Sorry, no surprise! Easy for Australia as they win the second test as well

Well, England you have done it again. Another batting collapse and terrible bowling and the three lions are down and out. The smiles are gone and the Barmy Army may just agree with Glenn McGrath that 5-0 is no more a prediction but very much a possibility. Nothing, absolutely nothing is working for England as they lost to India in India, lost to New Zealand and India in their home and now losing to Australia in the down under.

 To prove how terrible England has been, we can cite another example. The Kangaroos dialed to defeat a second string India in their home conditions. Their ‘fortress’ Gabba was destroyed and lose the series 2-1. Since then, the team has not played a single test. This is the first time they are playing a test since the Gabba massacre and they are winning 2-0 against England. England on the other hand, played multiple test series’. 2 in Sri Lanka, 4 in India and 6 in England before coming to Australia and yet they are playing like a team that has never played test cricket.

Australia was under a lot of trouble before the Ashes. They lost their captain over a controversy and Pat Cummins was asked to lead the team. Cummins, probably the best fast bowler in the world when it comes to red ball cricket was ruled out of the second test along with Josh Hazlewood. Without their two premium fast bowlers, of course the team was nervous. With that, Steve Smith was asked to lead the side for the first team since what happened in South Africa in 2018. Even with a new captain and without the likes of Cummins and Hazlewood, the team has done tremendously well as they managed to dismiss England for 236 in the first innings and 192 in the second innings.

Marnus Labuschagne won the Man of the Match award for his brilliant century in the first innings. He scored 103 runs while David Warner scored 95 and standby captain Steve Smith scored 93 runs. Alex Carey scored 51 and with that, Australia scored a mammoth total of 473 runs. England had no chance whatsoever to topple that. The team depends on Joe Root and Dawid Malan and they did play their part and helped the team to reach a respectable total but got no support from their teammates. They scored 236 in their first innings while Australia scored just 6 runs less as they declared their innings after 230 in the second innings. Chasing 465 was never England’s cup of tea. They could have tried to save the match but could score only 192 runs. Jhye Richardson took 5 while Lyon and Neser took 2 each.

Like mentioned, it’s not just tough but impossible for England to make a comeback. They need to change their system and focus more on red ball cricket than white ball cricket. They still don’t have a replacement for Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Greame Swann. Other than Root, there’s no test specialist and if things don't improve, tough times are ahead for the England cricket team. Right now, they are losing 2-0 and may end up losing 5-0 against Australia, their biggest rival in cricket.