"Who are the frontline batsmen who have delivered for England in the last five years? Joe Root, the end. No one else."
Friday 25 January 2019 14:03, UK
After England were bowled out for 77 on day two of the first Test in Barbados, Nasser Hussain explains why he was not overly surprised and says their frontline batsmen have been under-performing for years...
It was only a matter of time before another collapse came like this. Far too often, England have been 20-2 and recovered because of the brilliance of Joe Root or 150-6 against India last summer and the brilliance of Sam Curran with the tail has saved them.
There are so many times that you can get through that with all those all-rounders in the middle-order but eventually someone like Kemar Roach will say, 'not today, lads. We've got you 20-2, 45-5 - you aren't coming back at us!'
That was a magical spell of fast bowling from the Joel Garner End but England have looked vulnerable with their batting for a long, long time. The great sides in world cricket have been based on a solid top three and England haven't had a solid top three for a long time.
Over time they have had someone dig in, they've done it with Curran, but eventually he's going to get out - he can't do it from No 9, he's only got Adil Rashid and Jimmy Anderson coming in after him.
I also feel that this England side is too all-rounderish. Yesterday they were opening their bowling with an all-rounder. On that pitch you need a frontline bowling attack. Your frontline bowling attack, your two new-ball bowlers have 1,000 Test wickets between them but for some reason, you break up that partnership.
Curran should be your fourth seamer, not your second seamer after Jimmy Anderson. But that doesn't mean you're 77 all out.
The reason you're 77 all out is because of frontline batsmen not delivering. Who are the frontline batsmen who have delivered for England in the last five years? Joe Root, the end. No one else.
Root has delivered, there have been all-rounders down the order like Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes etcetera, who have got them out of a hole but since the demise a little bit of Alastair Cook, who has been your frontline 'over my dead body' type of batsman? Joe Root and no one else.
The pitch hasn't had that much to do with it. Eighteen wickets in a day, you'd think it was a minefield like some of the pitches of old with games abandoned, up and down, but how many shot along the ground today? How many exploded off a length? How many ragged square?
It is two very fragile batting line-ups - West Indies as well - coming up against two very decent bowling attacks. I don't think England have read it that wrong, that pitch turned a little bit for Moeen, a couple gripped and it's only day two.
If England had got runs in their first innings then come day four or day five, you are going to need two spinners. You have to think about how you're going to bowl a side out in the second innings. But because the sides are so fragile with their batting, they're not getting it down to day four or five to see the deterioration in the pitch.
The one saving grace for England is that normally when you're talking about run chases, you're looking at late on day four and all of day five. Tomorrow is day three at Barbados, if you can bowl them out quickly in the morning and go out and bat properly, you're still in the game. It is not day four or five on a minefield.
