Following England’s 151-run defeat against India in the fourth Test at The Oval, former captain Michael Vaughan penned a paint-stricken column in which he pointed out the flaws within the current team.
While writing for the Daily Telegraph, cricketer-turned-commentator Vaughan stated that England needs to show more character and become more “battle-hardened” when the chips are down and the pressure is on.
“For years we beat Australia and India in our conditions, but now we are struggling. England have to work on how to become more battle-hardened when the pressure is on.”
Root and Co., by their own admission, let the emotions get the better of them in the second Test at Lord’s and eventually lost by 157 runs. In the recently-concluded test, they led the visitors put on 191 after being down at 127/7 at one point in the first innings. In the second, the English team let India score 466.
Vaughan, adding to his point, said that England lacked variation in flat conditions. He was also critical of England’s batting, saying that they were sub-par in the first innings as they scored just 290.
“They lack pace and variation to make things happen in flat conditions. This Test team is dependent on the pitch helping them.
“England do not make enough runs when it is flat and played poor strokes through lapses in concentration,” he rued.
Meanwhile, skipper Joe Root lauded Jasprit Bumrah for his game-changing spell.
“Credit to India, they got the ball to reverse. I thought Bumrah’s spell was the real turning point of the game. From our side, we’ll have to look at other areas where we missed opportunities, maybe we should have made more of an advantage with the first-innings lead and should have taken the chances that were offered.
“We always look to get better, he’s (on Bumrah) a superb bowler and at times we need to be realistic and accept that he bowled really well, that was world-class bowling,” said Root.
