The English greats lost to Ashes for the second time in a row in Australia

(Reuters) – England’s heavy 275-series defeat to Australia in the second Ashes test on Monday led former players to question not only the choice of Adelaide’s tourist team but also their batting ability.

Australia won 2-0 in a five-match series and Monday came 4,000 days after England won the Ashes test in the Down Under series. Their last win came in the 2010-11 series.

England rested spinner Jack Leach and on the track, where his Australian opponent Nathan Lyon picked up five points, skipper Joe Root ended up bowling 26 over himself, while fast bowler Ollie Robinson also switched off-spin.

“Robinson bowled the bike, Lyon tore it up the square and the English Spinners sat on the bench. You couldn’t figure it out, really,” former England captain Mike Atherton wrote in The Times.

“The margin for defeat was spectacular, and the spirit of fighting on the last afternoon should not obscure the fact that, for the second time in so many tests, England has been arrogant and defeated.

“Once again, the punch has been completely inferior and they will face Pat Cummins next to return and refresh when Australia announced unchanged for the team’s Boxing Day test. Root’s Ashes dreams are hanging on the wire.”

Chris Woakes’ choice was also criticized after he grabbed just one gate of 149 runs in the match, and Geoffrey Boycott said the runs added to his center order did not compensate for his “lack of ability to take moves abroad.”

“England is constantly picking up Chris Woakes in his late subscription times to help with their fragile punches. Did his run in Adelaide affect the winning or losing the test? No,” Boycott wrote in The Telegraph.

“If he tried to hit the middle of the Aussie rackets, he succeeded … We have to pick the bowlers to take 20 cards and the batsmen have to be better able.”

Root set a record with his 23rd loss as England captain in 58 tests.

But although he sits 158 runs after a record for former Pakistani batsman Mohammad Yousuf during the most running calendar year (1788), his punch line-up betrayed him once again, especially opening players Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed.

Story continues

“The two openers are walking points and Australian bowlers are in line to get to them,” Boycott added.

“It’s not ideal, but at some point Joe Root might hit (rank) three … England have to do something different because they’re not scoring enough goals to put Australia under any scoreboard pressure.”

(Report: Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; edited by Christian Radnedge)