LONDON: England are being “too nice” and need to “get nasty” against Australia in the Boxing Day Test to fight back in the ongoing Ashes series, feels former skipper Michael Vaughan.
England suffered heavy defeats in the first two Tests to be down 0-2 in the five-match series.
“It’s too nice,” Vaughan, who led England to 26 wins in 51 Tests, including the 2005 Ashes, said on Fox Cricket’s Follow-On podcast.
“I see on the morning of the game they are all talking to Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon. I never had a conversation with Steve Waugh back in the day. I wouldn’t have dared go and speak to Glenn McGrath on the morning of the game or Shane Warne. You just didn’t,” Vaughan said.
“It’s all a bit friendly. I’d get nasty with them They somehow need to find that on day one. Get into the scrap. Chirp, do whatever, just get into the scrap.”
Vaughan wants England to bring a change in their attitude on the field.
“They are at that stage now where they have to change something,” the 47-year-old former England captain, who scored 5719 runs in 82 Tests, said.
“It might be that they all get nasty, get nasty with each other. They all fall out. Who cares, but then come out and show a bit of spirit I actually want to see a bit of mongrel in the England side.”
Former skipper Michael Atherton, meanwhile, said Joe Root may lose his Test captaincy if England doesn’t arrest the slide and overturn the 0-2 deficit in the ongoing series.
Root (23) surpassed Alastair Cook (22) to become the England captain with most losses in Test cricket following their 275-run loss in the Pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval.
“If the tour continues to go this badly, it is hard to see how Root will remain as captain,” Artherton, who captained England in 54 Tests, told ‘The Times’.
“Ashes tours have often done for England captains and Root is nearer the end of his cycle than the beginning. There is not a rash of alternatives, but the notion that there is no one to take over is the worst rationale for keeping the job.”
The 53-year-old also slammed head coach Chris Silverwood for taking “poor decisions”, mainly in terms of the selection of the team for the two Tests.
“As the head coach and main selector, he has to shoulder along with Joe Root. There has been a rash of poor decisions so far selection, mainly for which he now has the final call,” Artherton said.
“For the past 12 months, lots of selections have been suspect; the move to invest responsibility for selection with the head coach was always a bad one.”
The third Test begins in Melbourne on December 26 and Atherton feels England need to address their batting woes.
“The batting needs urgent attention more generally, but given that no one else has played any cricket, I would give the same batsmen another chance,” he said.
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