The England team has been “absolutely appalling” in the opening two Ashes Tests, according to touring journalist Andrew Miller.
Miller, the UK editor for ESPNcricinfo, believes Joe Root’s side is the worst from England to tour Australia in the last 15 years.
Recent England tours to Australia have ended in a pair of 5-0 defeats (2006-07 and 2013-14), and a 4-0 loss (2017-18), with a 3-1 triumph in 2010-11 a highlight between those disappointments.
Having gone down 2-0 in the current series after heavy defeats in Brisbane and Adelaide, the Poms find themselves staring down the barrel of another “whitewash”, prompting Miller to describe the touring squad as “hopeless”.
“We are absolutely appalling,” he said on SENZ Breakfast.
“I’ve never known an England team quite this hopeless to be honest.
“I’ve watched England a lot, I was out there in 2006-07 for that whitewash, I watched the 2010 victory, the whitewash in 2013, four-nil in 2017, and this is worse than those previous tours.
“Nine out of 10 (defeats) in our previous two tours and this is actually a worse team.”
Miller feels the Test woes of England started a handful or so years ago when the English Cricket Board opted to head down a limited overs pathway.
He believes the shortcomings in the five-day format have been a direct correlation of their desire to be the best in ODIs and T20s.
“Realistically, England made a very conscious decision about six years ago and threw everything they’ve got at white-ball cricket and they won the World Cup trophy,” Miller added.
“The way they’ve gone about their white-ball cricket in the past six years is amazing and nobody can complain about the return on that front, except in so doing, they basically left Test cricket go to seed, they left Country cricket go to seed.
“All of the prime months of the English summer are devoted to white-ball cricket, so none of the best players get to play at the best time of the year.
“UK summers are pretty terrible, so you need to be playing in July and August to get good pitches to prepare for Test tours like Australia. We don’t get that at the moment.”
“We’ve got guys who could be brilliant. Ollie Pope could be the next Joe Root, he’s that good, but he’s just regressed, frankly. He’s not had the opportunity to become the hardened Test cricketers that he needs to be to front up in a tour like this.”
The burden placed on captain Root is another area where the England team must enhance themselves, says Miller.
“Poor Joe Root is trying to carry it all on his own back, Ben Stokes has come back heroically but he’s been completely out of the game for six months and is not match-fit,” he said.
“It’s basically Root or bust. And if Root is bust, then we’re bust. And even if he does well, we’re bust.”
Hopefully for Miller and all the English cricket fans out there, Root and co. can put forward a much improved showing when the Boxing Day Test kicks off in Melbourne on Sunday.
Because the series certainly needs them to!