the 140kph mark, it was clear that English batters lacked practice for what was suitable and appropriate for facing up to Starc, Cummins, Hazelwood and Green prior to the series.
At 2-0 down in the series, footage was released of England batters performing drills on one leg in a flamingo-esque fashion. This was another target point for England fans, calling for his removal as the head coach.
Working with Joe Root most noticeably on selection, he played a key role in the controversial selections and bowling plans throughout the series, including that of the overexertion of Mark Wood in the fourth and fifth test when the series scoreline was irreversible.
England’s next task in red ball cricket is an away tour to the ranked eighth in the world, West Indies. A must win three match tour for England could be a decisive point for the future of many players who took part in the recent ashes series, not to mention the head coach Chris Silverwood.