England were thrashed 4-0 in 2021/22 Ashes. Skipper Joe Root and Head Coach Chris Silverwood were criticized heavily at the time for the selection calls and tactics used in the games. The team also had to deal with quarantines because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the management to counter mental fatigue rested and rotated players.
However, Root has acknowledged that England could have skipped the series. “Arguably we shouldn’t have gone last time, should we in retrospect?” he said as quoted by Wisden. “Thinking of Covid, it was about keeping the lights on last time we went,” Root added. Ahead of the last Ashes in 2023 at England, former fast bowler Stuart Broad’s result in the 2021/22 series needs to be considered as “void”
“The definition of Ashes cricket is an elite sport with lots of passion and players at the top of their game. Nothing about that series was high-level performance because of the Covid restrictions. The training facilities, the travel, not being able to socialize. I’ve written it off as a void series,” Broad said.
England last won a series in Australia in 2010/11. Since the series England has traveled Down Under three times, and has had humiliating defeats. However, Root is optimistic that England will have a better chance in the upcoming series in 2025/2026. “We’ll be in a completely different place going into next time. You can plan and you can have all the best intentions of getting a result, but it still has to fall into place,” Root said.
“You need all your bowlers fit and firing, and the guys in good form scoring runs: so that’s what we’ve got to build towards over the next couple of years,” the English talisman stated. In addition to the abovementioned factors skipper Ben Stokes bowling again at full throttle as he has shown in the recently concluded opening Test against West Indies will balance the England side and will improve the team combination significantly.
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