England implodes as trainwreck Ashes interview sparks outrage

England cricket lovers are baying for blood after another Ashes humiliation as one post-match interview at the MCG infuriated fans.

Chris Silverwood is under enormous pressure to keep his job. Photo: Getty Images/BT Sport.

Former England bowler Steve Harmison said the Test team must hit the “reset” button as a searching inquest began into their humiliating Ashes capitulation in Australia.

Joe Root’s men were bowled out for a paltry 68 on Tuesday as they slipped to an innings defeat in the third Test in Melbourne — handing Australia an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

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It was the latest in a string of woeful efforts with the bat — England have not once reached 300 in six innings in Australia.

Harmison, who was part of the England team that won the Ashes in 2005, said the “embarrassment” could prove to be a moment of reckoning for some in the England set-up.

“There is going to be a big inquest,” he told BT Sport. “There’s going to be a lot of things blamed, people’s careers on the line.

“When you look at the history of the Ashes in Australia, the only teams that have gone over there and done anything meaningful are the teams that have got first-innings runs.

“Last night, they (Australia) bowled brilliantly but that’s embarrassing, I’m sorry, no fight. There was nothing there.”

England — reigning world champion in the 50-over, white-ball format — has endured a chastening year in Test cricket, losing its series in India and tasting defeat at home against New Zealand.

Harmison said it would be shortsighted just to look at the roles of head coach Chris Silverwood and Root, who has had a fine year personally with the bat.

However, the coach came under fire for a post-match interview on Tuesday, where he said there were “positives” to come out of the Boxing Day Test and series at large.

"We have to find a way of competing against [Australia]"

"There are positives coming out of this"

England head coach Chris Silverwood reflects on going 3-0 down inside twelve days of cricket.#Ashespic.twitter.com/7lTlQQQOTg

— Cricket on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) December 28, 2021

Ex-England wicketkeeper Matt Prior posted a question mark with a shrugging emoji on Twitter in response to Silverwood’s interview.

“‘Positives….’ Time for honesty surely? #ashes,” Prior tweeted. “The only ‘positive’ I can see coming out of this #ashes is how clear it has become that people who follow cricket in England care deeply about TEST cricket and want their Test team to be successful. Hopefully this will be noted.”

Former England cricketer turned writer Mike Selvey said: “OK let’s play ‘spot the positive’. Covid gags don’t count.”

British media personality Piers Morgan said “the only bloody positives from this fiasco were the Covid test results” while journalist Tom Savage added: “Astonishing Chris Silverwood interview — smiling, ‘taking the positives’, churning out nonsense sound bites. He should be sacked by the morning, bring him home in disgrace. If that’s what they’ve got inspiring them they’d be better off making it up as they go along.”

The popular Cricket Badger Podcast called it an “awful” interview, sports writer Phil McNulty said Silverwood’s responses were “utter and complete nonsense” while fellow sports journalist James Pearce tweeted: “Remarkable. Not even Silverwood himself can possibly believe the guff he’s come out with there.”

Former England captains Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain both believe Silverwood should be dismissed after the dismal tour concludes.

“I can’t see a situation where Silverwood will survive this tour. All the responsibility lies with him as that’s the way (England cricket director Ashley) Giles has set things up,” Atherton told Sky Sports.

Hussain added: “When England went down the rotation policy at the start of the year, Athers said ‘let’s judge Silverwood by results at the end of year’. Well, England have lost nine Test matches, their worst-ever year.

“Those results speak for themselves so I think he is incredibly vulnerable.”

Chris Silverwood’s head is on the chopping block. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

Structural issues at the heart of English cricket crisis

Plenty of voices have come out in the aftermath of the Ashes disaster saying English cricket needs to look at the big picture — particularly the treatment of its domestic game as well as how the Test side is managed.

Harmison was critical of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB’s) selection policy, saying there was no continuity of decision-making, meaning players did not know their roles in the side.

“At this moment now, England’s red-ball (Test) team is in a lot worse state than what the white-ball team was in 2015, when we left the World Cup with our tail between our legs,” he said.

“And we pressed the reset button and I think we have to.”

Harmison said it was crucial to find the right balance between red and white-ball cricket and it was vital to find batsmen with the ability to bat for long periods

“I think we need to have a look at everything we do with the red ball and that comes from the top all the way down to under-19 red-ball cricket and try and make sure it gets better and better and better,” he added.

BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew, a former England Test bowler, said England’s domestic structure was not “fit for purpose”.

“The (first-class) County Championship has been marginalised to the fringes of the season for the convenience of playing more limited-overs cricket,” he wrote.

“The ability to produce a solid defence has given way to the desire to hit ramps, scoops and towering sixes.

“The message from the authorities is the shortest formats are the only interesting or exciting versions of cricket.”

Where to now for Joe Root? (Photo by Hamish Blair / AFP)

Ex-England seamer Ryan Sidebottom said on Twitter “we need to prioritise County cricket/Test cricket more than we do!!! Find a balance in the schedule” while English journalist Jonathan Liew gave a wide-ranging interview on BT Sport about the deeper problems infiltrating the game in the UK.

“There is genuine and justified anger out there, people in this country really care about Test cricket,” Liew said. “It really stings people when clearly, the ECB have not paid due respect to what people regard as the ultimate form of the game.

“They’ve failed this team twice — first of all by not giving them enough time to prepare and then by not creating an infrastructure within the game that’s going to push the players that are currently in the team and create competition for places.

“There are no easy answers here but you do expect a board that has the institutional will to make this team good again and that hasn’t been coming from the ECB for some time. They collected two million pounds in bonuses for getting The Hundred right — and creating a Test team that wins big series abroad, it doesn’t make them a huge amount of revenue. There’s kudos in that but that’s not what drives the profit motive.

“That’s what’s been ailing English cricket for a while. They’ve lost sight of what matters to fans and what matters to a lot of players in the game. Until there’s institutional change, there’s no real confidence from me and certainly from a lot of fans that anything is going to change for the better.”

Respected British sports writer Barney Ronay added on Twitter: “It’s obvious that Silverwood as ‘manager’ should be sacked/resign, but England cricket has the old football problem. The people who appointed him get to stay. And to pretend they’ve dealt with the problem.

“Another reminder the ECB executive has awarded itself a £2.1m bonus this year for ‘promoting the sport’ - while creating a system that dishes up this doomed product. A scandal that should have been questioned when (ECB boss Tom) Harrison and his people were in parliament.”

There have been no miracles from Ben Stokes this time around. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

England Test great Kevin Pietersen also pointed to structural flaws within England’s domestic game as an explanation to why Root and Co. have failed so miserably on this tour.

“I think it was 4/5yrs ago when I said that county cricket was flawed and there were too many 1st class cricketers earning a living from the game. I’m sure someone can find the quotes. And, I got hammered for it,” Pietersen tweeted.

“Nice to see others now seeing what I saw years ago!

“If you thought that this #Ashes trip for the England players was going to be anything less than a shambles, you’ve missed the lead up & you didn’t watch the tour of India! Lead up - quarantine & Covid off field issues a nightmare! India - batters can’t bat!

“And still NOT blaming the players. It’s the system!

“Please don’t hammer the English batters. It’s not their fault. It’s the entire system that’s flawed! They’re as good as the system!”

Pietersen also re-posted a tweet of his from 2018 when he said: “The world of T20 franchise cricket has hurt County Cricket. Why would the best pros play CC when they can earn big $$ playing T20’s.

“Therefore, the standard of CC batting has declined rapidly which means the growth of youngsters is a lot slower than where it was.”