Nasser Hussain, Mark Butcher and Bob Willis examine England's Ashes defeat
Tuesday 2 January 2018 12:30, UK
England have shipped the Ashes in 15 days - so what was the root cause?
Joe Root did not escape criticism from our Ashes Panel - Nasser Hussain, Mark Butcher and Bob Willis - as they dissected the defeat down under.
Read below as Nasser questions the senior players, Butch assesses the selectors, and Bob pours scorn on England's pre-Ashes preparations…
Senior players faltering - Nasser Hussain
History tells you that in Australia you have to play your best, so I think England's senior players have let them down immensely. Alastair Cook - no runs. Root - hardly any runs. Moeen Ali - can't buy a run or a wicket. Stuart Broad - can't buy a run or a wicket. Chris Woakes exactly the same.
England are also an incredibly one-dimensional side. You could argue that about Australia, who were bowled out for 60 in England in 2015 - they are one-dimensional when the ball moves around.
But England have lost seven Tests in a row in Australia and their last seven away from home - and in those seven they've won the toss six times. They've done what they wanted to do.
They look like they can beat anyone when the ball moves around - and are clueless when it doesn't. The next meeting at Lord's should not be based around Cook or Root, it should be based around what we are going to do when the ball doesn't move.
Selectors missing a trick - Mark Butcher
County cricket gets a lot of stick - I have given it some - but there are fast bowlers in the county game. They just don't get picked because the pitches are conducive to people like Darren Stevens and David Masters.
So the young, quick lads sit on the bench and when they do get a game they go at five or six an over because there is pace on the ball and there are short boundaries, so they don't get enough exposure or game time to put them at the forefront of selectors' minds.
We took Steve Harmison in 2002/03 and his first over in a warm-up was 13 balls and everyone said: 'why are you picking him', but he ended up as a seriously good bowler. England should have taken a quick bowler from somewhere.
Selectors need to not look at the stats - not care how many overs Liam Plunkett has bowled or what Steve Finn's strike rate and economy is - and say if he is quick and fit then I will need him as my third or fourth seamer on flat pitches. The selectors have to take stick for not picking someone like that and take more of a leap of faith.
Poor preparation - Bob Willis
The preparation for these tours these days is totally unsatisfactory. The Aussies used to try the trick of flying you from Perth to Tasmania to Brisbane with a change of 25 degrees, while now their tactics seem to be to play a combination of state third XIs which is no real practice at all.
You need some hard cricket to get acclimatised to Australian conditions and we needed to see Root and Cook, in particular, getting 150 in four-day warm-ups against strong state sides.
I also had a slight problem with Mason Crane getting picked ahead of Jack Leach - England have this incurable romance with leg-spin but a bowler with more control than Crane, and indeed Ali, would have been a better selection as a frontline spinner.
