All sorts of excuses can be made for England losing in Sri Lanka. It is a
tough destination; there’s the heat, humidity and opponents who know they
are better at home than outside Asia, where they have won only four series.
England have probably had the worse of the umpiring. They are at the end of
their busiest year. But these are feeble excuses. There is something more
seriously wrong with this England team than being in the wrong place at the
wrong time.
The trouble with New England – post-Fletcher, post-Antipodean/ Caribbean
nightmare – has been that they have taken an awfully long time to realise
they are no longer much good. Part of them still thinks they are the great
2005 Ashes winners. Their problem has been that most irritating of traits,
the superiority complex.
After losing the Ashes in 15 days a year ago, there was talk of rebuilding for
2009. But nothing of the sort has happened. The bad days have outnumbered
the good in 2007, and it could be a similar story next year, when England
might hope to beat New Zealand away and at home, but will do well to avoid
defeats by South Africa and India, two teams that now stand ahead of them in
the Test rankings and possess more potent bowling.
Perhaps the penny finally dropped yesterday, when England lost a second
successive series for the first time in six years. “Any team going through a
development stage goes through lows,” said the captain, Michael Vaughan. “I
can’t fault the players’ commitment, but we just didn’t have the expertise.
I hope we can start developing a winning culture. Losing can become a habit
and we have to make sure we turn that around. There’s a long way to go
before we can talk about being a force again.”
There will have to be changes for the forthcoming New Zealand tour, but unless
Andrew Flintoff resurrects his all-round game and Stuart Broad develops into
a match-winning bowler, England can kiss goodbye to the next Ashes.
After England was booed off the Kensington Oval in April when they crashed out
of the World Cup following a spineless defeat by South Africa, Vaughan said
he never wanted to go through such an experience again. He only had to wait
until last Thursday for a repeat. Then, at the end of a day during which Sri
Lanka merrily added 115 runs in 20 overs before routing England for 81,
their lowest score in Asia, his players were heckled as they boarded the
team bus. When they got back to the ground the next morning, they saw a
banner hanging off the fort wall that overlooks the stadium. It read: “Hang
your heads in shame.” Yesterday there was another: “15 days of torture.
Thanks for nothing, England.”
Once they let slip a winning position in the first Test, England conducted a
spoiling war that reached its nadir with an overrate of 13.2 an hour in a
final match they ought to have been trying to win.
This is a team that talks the talk, but no longer walks the walk. In Galle,
England had a golden opportunity to level the series. Having put their faith
in fast bowlers (they always put their faith in fast bowlers in Asia, and
sometimes it even works), they won a good toss and put their opponents in,
which is what the big boys do when they want to show who is boss.
And from there everything unravelled. England simply couldn’t execute what
they had planned. They bowled poorly and batted worse, but it was their
fielding that showed how far things have plummeted since 2005.
Two years ago England’s occasionally inspired fielding (remember Andrew
Strauss catching Adam Gilchrist at Trent Bridge?) reflected the inspired
thought that the Ashes were within reach. Now, watching Vaughan post Steve
Harmison or Alastair Cook at gully, or Monty Panesar in the covers, is to
realise how fanciful an England victory has become.
We can go back to May 2006 for talking that wasn’t backed up by walking.
England v Sri Lanka at Lord’s. Flintoff declares at 551 for six, thinking
he’s got enough to roll the little Sri Lankans over twice.
First mistake. England manage it once, and then comes the second mistake.
Flintoff enforces the follow-on. The small matter of 199 overs later,
England still hadn’t rolled them over a second time. England have a history
of underestimating the Sri Lankans, yet still they keep telling us they are
learning.
We can also go back to December 2006. England v Australia in Adelaide.
Flintoff declares at 551 for six, thinking he’s got enough to . . . well,
what? Roll the Aussies over twice? In fact, by the time they’d done it once
they had a lead of just 38, then lost their way in a weak-kneed attempt to
bat out time.
The trouble started with Ian Bell being run out in a mix-up with his partner,
which is precisely what happened in Galle on Thursday. Yet still they keep
telling us they are learning.
And still the talking came. Shortly after Peter Moores took over as coach,
Kevin Pietersen revealed that the new regime wanted to be “ruthless” and
“make people scared of facing England again”. In the weeks that followed we
found out what that meant, as James Anderson barged West Indies batsman
Runako Morton, jelly beans were thrown on to the pitch to distract an Indian
tailender and Matthew Prior expended more energy behind the stumps on
puerile sledging than catching the ball. And while this went on, England
were losing a one-day series to West Indies and a Test series to India,
their first home series defeat in six years.
Posturing has taken the place of anything of substance. The batting has become
overly aggressive, contributing to a dearth of individual hundreds. The
bowling has become impotent. After just two series wins in eight, the
atmosphere is sterile but the mood tense, as a new management team feels
under pressure to make a mark.
The most interesting figure in all of this is Vaughan. A year ago it was not
clear what the future held for him, but he has come back and batted with a
freedom that speaks of the gratitude he feels at being granted a second
lease of life.
But the big question the Sri Lanka series has raised is whether he has the
hunger and vision to take the Test team to the heights for a second time.
Vaughan has been captain for four years – admittedly with a year on the
sidelines – which was time enough to finish his predecessor, Nasser Hussain,
who quit saying he hadn’t the energy to bring through another generation of
youngsters.
Mahela Jayawardene, the Sri Lanka captain, said yesterday he was surprised at
how England had played. “They were competitive in the first game, but after
that only for periods. We wanted to win this series more than they did. We
batted much better in tough situations. We realised they were not pushing
for a win but to survive. We saw a lot of negativity in their camp.”
Vaughan must take responsibility for some of the selections that have not
worked. He was central to the preferment of Ravi Bopara over Owais Shah, who
would surely have scored more runs and strengthened the slip cordon. Had
Bopara been a success, he might have had 20 caps to his name come the next
Ashes and been a significant force, but now he faces the axe. If Strauss is
recalled, as he surely will be, Vaughan and Moores face a difficult task
rearranging the batting order.
Vaughan has also dropped hints that he views Paul Collingwood (under whom the
one-day side has progressed) as the man to succeed him, in time, as Test
captain. This is not a view shared by everyone – Pietersen, the third member
of this team’s inner sanctum, has his supporters – and Collingwood is a
close friend of Vaughan. Perhaps Vaughan feels Collingwood isn’t going to
agitate for the post before Vaughan is ready to relinquish it.
Hugh Morris, the new managing director of the England team, has started work
at a tricky time. His immediate task is to help find a new national
selector. The defeat in Sri Lanka and some indifferent selections for the
World Cup and Twenty20 world championship won’t have helped David Graveney’s
hopes of getting the job. Above all, Morris must make sure this England team
doesn’t become cosy and complacent, in defeat or in victory.
THE YEAR AHEAD
New Zealand (away): three Tests. England should win unless Shane Bond
stays fit and on fire
New Zealand (home): three Tests. Andrew Flintoff should be fit to
return. If England lose this one, they really are in trouble.
South Africa (home): four Tests. South Africa are on the rise with a
powerful pace attack.
Champions Trophy (in Pakistan): a tough place for England to win their
first major one-day tournament.
India (away): three Tests. Another chance to conquer the Asian bogey.
England haven’t won in India since 1984-85.
