The familiar issues frustrating England and their fans

BBC News

16 hours ago

If a bad team plays badly it does not hurt so much.When a team that can be great gets thrashed, those are the ones that really cause pain.And that is why Ben Stokes' England Test team are stuck in this cycle of frustration. From the sensational win at Headingley last week, to a thrashing in the second Test in Birmingham. Whenever England take two steps forward, there is always a defeat that knocks them back. It is familiar issues which are hurting them too...
Another thumping defeat
As England's fate was sealed on day five, Edgbaston was alive to the beat of an Indian drum."England get battered everywhere they go," sang the tourists' support. This 336-run defeat can be added to the 423-run loss in Hamilton, the nine-wicket thrashing in Rawalpindi, the meek eight-wicket loss at the hands of a poor Sri Lanka at The Oval or the 434-run thrashing by India in Rajkot last February.When England lose, they lose badly.Two of those, against New Zealand and Sri Lanka, could be written off as dead rubbers. Were the list shorter, you could put them down to the odd bad day.But until the trend of one England hammering a series is ruled out, they are not going to get to where they want to go.Series wins could come - they may beat India over five matches here - but some have been talking about this team going on to become the best England side since the one Andrew Strauss led to the top of the world rankings.Head coach Brendon McCullum told his team to "shoot for the stars" at the start of the summer. Fail to change and their ship may not leave Earth's atmosphere.
England's Pope fasts again
No-one represents England's feast or famine better than Ollie Pope.After a fine century in Leeds, he made a duck and 24 in his two innings at Edgbaston.It is a familiar problem for a batter who did not make a fifty in the four Tests in India at the start of last year after his epic 196 in the first Test.Before play on day five he was working with batting coach Marcus Trescothick on his head position, attempting to prevent himself falling to the off side before contact, as he did when edging Akash Deep in the first innings.With its slope, Lord's is not the ideal place to have such issues.Zak Crawley is another batter unable to break free of his own troubles.His 65 in the first Test, which followed 124 against Zimbabwe, was crucial to England's win but his wild drive in the second over of England's chase was the worst dismissal in an otherwise sensible quest for a draw.He is averaging just 21 when seamers pitch the ball up to him since the start of 2022. If India weren't aware of that weakness before, they are now.
What to do about Bashir?
The Test also resulted in some ugly numbers for England spinner Shoaib Bashir.The 21-year-old's match figures of 5-286 are the most expensive for England since 1950 and the third-most costly in his side's Test history.No Test spinner who has bowled as many overs (679.1) as Bashir has as high an economy rate (3.80). Not pretty.England's Bashir experiment is at an interesting phase. Picked for his debut last year after just 10 first-class matches and still unable to get a game for his county, he has been picked on potential.Against Zimbabwe at the start of the summer, he looked to be finding success by bowling tighter to the stumps, resulting in a more accurate line, while he was also bowling a fuller length.He deserves credit for working on a 'carrom ball' – an off-spinner's mystery delivery which is flicked from the hand and turns from right to left – which he bowled at least three times in the first innings.But six of his eight wickets in this series have come caught in the deep. The others were a lower-order stumping and a top-edged slog he caught himself.Bashir needs a good week in London for himself if nothing else.
England's pace pickle
That leads nicely to England's pace bowlers. Having opted to pick an unchanged side for Edgbaston, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue have now bowled 82, 77 and 81 overs respectively.Mohammed Siraj is the only India quick to have bowled more than 62.All three of England's pacemen struggled at times in Birmingham. Woakes was not as threatening after his new-ball spell while Tongue has been played well by India's top order and was not as successful against the tail as in the first Test.Change will surely come at Lord's given three days off is little time to recover and Jofra Archer is waiting in the wings. Could England conceivably leave out all three? Gus Atkinson, who has not played since May because of a hamstring injury, is back in the squad but it would be a risk to play Atkinson and Archer, who has bowled in two innings in a match once in four years, in the same XI. Woakes, 36, may need a rest but England like variety in their attack and he averages 12.9 at Lord's – the best of any bowler in Test history.England would also need to replace his batting at number eight if he is left out – even more so if Carse, an able batter, was also absent at number nine.Sam Cook is the Woakes replacement in England's squad but does not offer that same batting depth. Do not rule out bowling all-rounder Jamie Overton adding to his one Test cap, which was earned in 2022.
Gill eyeing Bradman's record
That it is England with selection problems is a remarkable turnaround from six days ago. India came into the second Test facing endless questions around their XI.Their big calls have been proven right, however.Picking batting all-rounder Washington Sundar at number eight looked a defensive move but he shared an important stand of 144 with his captain, Shubman Gill, in the first innings and had Stokes lbw shortly before lunch with his off-spin on the final day.The other big call was to rest Jasprit Bumrah. His replacement Akash Deep was majestic and took 10 in the match.In truth, Gill could not have asked for a better week.Some questioned his declaration on day four but its timing meant England faced Deep with the new ball late on and again when it was still hard the next morning. The result was two wickets in each spell.With 585 runs in two matches, Gill now needs a further 389 across the remaining three Tests to break the legendary record for most runs in a series set by the great Australian Don Bradman, who made 974 in the 1930 Ashes.