Former England Steve Harmison has criticised Joe Root for his public censure of his bowling attack after England’s meek defeat in the second Test of the 2021/22 Ashes.

Australia amassed 473-9d in their first innings, as England’s all-seam attack, while generally accurate and miserly, toiled in vain as the hosts batted for almost two full days.

England failed to pass 250 in either of their innings and after the game, Root lamented the repetitive nature of the mistakes made by his side. England’s seamers came under particular criticism.

Speaking after the game, Root said: “If you look at the first innings in particular I thought we were just a little bit short with the ball, we didn’t challenge them enough. We need to be braver, we need to get the ball up there. As soon as we did that in the second innings, the amount of chances we created and how dangerous we looked, that’s the benchmark for us moving forwards. We weren’t brave enough at times to get the ball up there and get them driving.

“You’re looking at half a metre at times. When you’re in the moment, and the amount of times they played and missed and we beat the bat again, you feel like you’re doing the right thing. You just have to be that little bit braver, get the ball up there and accept that every now and then you’re going to get driven, but with the skill and ability we have we’re going to create chances.”

Harmison, part of Michael Vaughan’s 2005 Ashes winning side, was unimpressed with the current England skipper’s comments.

“The criticism of the bowlers from Joe’s point of view… I’d have been waiting for him at the top of the stairs if Vaughany had said that,” Harmison said on talkSPORT‘s Following On Cricket Podcast. “If Vaughany had said that after what we had just done, I think me, Hoggard, Flintoff, Jones would have been standing at the top of the stairs and he wouldn’t have even got through the threshold of the door after what had happened because [while] they did bowl a fraction short, if you keep dropping catches – hands up, as a bowling unit [we] take the two on the chin that we overstepped, we made a mistake getting wickets with no-balls, that’s the cardinal sin. You’ve got size 12s, get something behind them.

“But to say that they bowled too short? They created 10 chances in eight and a half days of Ashes cricket that haven’t been taken. When comments are made like that, all of a sudden there’s a ‘Batsmen v Bowlers’ divide. The bowlers go, ‘Well, the batsmen aren’t catching it, first and foremost, so we’re having to bring our lengths back because every time we pitch it up we either get driven for four or we potentially create a chance that isn’t getting taken.’ But then you also look at it and go, ‘Hold on, not only are you lot dropping catches, but on a flat one, you’ve gone 230 and 195. So you’re not doing your job properly.’”

Steve Smith, Root’s opposite number for the Adelaide Test, seemed to corroborate the England captain’s judgement that England bowled a fraction shorter than what was ideal. The stand-in Australia captain said: “In the first innings we made an effort to pitch the ball up, tried to bowl a lot fuller than England perhaps did”.

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