Come, See, Lose, Leave – England’s new mantra for test cricket

English is not a funny language but the England test team might be one. After blaming Indian T20 League for their downfall, the team has now gone down to West Indies who are 8th in the latest test ranking. The coach and some of the support staff decided to leave the team after the historic Ashes defeat but it is their ego that needs to be killed first. The team wanted to go to a ‘new direction’ after that and thus, didn’t include Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad in the series and now the team will return empty handed from the land of Caribbean’s. So, as things stand, England went down to India, New Zealand, Australia and West Indies in the last one year and all they thought was that the problem lies in the Indian T20 League.

Credit goes to West Indies for playing some astonishing cricket throughout the series. Kraigg Brathwaite was very impressive throughout the tournament and he along with Blackwood, Bonner and Joshua Da Silva never let the England bowlers rest. When it comes to the bowlers, they have impressed one and all. Kyle Mayers, Jayden Seales and Alzarri Joseph put continuous pressure on three lions which the team couldn’t handle. They could manage in the first and second test but when it came to the third test, England were all-out for 204 and 120 runs respectively and West Indies won the match by 10 wickets and the series by 1-0.

After just one win in the last 17 tests, England’s red ball captain, Joe Root might have to say goodbye to his captaincy. He however is ‘passionate’ and still believes that he is the right man to lead the team. “I am very passionate about taking this team forward. I feel like the group is very much behind me. I know this is a results-based business but it does not feel like we are far away from turning results”.

Maybe Zimbabwe is the option from which the team can ‘turn results’. Otherwise, if you look at the team, you can’t see the hunger and dedication to win a test match or a series. During the Ashes, Ricky Ponting rightly pointed out that Root lacks that instinct that is required to become a successful captain. After the Ashes, Root in a press conference said that the bowlers didn’t ball in the right areas but what was the captain doing? Did he ask the bowlers to change the line and length, no! Ponting along with few other legends of the game was surprised to see Root’s impact in the Ashes and as things stand, England might hand over the captaincy to Ben Stokes, who’s very much optimistic to improve England’s test team. After all. the all-rounder skipped Indian T20 League to focus more on test cricket.