Australian Test great Ian Chappell says England need to get back to basics if they have any hope of turning the tide in the second Ashes Test.
As weather stopped play late on day two, the visitors were left in a deep hole after another long day in the field.
“They haven’t had much luck, you can certainly say that — it [the weather] came at the right time for England, it wasn’t fun batting out there,” Chappell tells Wide World of Sports.
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“That’s exactly what Australia wanted, to be bowling with the brand new ball in the evening and there’s no doubt it swings more.”
England were sent in to bat after toiling away in the heat. Although, despite issues of variety and over-rate, Chappell said they had little choice but to go with an all-pace bowling attack.
“You couldn’t pick Leach, he bowled very badly in Brisbane,” he says.
“England have got a real problem going forward with their spin bowling. I think Dom Bess has got a bit about him, but they ruined his confidence in India and who knows how long it will take to build that back up?”
Chappell said it was ‘ridiculous’ that they picked Jos Buttler as a glovesman due to his batting ability, and that was indicative with two costly drops on day one.
“They haven’t got a clue with selections, they haven’t got it right yet. They always seem to be behind the game with their selections and that’s the case again,” Chappell says.
“I think they need to take a punt on Dom Bess and he doesn’t need a technical talk, he just needs someone to say ‘spin the bloody thing and get us some wickets’. But I don’t think England will do that.
“They seem like they’re almost averse to taking wickets.”
Whomever is bowling is largely moot, however, failure is assured if the bats falter once more.
“England have got to get runs, that’s been their problem. But if you’re going to keep conceding 400 runs every time you bowl, you won’t win many Test matches. They’ve got problems all around, at the moment.
“I’m not sure why Root wants to come in at two for not many when he may as well come in at one for not many.”
The series, from an English point of view, seems to be crying out for some heroics from Ben Stokes, who bowled well on the second day in tough conditions.
“Ben Stokes has to play really well, and there’ll be a Test or two where he does, but they need him to do it here,” Chappell says.
On the other side, Chappell believes returning captain Steve Smith nailed the timing of Australia’s declaration, weather aside.
“I think it was right, but it didn’t work out.”
Smith called his troops in at 9-473, after some down the order heroics from Michael Neser and Mitchell Starc propelled Australia beyond the 400 mark.
“They’re very annoying runs if you’re the fielding captain, and from my perspective I’d rather have overs than runs. But you can’t make a declaration because lightning might strike. I think they got the timing right.”
Neser’s dream debut continued when he got the ball in hand, taking a wicket with his second ball – highlighting the quality of depth in Australia’s fast bowling stocks.
“If it had been two batsman missing, that would have been a lot bigger of a problem. It’s not ideal to lose two bowlers, especially the captain, but if there was any good news it was that it was not two batsman,” Chappell says.
“They were lucky they got off without much rain because if the ball had got more wet that would have made a big difference.
“It’ll be a matter of how you feel about Nathan Lyon and given Joe Root got a bit of turn today, you’d think that would happen quite quickly.”
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