ASHES 2019: Michael Vaughan blames 'technique' for a below-par England batting performance

Vaughan believes that the batting order does not matter if the batsmen have the right batting technique to play Test match cricket.

Joe Root walks off after being dismissed at Lord's | Getty Images

The England Cricket Team could not remain in a jovial mood for long after their first-ever World Cup victory as the ghosts of Test match batting have come back to haunt them once again. The English batting has suffered a lot of collapses recently and former England skipper Michael Vaughan believes that the reason for it is their weak technique.

While another former England skipper Nasser Hussain mentioned that the batting order needs to be changed and Roy should be pushed back, Vaughan believes that order doesn’t matter if the batsmen have the right technique.

Vaughan told BBC’s Test Match Special, “The technical side is a worry. Many will be talking about batting orders but the basics are do you know where your off stump is and can you play a forward defence? Too many times with England we talk about batting line-ups and personnel changes

Too many of them you look at and ask 'have you got the basics required for Test match cricket, leaving good balls on or around off stump, playing with balance on the front foot, letting the ball come and playing the ball under your eyeline in English conditions?',” he added.

He also stated that he is not sure of the English batsmen surviving against a quality Test match bowling attack like Australia and that’s what is stopping them from achieving success in the longest format of the game.

I sit there and watch without any kind of confidence. You want to peep around the curtain to see if they are still out there and that's a concern because they are up against a quality bowling line-up that will continue to put them under a lot of pressure,” Vaughan said.

After being asked to bat first at Lord’s, England were bowled out for just 258. Only two batsmen, Rory Burns and Jonny Bairstow could go past the 50-run mark and the rest just did not look good against the Australian bowlers. Comeback man Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon picked three wickets each.

On asked whether England’s first innings total was competitive, Vaughan said, “It's tight. It's a competitive total, even if we would have liked more runs. The conditions have kept everyone interested. The ball has seamed, if bowlers miss the lengths they have been punished and it has started to offer a bit for the spinners. It's poised quite nicely."

(With inputs from BBC Test Match Special)

 
 

By Sameer Deodhar - 16 Aug, 2019

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