Former England pacer Steve Harmison believes that the different captain or coach wouldn’t have changed the scoreline of ongoing Ashes. Currently, England are trailing in the Ashes by 0-2 as they are struggling to compete in all three departments.
“But if people think it’s as simple as replacing him and Chris Silverwood they want their heads shaking. We’ve got a system problem in this country. When we lose the Ashes, we say county cricket’s crap. It’s not crap, it’s just played at a crap time.” Steve Harmison said in an interview with Dailymail.
Former England pacer feels that England doesn’t prioritize red-ball cricket anymore. Notable that England hasn’t won a Test match in Australia since 2011 as they lost 11 out of 12 matches since then.
He also admitted that a heavy thrashing in the Ashes might tempt Joe Root to step away from the captaincy. Joe Root scored 1630 runs in the Year 2021 and he will need another 159 runs in Melbourne to hold the record for most runs in a calendar year, which is currently held by Mohammad Yousuf.
“Because if this carries on Joe will be looking in the mirror and saying ‘what’s the point? I’ll go back to being a batsman and averaging 50 every year. But I want the IPL on my CV too. I want to be England’s best multi-format player. Which I believe he is. I wouldn’t blame the boy if he’s thinking ‘I’ve had my go now, it’s somebody else’s turn.” he said.
The 43-year old also doesn’t believe that making Ben Stokes captain will turn things around for England as the all-rounder already has too much workload to manage in all three formats.
“Make Ben captain? That would be the worst thing they could do. I’m sorry. Ben Stokes can’t play for the England Test team, 50-over side, T20 team and Rajasthan Royals and be Test captain. You can’t ask him to do all that,” Harmison said.
However, Harmison is quite optimistic that England won’t be whitewashed in this Ashes series.
The third Test between Australia and England will begin on December 26 in Melbourne.
Also Read: England Named The T20I Squad For West Indies Tour