It seems that no amount of revelling in ODI World Cup glory can ease the woes that have befallen the England Test team this year.
All this coming just after the Queen’s New Year honours list was announced which conferred awards on playing stars Ben Stokes (OBE), ODI captain Eoin Morgan (CBE), Joe Root and Jos Buttler (MBE) as well as recognising the efforts of former coach Trevor Bayliss and ECB Chairman, Colin Graves (CBE). While well deserved as England have never achieved the status of World Cup champions before, and the manner in which they achieved it being so spectacular, the awards seem almost in poor taste when cast against the backdrop of another dismal Test slump.
England performance beset by errors, poor decisions made and illness
Although, while the performance was littered with errors and poor decision making, there was so much chaos surrounding the build-up to the game that it was hardly surprising. Half of the squad have come down with a very vicious bug which had Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad and Jack Leach in bed for a week. Ollie Pope never made it onto the pitch being subbed by Bairstow, and Root and Butler were both ill during the match. That said, from winning the toss and putting South Africa into bat, a decision questioned by commentators as two of England’s three attack bowlers had only just crawled out of bed to play, nothing else seemed to come off.
After a very shaky start – Anderson on his return to Test matches flukily getting Elgar out caught and bowled down the leg side for a golden duck – South Africa steadied the ship and batted through to 284 all out with the aid of an impressive 95 from Quinton de Kock. Throughout Root failed to utilise his bowlers effectively and on a bouncy hard track too often reverted to the short ball rather than rely on the cunning and skill of his main attack force. Curran came to England’s defence with a spirited and effective 4-58.
England’s batters took their turn and started poorly with both Burns and Sibley falling cheaply for 9 and 4 respectively. Denly, Root and Stokes steadied the ship but fell for well under par scores with only Denly reaching his half-century. After that collapse came quickly and decisively as they found themselves all out for a paltry 181. Too much of the same that has followed Root’s captaincy in 2019. Ill-conceived shots, over-aggressive when patience was required, foolish wafts way outside the line.
In the second South Africa innings England’s bowlers pretty much continued as they had before. Bowling too short, going for far too many per over. But they kept picking away at the Proteus and denied anyone a big score. Archer the pick of the bowlers with 5-102. Van der Dussen top scored for South Africa with 51. In the end, South Africa finished on 272 all out leaving England a would-be record 4th innings run chase of 376. Pundits were giving England around 5% chance of achieving the highly improbable.
But of course 2019 has been the year of the nearly impossible coming true for England. The manner of their comeback in the World Cup final as well as their almost unbelievable win in the third Ashes Test at Headingley both testament to their tenacity and self-belief and both spearheaded by man of the year, Ben Stokes. So England talked up their chances with conviction before their attempt. But as well as illness, Stokes’ preparations were severely disrupted as his father, who was in South Africa to watch his son play, fell gravely ill and was rushed into intensive care. Fortunately, he is recovering and seems out of danger now.
And Burns lived up to all expectations in the grit and determination camp as he fought his way to a very admirable 84 before eventually falling to Nortje. South Africa had done a very good job of limiting the run rate and attrition became the watchword with Sibley and Denly falling for 29 and 31. Root and Stokes at the crease before de Kock brought on his spinner and the pair let loose. An impossible 376 started to look like a very possible total as England’s best two batsmen set about Maharaj. Unfortunately, the magic that has sprinkled England’s one day side was not available for use by the Test team and after a mistake by Stokes gifted his wicket for just 14, the collapse again seemed inevitable. Bairstow’s recall proved to be a failure as he achieved just 1 run in the first innings and 9 in the second. England lost a catastrophic 7 wickets for just 64 runs ending up on 268 all out. 268 in the 4th innings of a tricky wicket was not in and of itself a bad score had it not been for the poor 181 in their first innings, but in these circumstances, it was well short of what was required.
Questions remain over Root’s ability to both captain England and bat to his full potential.
There will come a point, and it’s coming very soon, when serious questions will be asked of Root’s ongoing captaincy. He seems to make tactical errors at bad times and often has no response when things do not go his way. And we have already reported on his loss of batting form since taking on the extra responsibility. England’s Test results have been very disappointing in 2019 having won just four matches out of twelve played. That is a statistic that may well come to haunt Root’s career as England skipper unless he can turn things around in 2020.
After the match he was quick to take responsibility for the result but also to explain just how chaotic England’s preparations have been:
“There has been a huge amount thrown at the group, on and off the field,”
“It would be wrong to hide behind that, but it has disrupted preparations for a lot of the guys.”
“We showed a huge amount of character throughout the whole week,” said Root. “No-one has moaned about it.”
England coach saw the test match as full of abnormal incidents
England coach, Chris Silverwood – who has yet to experience a win under his tenure – also gave his assessment of the crazy Test.
“I’ve never been involved in a build-up like this, to have a morning of a game where you’re getting told that players are falling over,” he said.
“Guys that were coming back from being poorly were training while others were on the park, to keep them separate.
“When Jos Buttler was poorly yesterday, he was in a different room. We’ve had hand sanitisers. You name it, it’s all happening.”
Since the match Sibley has now come down with the illness, making him the 11th player to be affected.
England will be praying for a more settled and healthy squad ahead of the next Test which starts on January 3rd at Newlands. But illness or not, Root needs a win very soon.
Another tour and another defeat for Joe Root’s wayward team. It is a cruel irony that so many of these top internationals reached the very pinnacle of the game, albeit in another format this year when they won the ICC World Cup 2019, and yet when white ball is switched for red, they fall short time and time again. Their latest defeat, a 107 run capitulation to South Africa at Centurion, again highlighted the severe flaws affecting the England Test team.
