Ashes 2021-22: England Are Ruing The Fact They've Made Too Many Mistakes – Alastair Cook

Legendary England batsman and former skipper Alastair Cook has said that team England will be ruing the fact that they have made ” too many mistakes” in the first two games of the Ashes 2021-22.

Australia convincingly defeated Joe Root-led England in the first two games of the Ashes 2021-22, Australia won the first game at the Gabba by 9 wickets and the second game at the Adelaide Oval by 275 runs and now they have a 2-0 lead in the 5-match Test series.

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Meanwhile, Cook believes that the decision making of team England “hasn’t been good enough” and their fielding is also very poor.

“Ultimately, England are ruing the fact they’ve made too many mistakes in these two games, Their fielding isn’t as good as Australia’s, the decision-making off the field to get to this point hasn’t been good enough, and you can’t afford – on a tour like this – to make mistakes. It’s such a tough tour anyway, Cook said in BT Sport’s coverage.

“Hindsight is the easiest place to come from but we’ve gone into this tour with all the stuff from Chris Silverwood, saying ‘we’re going to be the best-prepared England team’, ‘we’ve prepared for this, ‘we want to arrive with this, this and this.’ Yes, there have been some circumstances they can’t have avoided like the Covid situation, the weather they’ve had, the T20 World Cup rescheduled,” Cook added.

Former England captain Cook also questioned the planning of team England and said:

“But they turned up to play the biggest Ashes game which is the first one, where you set the tone, where you start to get in the series played a bowling attack that had never played before together. Where’s the planning? We talk about planning but I can’t see where that planning has got to.”

Alastair Cook criticised England for not including pacer Stuart Broad in the playing XI in the first Test at the Gabba. He said:

“I don’t think James [Anderson] was fit to play that game, so that’s fine, So then you go for a guy who’s got a good record at the Gabba, Stuart Broad, who you know can handle big situations, has delivered for England in the past… and you don’t play him. I’m sitting there going ‘really? Like, really? How’s that decision been made’. To me, that’s a no-brainer.”

Dropping Seven Catches In Two Test Matches, That’s A Huge Negative – Matt Prior

Former England wicketkeeper-batsman Matt Prior said that the Joe Root-led side dropped seven catches in two Ashes games which was a huge negative for the side. Prior also termed England bowlers bowling no-balls “frustrating” . He elaborated:

“Before you even look at batting vs batting and bowling vs bowling on the two sides, it’s England’s unforced errors, Dropping seven catches in two Test matches, that’s a huge negative and it’s one that can be trained and practised and shouldn’t happen at this level, quite frankly.

“Taking wickets with no-balls and the amount of no-balls being bowled by this England team – it’s those elements that will be as frustrating as not leaving as well as the Australians, or bowling a bit fuller, or everything else.”

“People talk about one-percenters, but taking catches? That’s a 20-percenter. England aren’t at a place where they’ve focusing on one per cent here, one per cent there – get your 20 per cent right first and then you can go from there.”

Matt Prior also agreed with Cook that the decision taken by team England in the series have been utterly disappointing. He said:

“But I agree with Alastair that some of the decisions that have been made so far in these two Test matches… I mean, talk about putting yourself behind the eight-ball before you’ve even got on the pitch. It’s been a real tough one.”

Also Read: Watch: Jos Buttler Gets Out Hit-Wicket After Surviving 207 Balls In 4th Innings vs Australia In The 2nd Test

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