Joe Root, Zak Crawley's Ashes tour absence wouldn’t have lasted in Douglas Jardine’s era
A tale almost a century old has highlighted the biggest problem that exists in England’s Bazball era – quite simply, that they are not prepared to do the tough things needed to win an Ashes tour.
When the English cricketers were walking through Perth they unwittingly visited a street where infamous Bodyline captain Douglas Jardine once laid down the law.
Jardine was in the foyer of a team hotel way back in 1932 when a large package containing a bottle of scotch for every player arrived from a local fan. He immediately sent them back unopened.
About the same time he told batsman Freddy Brown to pack away his golf clubs for the tour because golf could corrupt his cricket strokes.
Brown replied “But I am an amateur and I probably won’t play a Test on tour (which he didn’t)’’ to which Jardine replied “I don’t care.’’
Jardine may have been heavy handed but the point is this – he was prepared to do the tough things needed to win an Ashes tour.
The current England side, by contrast, are not.
Visiting teams don’t tap dance their way to series wins in Australia.
You need to make sacrifices and do things you don’t want to do. This English team just are not prepared to do the hard yards on or off the field.
Playing just one trial game before the first Test in Perth meant they were always going to be short of a gallop.
And now, not sending any of their out of form players to play a two pink ball game in Canberra before the second Test is another misstep.
Joe Root and Zak Crawley are so out of form that if this week’s game was a backyard fixture with a tennis ball they should be playing.
But the fact that it’s a pink ball fixture ahead of a pink ball Test against a team who have won 13 of 14 pink ball Tests makes it all the more bewildering they are not making the trip.
Canberra may be a lower, slower wicket than the Gabba. Big deal. Crawley did not even score a single run in Perth. He needs to find the middle of his bat and beat fieldsmen again. Paceman Gus Atkinson and keeper Jamie Smith have never played a first class game with a pink ball.
If England thought they copped a decent spray from their home media after losing in Perth its nothing to what lies ahead if they get swept away in the second Test in Brisbane.
You can feel the mood changing towards Bazball from captivation to contemplation and soon it will be contempt if England keep disappearing in two days.
London Telegraph correspondent Oliver Brown has had enough already.
“We are living through a strange period, where (Ben) Stokes and (Brendon) McCullum act as if they are operating on some higher philosophical plane, beyond the understanding of anybody not in their coterie,’’ Brown wrote.
“There is an arrogance and entitlement about this England side that can be quite off-putting.’’
And that’s when they are losing…
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Originally published as Joe Root, Zak Crawley's Ashes tour absence wouldn’t have lasted in Douglas Jardine’s era
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