The Times - UK (2022-01-19)

white-ball cricket was an afterthought

— 95 per cent of the time was spent

around planning and prep for Test-

match cricket and then when we got to

a World Cup it was like, ‘Well if we do

well then great, but if we don’t, it’s fine.’ ”

England’s T20 squad arrived in the

Caribbean at the weekend to prepare

for their five-match series with West

Indies, which begins on Saturday, and

were joined in training on Tuesday by

the injured Jofra Archer, who is spend-

ing time with his family in Barbados.

The 26-year-old is not ready to bowl

after having a second operation on his

right elbow last month and there is no

date set for his return, but England are

hopeful it will be by the summer.

Archer underwent light training with

the squad and has been with the players

in the England bubble since their arriv-

al on Sunday, primarily to spend time

with team-mates he has not seen in a

ten-month hiatus from international

cricket because of his injury.

Eoin Morgan has hit back at claims that
England’s Test side have suffered
because the limited-overs teams have
been given priority in recent years and
called it “laughable” to blame tourna-
ments such as the Hundred for their
dismal performance in the Ashes.
England’s white-ball captain said the
Test team had “always been the priori-
ty” and dismissed any notions that Joe
Root, the Test captain, had not been
given what he wanted.
After the abject Ashes campaign,
Root said that domestic schedules
needed an overhaul with more focus on
first-class cricket in the height of
summer, which is dominated by white-
ball cricket. He said he believed county
cricket was not preparing players for
the demands of the international game.
“People that use that [prioritising
white-ball cricket] as an excuse don’t
watch cricket,” Morgan, 35, said. “Test-
match cricket has always been the
priority — it’s the format for our elite
players. Obviously, times at the
moment have been tough down in
Australia during the Ashes but they
always are — we’ve lost the last two
series there 4-0. It’s laughable to point
the finger at the Hundred. The Hun-
dred is an unbelievable success.”
Morgan strongly disagreed with his
Test counterpart, dismissing those as
excuses for poor performances. “Our
formats in county cricket and the Hun-
dred, in the way they are structured, are

exactly the same as Australia’s,” he said.

“People need something to blame so

they’ll point at probably the furthest

point to reality because nobody wants

to say, ‘You know what, we’ve not had

the prep we’d have liked, we probably

haven’t played as well as we’d have liked

and we’ve lost.’ That happens in all

formats, but I stress Test-match cricket

has always been the priority.”

Rest and rotation of England’s Test

players has been criticised and there is

a feeling among some that it has

harmed the Test side, and that Root and

Chris Silverwood, the head coach, have

rarely been able to pick their best team

because of the policy. Morgan says that

is no different for him,

“As a white-ball group, we’ve gone on

tours and played in series at home

where we haven’t had our full-strength

side available,” he said. “That’s been a

theme for a number of years now.

“Test matches take priority and

always do. For the majority of my career,

Nathan Lyon, Alex Carey and Travis

Head were making too much noise.

The intervention by four police offi-

cers was filmed by Thorpe and the

video soon appeared on the website of

The Sydney Morning Herald. In it an

officer can be heard saying to the

players: “Too loud. You have obviously

been asked to pack up, so we’ve been

asked to come. Time for bed.”

The ECB apologised for the disrup-

tion and confirmed it was looking into

the matter and wanted to establish why

Thorpe decided to film the incident and

name four of the five players, and how

the video made its way into the public

domain.

Thorpe’s main responsibility is to

coach the batsmen, and his position

had already been called into question

after a number of woeful collapses dur-

ing the 4-0 Ashes series defeat in which

England failed to post a score above 297.

It is also understood that some

players felt that they were not getting

the coaching support they needed, with

one player thought to have considered

asking for help from his county coach in

England.

Thorpe, who averaged 44.66 with the

Sport

Morgan: Ashes excuses laughable

A

my Jones has had

to bide her time to

cement her place

in the England team,

having played back-up to

Sarah Taylor, one of the

best wicketkeepers the

game has had (writes

Elizabeth Ammon).

With the men’s Ashes

mercifully put to bed,

attention turns to the

women, who begin their

battle tomorrow

morning with the first of

three T20s that form

part of the multi-format,

points-based series.

Although Jones, 28, has

120 international caps,

this will be her first

attempt to win the

Ashes in Australia. In

England’s squad for the

drawn series in 2017-18,

her role was limited to

drinks-carrier, but she is

expected to be a key

part of the team across

all three formats.

