September 9, 2024

England’s relaxed batting is stopping them from being top-level

England have been aggressive throughout the 2024 Test summer. With James Anderson’s retirement looming, they are clearly focused on future challenges, especially next year’s tour of Australia, where their recent performance has been poor.

When they arrive in Australia next November, it will have been nearly 15 years since England last won a Test there, much less a series. Despite the overall positive progress in the first two years of the Stokes-McCullum era, England felt that they needed to refresh their team further to have the best chance of competing in Australia.

A series of daring selection decisions were made, and most have proven successful. Anderson, Leach, Robinson, and Bairstow were all dropped, while county cricket’s leading seamer, Sam Cook, is still waiting for his Test debut despite the retirements of Anderson and Broad. Jamie Smith has stepped in impressively in the middle order. For the first time in years, England is developing a group of fast bowlers with the potential to excel in Australia.

Although England’s bowlers have struggled to be effective in Australia on recent tours, their successive defeats have yet to be solely due to a lack of wicket-taking ability. In the 2021/22 series, Australia only surpassed 450 runs once. Their dominance was more due to England’s frequent batting collapses than the bowling performance.

England’s struggle to score big on flat pitches has been a persistent issue. While they are showing promise in consistently taking 20 wickets per Test in conditions with less movement, their batting lineup still needs to gain the required ruthless edge to capitalize on solid positions.

Losing to Sri Lanka at the Kia Oval shouldn’t be an anomaly. The visitors are rich in batting talent, to the extent that the highly-regarded Pathum Nissanka didn’t make the team for the first Test. While their bowling can be inconsistent, Lahiru Kumara and the Fernandos, Asitha, and Vishwa can be very effective in form and fit. On days like Sunday, when conditions suit them, they can dismantle strong batting lineups.

That said, Sri Lanka had no business being in the Test after the first day’s play. Ollie Pope, in particular, capitalized on a couple of wayward sessions in favorable bowling conditions. At one point on the second morning, England were 261-3 against a weary attack with 28 overs left before the visitors could get a second new ball. The Test was there for the taking, but England squandered their dominant position, allowing Sri Lanka to get back into the game. They collapsed dramatically, losing their final seven wickets for just 64 runs, with all ten wickets being caught and none in the slip cordon.

Despite the pre-Test expectations, a performance like this had been looming. Joe Root’s twin centuries at Lord’s masked an otherwise lackluster team effort, and in the opening Test at Old Trafford, Root and Smith had to work hard to secure victory for England in the fourth innings.

England’s Batting Fragility and Its Impact on Recent Performances

It’s important to note that England’s batting lineup is incredibly fragile. They’re missing Zak Crawley, one of their most consistent players over the past year. Ben Stokes’ absence has been partially addressed by promoting Woakes to number seven. England further weakened their batting at the Kia Oval by replacing Matt Potts, who scored a Division One century in 2024, with Josh Hull, a 20-year-old with a career batting average of just three.

England’s collapse on day two felt eerily familiar. Their most notable defeats under McCullum have often seemed self-inflicted, like not capitalizing on favorable batting conditions against Australia at Edgbaston and Lord’s last year or the infamous Wellington loss after enforcing the follow-on. On day two, England’s casual batting allowed Sri Lanka a chance to mount a comeback. To have a real chance of success in Australia, England needs to avoid these kinds of lapses and build a strong group of fast bowlers who complement each other in Australian conditions.

Brook and Duckett have missed out on many runs this summer. Despite his obvious potential, Brook has been dismissed between 30 and 65 in half of his home Test innings and has an average under 40 in these matches. Similarly, Duckett has scored just one home Test century after two summers at the top of the order despite consistently making promising starts. Both are talented players with strong records, but for England to advance to the next level, they need to dominate entire days of cricket, not just brief periods, no matter how impressive those periods might be. Australia and India, who will visit England next summer, will be encouraged by how easily Sri Lanka got Brook to play a rash shot on the second morning.

Overall, it has been a positive summer for England. The rise of Smith and Atkinson is genuinely exciting, and the bowling attack seems well-equipped to handle tougher overseas conditions. However, with the bat, they still sometimes lack the ruthlessness seen in the best teams. Addressing this tendency to surrender momentum to the opposition is the next step in the team’s development.

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