Published: Jul 17, 2017, 10:52 PM (IST)
Edited: Jul 17, 2017, 10:52 PM (IST)
South Africa obliterated England at Trent Bridge. Chasing 474, England slumped to 133 within 45 overs. The four-match series is now levelled 1-1. Vernon Philander was awarded Man of the Match for his all-round performance. He took 5 wickets and scored 96 runs in the match. However, England were especially abysmal with the bat. Although Joe Root repelled South Africa with a fine 78 and Alastair Cook and Jonny Bairstow’s scored in 40s, none of their batters were impactful. For the same, former England all-round Ian Botham said it is time England moved on from No. 3 batter Gary Ballance.
“It was a debacle. The second innings was so ordinary. It’s England’s biggest defeat on this ground, an absolute hammering. Where do you go from that? They’ve clearly got plenty of things to work on. The selections have been a bit iffy,” Botham told Sky Sports.
Ballance was drafted ahead of Haseeb Hameed. After his return, his scores read 20, 34, 27, and 4.
“Gary is a lovely lad, a great guy, but his recent performances have not been good enough and it worries me that he still gets trapped on the crease. It also shows the gap between county and international cricket for me,’ Botham added. You might score 1,000 runs playing for Yorkshire but it’s a bit different story against [Morne] Morkel, Philander and [Chris] Morris. This is no fault of Gary’s but I see no difference in his game from the first or second time he was picked. I think it’s time to move on,” concluded Botham.
