Joe Root the only silver lining for England in 2021

2021: A bad year for England cricket?

9 losses in 15 test matches, 54 times batters got out for a duck, 2021 wasn't kind for England and the worst part of this is that this is not only evident due to stats but it also showing in the field as well, after the recent defeat in the third test match of ongoing Ashes test series against Australia in at Melbourne things aren't looking good for the England Cricket team and most pundits are already saying that this is by far the 'England’s Worst Ever Cricket Team', it seems as of now nobody has the answer that how can this change?

It started all well when England started their test journey of 2021 by wining test series in Sri lanka and captain Joe Root scored 228 in first and 186 in the second test, England then toured India, in the first test match of the series played at chennai, captain Root (playing in his 100th test match) stamped his authority by scoring 218 runs (and became the first batsman to score a double century in his 100th Test), England won the match by 227 runs.

However, things went south after this above mentioned match England lost the test series against India 3-1 after winning the first test, then New Zealand played a two match test series against England before the World test championship final, which Kiwis were scheduled to play against India, England lost the two match series 1-0, New Zealand then went on to defeat India In world test championship final to become World test champions.

England faced India in the test series in their home turf and despite having advantages of playing at their home soil and conditions which were suitable for them were looking down the barrels as batsmen were not able to perform the series was abruptly ended when India needed to return due to Covid related precautions with the  series still hanging with 2-1 result and 1 more match to go.

England then started their Ashes series from December 08, 2021 against their all-time arch rivals Australia and so far they're completely dominated by Aussies, England has already lost the Ashes in 12 days as many are saying and unbelievably without almost any fight.

Joe Root the only silver lining for England in 2021

Joe Root was the only saving grace, he was the only who stand tall amongst ruins, as a batsmen this is one of the best year for captain Root, he scored 1708 runs with a stunning average of 61, Joe Root is just behind Mohd.Yousuf (1788 runs, 2006), Vivian Richards (1710 runs, 1970) , in terms of making most runs in test matches in a calendar year, unfortunately he hardly received any support from other batsmen, Opener Rory Burns was the other batsmen who performed on various occasions and Dawid Malan looked promising in some innings he played, excluding this there is absolutely nothing from the batters of the team.

There is absolutely wrong with bowling which still looked strong with James Anderson still leading bowling attack, however he is most likely to retire soon but still the new bowling attack comprises of Robinson, Wood etc, looks decent and most likely to improve in the upcoming days.

However, it is the batting that is hurting England team's right now and amazingly it looked like that the board, selectors and think tank of English cricket hardly has any answers as of now, after the 2015 cricket world cup debacle English cricket team has bring in a lots of changes that drastically improved their white ball cricket, however its time that they need to bring in the necessary changes to make English cricket team strong again in red ball cricket.

Let's hope that the year 2022 will bring in a fresh air in the England dressing room and they can make a major comeback in the longer format.

Please comment below, what do you think is exactly wrong with this English cricket team? Can they bring their A game in the last two matched? Will Joe Root be sacked as a captain?

 

Thanks for reading.