Michael Atherton has lambasted the selections and decision-making of the England cricket team following their 275-run loss against Australia in the second Ashes Test.
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After losing the first Test at the Gabba by nine wickets, the visitors lost the pink-ball Test by 275 runs, despite a fighting 207-ball 26 from Jos Buttler on Monday. England are now down 0-2 in the series.
Atherton termed the performances Down Under “beyond bad”, stating that the decision-making along with the selections need to be questioned.
Speaking on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast after the match he said, “England were poor in this game. I thought England were outplayed in all facets of the game here. I thought they selected badly, I thought their strategy with the ball was poor, obviously, they didn’t get enough runs on a good Adelaide pitch.”
Atherton further said that the team selection in Adelaide was “worrying.” “Don’t you think, in a way, the thinking behind the team selection here in Adelaide was really worrying and confusing? Whether one accepts the spinners England have are good enough or whether they have faith in them, is a different matter. When you look at the selection of the team for this surface, four new-ball bowlers, five right-arm seamers with the same range of pace, leaving out the player with extreme pace… Resting him… They said he was fully fit… Resting for what? You are 2-0 down, and the spinner… It just didn’t make sense. I didn’t see any situation where that selection made sense for this game. And I find that concerning.
“I can take England being beaten by a better side. My God, I’ve played in so many defeats against Australia, who were a better side than we were, and no doubt we made lots of errors as well. But I do think that England’s selection, decision-making, and strategizing on the nine days of this tour so far have been beyond bad.”
