England started their Ashes campaign last week on a poor note, losing the first Test inside 4 days at Brisbane. Australia dominated the contest right from the very first ball. And going forward with Australia’s record in pink-ball Tests at Adelaide, things ain’t looking too optimistic for them.
However several Ex-players from England cited lack of preparation as one of biggest reason for their heavy thrashing at Gabba. Earlier Michael Atherton made this point, now Alastair Cook made this point in his column for The Times.
Alastair Cook Rues Lack Of Preparation Behind England’s Collapse In The First Ashes Test
“This is critical stuff, especially when I think back to 2010-11. Yes, I had one of the most productive series of my life but in the first tour match, I had scores of 5 and 9. I needed those first few innings to get the nerves and anxiety out of the way and my eye back in. When no one in the England team has had that kind of preparation, you end up getting bowled out for 147,”– Alastair Cook wrote this in his column.
Noteworthy that England played just one practice game before the Ashes Opener in which only 29 overs were bowled due to rain. This is the very England team of previous eras. In their famous Ashes winnings campaign in 2010-11, they played 3 warm-up games before the first Test, so was the case in the 2017-18 tour as well.
Alastair Cook gave an example of his own form of how those warm-up games made the difference for him. His progressive scores in those practice games were 5, 9, 32, 111, 60, 2* and the rest of what he did in the Ashes, was history with 766 runs in 7 innings.
Things are going to be more difficult for England as they haven’t had any game time against pink ball. And Australia’s record in day-night tests has been 100% by winning 8 out of 8 games.
Last year they bowled India out for 36 in pink-ball Test and India played a pink-ball practice game before the series. However as James Anderson making comeback in next test, England would have more teeth in their pace attack. In last Ashes in Australia, he picked a fifer with the pink ball at Adelaide.
Also Read: Ashes 2021-22: Ben Stokes Isn’t A Messiah – Geoffrey Boycott