Former England captains on Saturday (December 11) asked the English batters to lift their game and come to the aid of skipper Joe Root, who has been bailing the team out of trouble lately after batting collapses.
England suffered a humiliating nine-wicket defeat at the hands of Australia in the opening Ashes Test at Gabba.
Resuming their second innings on 220/2 with the match still within their grasp, the visitors lost eight wickets for 77 runs to be bowled out for 297 in the first session on Day 4, leaving Australia needing only 20 runs to win.
The hosts then completed the formalities to claim a 1-0 lead in the five-match Test series.
"For a long time now, England have found themselves 20-3, 30-3, 40-4. They were 29-4 in the first innings of this test and went on to be bowled out for 147," Nasser Hussain wrote in his Sky Sports column.
"Root has been their star player for a number of years and is the only one this year who averages over 40 in test cricket. Root and (Dawid) Malan are the only ones averaging over 30, Root and Rory Burns are the only ones with test hundreds.
"I'm afraid that's just not good enough, that is not going to win you that many test matches. It can't just be Root," he added.
Joe Root scored 0 and 89 across the two innings of Brisbane Test and surpassed Michael Vaughan for the most Test runs in a calendar year for England.
Vaughan too was critical of the way England’s batting line-up collapsed in the morning session on Day 4.
"Problem for England is when they have a bad session, they have test match losing sessions with the bat. It's been happening for too long against the better teams," Vaughan tweeted.
According to Michael Atherton, Root's decision to bat first at the Gabba was a mistake but he felt it was a below-par batting performance in the first innings that cost the tourists.
Root won the toss and opted to bat first on a green pitch in Brisbane and the decision backfired as England were skittled for 147 on Day 1.
"Batting badly was a more costly mistake. Time and again, England's batting line-up underwhelms and Root himself can only carry so much weight," Atherton wrote in The Times.
"The first innings total was a hundred runs below par; with a competitive total it was possible to see a route to success batting first. Poor batting and missed chances resulted in a deficit too challenging to overcome."