Jones made her

England debut in 2013 at

19 and was the natural

successor to Taylor after

her retirement in 2019,

and there are echoes of

Taylor in the way Jones

executes her trade with

the gloves: languid

movements, sharp

reflexes and naturally

quick hands.

One of the challenges

for any English

wicketkeeper down

under is adjusting to the

extra pace and carry,

which is particularly

difficult for the women,

who spend more time

standing up to the

stumps. It is a challenge

that Jones, who has

experience of keeping in

Australia in the

Women’s Big Bash

League, is relishing.

“Hopefully there will

be some good wickets

with good bounce and

carry,” she said. “I have

done a lot of work with

Michael Bates [England

Women’s assistant

coach] over the winter at

Loughborough, doing a

lot more work on

standing back and

diving and then when I

am up to the stumps

how to handle the extra

bounce that will come. I

am hoping it should

come naturally but I will

find myself standing

back more than I am

used to, so it’s been good

to have that time at

Loughborough working

on that. It is a side to the

game I haven’t

experienced a lot —

obviously I spend the

majority of my time up

to the stumps. It will be

great to push myself in

that area.”

Unfortunately,

preparations have been

less than ideal. The

series was brought

forward by a week to

allow for a ten-day

mandatory quarantine

in New Zealand before

the 50-over World Cup

in March. The Ashes

was due to start on

January 27 with a one-

off Test in Canberra and

England had scheduled

warm-up matches

against England A, who

have travelled with

them. The last-minute

change forced a switch

in preparations, not just

a limit on game time but

altering plans from red-

ball to white-ball cricket.

England have the tools

to be competitive. There

is a vast amount of

experience of Australian

conditions and they are

led by a native in the

head coach, Lisa

Keightley, although she

admitted her squad was

“rusty” after fears that

Covid could jeopardise

the series had limited

the amount of contact

they had with others in

the weeks before

departure, and players

were not allowed to

train together.

Not so long ago,

England Women faced

accusations similar to

those the men are facing

now, of being too cosy

and of there being little

competition for places.

But the progress in

women’s cricket, with

the introduction of

contracts for domestic

players and the success

of the women’s Hundred

catapulting young

players into the minds of

the selectors has put

pressure on the players

with central contracts.

Australia will start as

favourites, but they are

by no means unbeatable

and have had their own

issues. They were hit by

an injury to Beth

Mooney, who fractured

her jaw in the nets. The

world’s No 1-ranked T20

batter had surgery on

Tuesday and looks set to

miss the series. Australia

were already missing the

spinners Georgia

Wareham and Sophie

Molineux.

After a miserable two

months for England

fans, this series promises

to lift the spirits.

Jones ready to stand

up to Ashes challenge

Thorpe on the shortlist for

Middlesex head coach job

bat from 100 Tests between 1993 and

2005, has been the team’s main batting

coach since Chris Silverwood was

appointed head coach in 2019.

Both coaches are under pressure to

keep their jobs, although Thorpe is

understood to be one of nine

candidates who will be interviewed for

the Middlesex job after the sacking of

Stuart Law in October.

It is believed that Thorpe had begun

to find the strains of England’s packed

schedule and bubble life too much and

was already looking for a return to

county cricket.

Ashley Giles, England’s managing

director of men’s cricket, is finalising an

Ashes post-mortem report that will be

given to Sir Andrew Strauss in his role

as head of the ECB’s cricket committee.

The report is expected to detail why

England’s performances in Australia

were so dire and make recommenda-

tions about how to improve the

fortunes of the Test side.

The fallout is likely to result in

Silverwood losing his job and it is

unlikely that either Thorpe or

Silverwood will be part of England’s

coaching set-up for their next Test

series, in the West Indies in March.

Ashes stars caught out, News, page 5

continued from back

Elizabeth Ammon Archer, who has not
played for England
since March last
year because of an
elbow injury, joined
in with the T20
squad’s training
session yesterday. A
five-match series
against West Indies
in Barbados begins
on Saturday

Jones has

emerged since

the retirement

of Taylor as an

England regular

Women’s

Ashes

First T20I

Tomorrow, 8.10am

TV: BT Sport 1

Radio: BBC 5 Live

Sports Extra

ALEX DAVIDSON/GETTY IMAGES

the times | Wednesday January 19 2022 2GM 57