Former England captain Michael Vaughan blamed England’s lack of preparation for their debacle in the ongoing Ashes as the visitors faced another hammering defeat on Tuesday at Melbourne.
On the third day of the Melbourne, Australia took another 80 minutes to bundle England out for 68 as the hosts took the unassailable lead of 3-0 to retain the Ashes.
Vaughan blamed it for lack of preparation by the visitors and he also pointed out that England shifted their focus to white-ball cricket in the past couple of years. Former England is also not too optimistic about England’s chance in the next Ashes series (in 2023) at home.
“It’s not easy in these times, the England side didn’t have a great preparation but if you want to look for excuses, you can,” Michael Vaughan spoke to Fox Cricket after Melbourne Test.
England nowhere near good enough .. they will know that .. but seeing a 32 yr old on debut on his home turf with the Crowd going berserk is what makes Sport so special .. Well done Australia .. Far too good for England .. #Ashes @FoxCricket
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) December 28, 2021
“For some time now, this Test match team has not been good enough. They’ve not focused enough on the Test match team, the focus has been more on white-ball cricket – and it delivered a World Cup (win in 2019)” he added.
This Melbourne defeat was the 9th loss for Joe Root & Co. in this calendar as they equalled Bangladesh’s record of most defeats in a calendar year.
“But we’re not a good enough cricketing nation to take our eye off the ball in Test cricket and expect to arrive and play (in Australia),” Vaughan said.
“I would say with the group that I’ve seen and the way they’re playing, I’d be amazed if (Australia) don’t beat England in English conditions in 2023,” he added further.
England hadn’t won a Test in Australia since January 2011 as they lost 12 out of the last 13 Test matches down under. Vaughan warned England that they might have to face worse times ahead as the experienced pace duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad are on the verge of retirement.
“England are a long way short and it could take some even worse times – (Stuart) Broad and (Jimmy) Anderson are going to retire soon – before it gets better,” said the Ashes 2005 winning captain.
England couldn’t cross the 300-mark on a single occasion in 6 innings so far in this series. Though the bowling attack did well in the third test as James Anderson & Co. bowled Australia out for 267 but the batters couldn’t back it up.
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