Former England captain Michael Vaughan urged England to show more fighting spirit and even look at riling up a few Australian players to revive their floundering Ashes campaign. England were hammered by 275 runs in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide, conceding a 0-2 lead to the hosts who will push for a series victory in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
Michael Vaughan pointed out that it’s all a bit too friendly in the Ashes campaign between the two arch-rivals, saying he wouldn’t have gone and spoken to opposition players on the morning of an important Test match. Vaughan said England captain Joe Root was exchanging pleasantries with the likes of Mitchell Starc after the Adelaide Test, something that he did not do during his reign as England captain.
Joe Root has been able to resist Australia’s charge but the rest of the batting unit has floundered against the quality of the bowling attack with the visitors not managing to put up 300 even once in the tournament.
“I see on the morning of the game they are all talking to Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon. I never had a conversation with Steve Waugh back in the day. I wouldn’t have dared go and speak to Glenn McGrath on the morning of the game or Shane Warne. You just didn’t,” Vaughan told Fox Cricket.
“It’s all a bit friendly. I’d get nasty with them They somehow need to find that on day one. Get into the scrap. Chirp, do whatever, just get into the scrap.
“They are at that stage now where they have to change something. It might be that they all get nasty, get nasty with each other. They all fall out. Who cares, but then come out and show a bit of spirit I actually want to see a bit of mongrel in the England side,” he added.
‘THAT’S YOUR JOB AS A CAPTAIN’
Meanwhile, Vaughan also hit out at captain Root for venting out his frustration with the England pacers’ lengths so far in the Ashes Test series. Earlier in the day, Ricky Ponting had slammed Root for the same, saying it’s the captain who has to urge the bowlers to change their lengths if he is not happy with them.
“The skipper spoke last night about the lengths and not getting it right again, well unfortunately that’s on his watch,” Vaughan said.
“That’s your job as a captain. When you’ve got five seamers, if two aren’t bowling the right length you just whip them out of the attack straight away and say ‘I’m sorry, you’re not doing what I’ve asked’.
“It was a little bit of a press conference for me that needed to have happened probably two or three years ago because England have consistently bowled the wrong lengths for quite a while now.”
England will look to stay alive in the Ashes when they face Australia in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The hosts will have their captain Pat Cummins back after he missed the Adelaide Test due to Covid-19 scare.