Published: Feb 03, 2019, 02:12 PM (IST)
Edited: Feb 03, 2019, 02:12 PM (IST)
Former captain Nasser Hussain has said that England‘s domestic setup lacks the depth in terms of top-class top-order batsmen. The tourists suffered yet another batting collapse to lose the second Test against West Indies on Saturday and thus also conceding the three-match series as well. (ALSO READ: Series defeat in WI set to cost England in Test rankings)
The Joe Root-led England are ranked no. 2 in Test cricket and were the favourites to win ahead of the series. However, back to back crushing losses and failure of batsmen to notch up a decent total has put their batting woes in the spotlight.
“There is a real problem in county cricket, where there is no real depth of top-quality, top-order batsmen,” Hussain told Sky Sports. “The red-ball game is being played predominantly in April and May, and then right at the end of the summer, on spicy pitches with a Duke’s ball.”
Hussain, who played 96 Tests between 1990 and 2004, said the fact that county cricket is being played on spicy pitches is forcing the batsmen to drop down the order to avoid negotiating the moving ball. “If anything, people are hiding away from batting in the top three. If you look at someone like Jason Roy, who some say is the next cab off the rank, he bats at five for Surrey. England have to go and see Surrey and Alec Stewart and say ‘we’re looking at him for the top of the order, can you get him up to three?’ Why would you want to move up to three in county cricket when it’s moving around? James Vince at Hampshire is slowly sliding down the order where it’s easier to bat.”
England are also struggling to find a long-term option for the vital No.3 spot since the retirement of Jonathan Trott. Several options have been tried with three from the current squad that include Root, Moeen Ali and the latest Jonny Bairstow.
“We have a fundamental problem in England in that we are not producing top-quality number three batsmen. We are not producing a batsman who can play that innings that Darren Bravo played for Windies,” Hussain said.
He continued, “This is not a great England batting line-up. England haven’t won previous series because of their batting line-up, they’ve won despite of it. Who has been a consistent performer in the last few years? Aside from Joe Root, there are not many. Jos Buttler has put some decent performances, as did Sam Curran against India – but they were from positions of weakness when England were five down. You can have as long a batting line-up as you want but if you’ve not got fundamental batting skills of seeing off the new ball, of batting long, you will struggle.”
Hussain also said West Indies captain Jason Holder had outwitted his opposite number on several fronts. “Jason Holder has not put a foot wrong – from before ball one went down! He helped select the right side in Barbados. Windies read it perfectly, won the toss; he got wickets and a double hundred. He got catches here, got his reviews right. He’s been absolutely outstanding whereas I think Joe has had a very average series. Wrong selections in the first game, wrong preparation, wrong choice of ends here for certain bowlers, wrong field positionings,” he said.
