Former England quick and current BT Sport pundit Steve Harmison has lambasted the manner in which three of England’s most senior players were dismissed on the first afternoon of the third Test of the 2021/22 Ashes.

Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler all fell in avoidable circumstances during the second session of the opening day. Root fell to Mitchell Starc, attempting to dab a ball well wide of off stump down towards deep third, Stokes succumbed trying to upper cut Cameron Green over backward-point while Jos Buttler could only find debutant Scott Boland in the deep, looking to hit Nathan Lyon into the stands during the last over of the afternoon session.

Harmison, speaking on BT Sport‘s coverage during the tea interval, didn’t hold back in his criticism of three of England’s most experienced Test cricketers.

Harmison said: “I think Australia have bowled some good balls in this session, they’ve put some good pressure on this session but it’s Test cricket – you have to withstand that, you have to overcome that. You have to stand up and take passages of play in, absorb [them] and then you earn the right to score runs.

“That’s indefensible. I’m sorry, that’s indefensible. That’s three of our senior players. That’s Joe Root, that’s Ben Stokes and that’s Jos Buttler. All three could have avoided getting out in that session. Australia will be walking off, thinking, ‘You know what, we bowled some of the best balls in this Test series on this surface by pitching up. And what have we done? We’ve not got a wicket, England have given us three thank you very much, we’re going to enjoy our tea time. You can’t defend that, I’m sorry.”

Harmison then doubted Buttler ability to construct innings in Test cricket. “We’ve not seen him put whole innings,” added Harmison. “He’s not sure – when he’s caught between a rock and a hard place – how to put a Test match innings together. For the talent of Jos Buttler, two hundreds in 56 Test matches – I don’t think that’s good enough for the talent that Jos has got.”