England's Ultimate Price For Their Latest Walk Of Shame

Derek Pringle delivers the latest tale of woe of England’s batsmen following their wretched first innings batting performance on Friday

- Derek Pringle

If England’s selectors were to advertise for top-order batsmen, and they might as well given the team’s hapless capitulation to Australia in their first innings at Headingley, they need to include the instruction – “ONLY THOSE WITH APPLICATION NEED APPLY.”

Joe Root’s team were crushed by a rampant Australian pace attack who even by the standards of previous batting humiliations from England, could not believe their luck in the third Test at a sunny Headingley. But well though Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and James Pattinson bowled, most of the damage was selfinflicted with the inability to apply oneself and occupy the crease the main problem.

England have been bowled out for fewer that 67 in Tests, arguably by better bowlers, but there cannot have been more mass culpability in their downfall than here. Of the top eight, only Joe Root could possibly lay claim to being undone by a good ball he could do little about, but even that is not clear cut given his current poor form.

Root’s mind has been all over the place recently and he’s been working hard in the nets with Graham Thorpe on not getting too squared-up at the crease. On top of that, he’s let several things slip in the field during the series, so the burden of captaincy is also weighing upon him – possibly a factor in the static figure pinned down by Hazlewood here.