England must find consistency after going 2-0 down..

England must find consistency after going 2-0 down..

After a poor test with a few positives in Brisbane, England again find themselves in a similar position.

There is evidence of poor shot selection once again. After playing so well in Brisbane James Vince scoring 83 and unlucky to be out is back to playing at shots wide of off stump and being caught behind for a total of 17 in two innings, 6 players scored over 30 yet only Root scored a half century. England need someone to come to the party and score a big century then that just might give the team confidence going forward. The Aussies have had two big centurions both were Man of the Match and that gave them the foundation for winning. We did however show some character with the ball in their 2nd innings which gave England an outside chance, but all the hard work was undone in two overs loosing Woakes and then Cook.

Is the preparation correct? Why are they playing football just before they start? Would they had been better off starting the warm up with football? Then the players we had left in the shed to practice in the nets, would that have made any difference? The Aussies are certainly more disciplined then us with batting and bowling, if we engineered that into the team and had the will to win maybe it might be so different, we need to see more character from the team if we are to avoid going 3-0 giving the Aussies the Ashes.

On a brighter note Craig Overton played extremely well on debut, he bowled well getting Smith and taking 4 wickets in the match and was top scorer with the bat in the first in innings. You have to question why Jake Ball was selected in front of him in Brisbane as he had 13 wickets in the warm ups compared to Ball’s 1? Perth is hot and sunny with very different pitch conditions from the last 2 so I am expecting to see changes in the team to benefit from the wicket known for its pace. Legendary cricketer Shane Warne is confident off-spinner Nathan Lyon will be a key asset to Australia’s bowling attack at the WACA . Who will be our key asset for the pivotal match against our old adversary Australia? Email me with your thoughts on cricket@ictours.co.uk

There is still availability in the Melbourne and Sydney test, if you fancy a trip down under give Richard or Sara a call, we have Christmas lunch in Melbourne, New Years Eve cruise in Sydney and Fish and Chips at Doyles famous beach restaurant in Watsons Bay, Sydney to look forward to.