The arrival of Ashley Giles sharpened the focus on England’s miserable campaign.
England’s director of cricket returned to Australia after missing the Boxing Day bloodbath to enjoy the festive season at home.
The current crop of cricketers will hope the Christmas cheer papers over some of their flaws when he hands down his report to Andrew Strauss, the former England captain who is chairman of the ECB’s cricket committee..
But England’s greatest wicket-taker Jimmy Anderson believes the wheel does not need to be reinvented despite their annihilation in Australia.
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“I think the biggest thing I’ve learnt, especially from Ashes defeats over the years, is maybe you don’t need to look too deep into it and start changing the wheel,” Anderson told Fox Cricket.
“We’ve got a lot of improving to do as a side, but I think we’ve got to be realistic as well. We’ve got some talent in this team, we’ve got a lot of young players in the team who are still learning their trade, so we’ve got to try our best to keep improving everyday.
“Winning is a habit, that’s the reason when teams come here and get behind the eight-ball, when teams go 1-0, 2-0 down, it’s very difficult to turn that round because you see Australia, when they get a foot on the throat, they never take it off, or it’s difficult to wrestle that momentum back and that’s our challenge this next couple of weeks.”
Although England are the world’s No.1 team in ODIs and were sensationally knocked out in the semi-finals of the recent T20 World Cup, their dismal 2021 in Test cricket has seen all hell break loose.
England lost nine of 14 Tests in 2021 and faded dramatically after a promising start to the year in Sri Lanka which came to a crashing halt after a first-up victory in India.
From the captain to the coach, County Cricket to The Hundred, answers are being demanded, particularly as to why their batting in the long-form of the game has been so inept.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes pitches need to be flatter and the Duke’s ball seam reduced, so batsmen can spend longer in the middle and practise scoring centuries and gain confidence.
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Others like Nasser Hussain say the current crop of cricketers have been brought up on flawed techniques, which are exposed in Test cricket where a rock solid defence is critical but is rarely called upon in the shorter versions of the game.
Upon arriving in Australia in the new year, Giles apologised for the team’s dire results.
“We’ll review the tour – everything is on the table,” Giles said. “There’s a lot been spoken about already and there will be a lot to come but I want the team to concentrate on these two Tests.
“I absolutely feel the responsibility of losing this Ashes series. We all do and we can only apologise. I know there will be a lot of emotion, a lot of anger about how we’ve lost it but we know it’s not an easy place to come.”
Anderson says England would benefit from staying in the moment and dwelling on the past.
“We’ve got to be looking to the future, it’s a new year, a new start as a team, we’ve got to really try and focus on what’s coming up ahead of us rather than worrying about too much of what’s gone on in the past,” he said.
“I think sometimes even if you bowl well you don’t want to look back and rest on your laurels, you want to be improving all the time. I’m much more looking forward rather than looking back.”