I am worried for England in the Ashes – they are one-trick ponies

Telegraph

26-05-2025

My worry for the Ashes series later this year has always been England's bowling and I saw nothing at Nottingham to change my mind.
The seamers were made to look very ordinary by a Zimbabwe team that were not much better than a minor county side.
We had three decent right arm fast-medium bowlers at Trent Bridge but no pace or variation. It was all very predictable. They gave everything – you cannot fault their effort – but the ball did nothing. It was straight up and down on a flat pitch.
But in English conditions, on a damp or grassy surface or overcast weather, they are fine. But how often do you see those conditions in Australia?
Pace is ace in Australia. Look at when we have won over there. In 1932-33 we had Harold Larwood, in 1953-54 Frank Tyson blew Australia away and on Raymond Illingworth's tour in 1970-71 it was John Snow who put the frighteners on.
When England won in 2010-11, they had James Anderson at his best. He was not lightning quick but he was our greatest fast-medium swing and seam bowler. We do not have anyone with his skills now.
Mark Wood and Jofra Archer will add pace and Brydon Carse is very good but they are not going to play five Tests. Who knows how many we will get out of Wood and Archer. Chris Woakes is 36 and has a rotten record overseas. We hear a lot from England about the depth in their seam bowling. Well, it was not that encouraging at Trent Bridge.
Even with the new ball they did not strike terror into Zimbabwe. The seamers leaked runs at over four an over, and the ball rarely beat the outside edge. The best bowler was 33-year-old Ben Stokes. Their pace dropped as the match wore on and that was a real concern. In Australia bowlers have to come back for two, three spells later in the day when it is hot and humid. They have to be able to maintain their pace on pitches not offering much and in sapping conditions but they could not do that even against Zimbabwe in coolish English May weather.
In the end it was left to the young off-spinner, Shoaib Bashir, to take nearly half of the wickets. He took nine on a pitch that did not turn.
When you compare England and Australia there is not much to choose between the batting. They have one great batsman in Steve Smith, we have one in Joe Root. They have dangerous Travis Head down the order and we have Harry Brook. It is pretty equal. But bowling? That is very different.
The Aussie attack has variation. Pat Cummins is genuinely quick. They have a left-arm seamer in Mitchell Starc who provides a different angle, and plenty of rough for Nathan Lyon to work with. They have a wonderfully skilled fast-medium bowler in Josh Hazlewood, who is tall and gets bounce. Scott Boland is an excellent back-up.
They have variation and pace. We are one-trick ponies and the Zimbabwe Test should really make the selectors and Rob Key sit up and think because if that is what we have to throw at Australia then it is going to be a tough Ashes. I don't know how they rectify it. There is no easy solution. It is just the weakness of our game but it is the job of the coaches and management to make it work. Trent Bridge should give them plenty of food for thought.
All cricket-lovers understand that the newer Test playing nations like Ireland, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh deserve to be encouraged and given the opportunity to ply their skills against the top teams.
But it was a mismatch. It was like putting a heavyweight boxer in with a flyweight. The heavyweight toyed with the flyweight before knocking him out with one punch.
Zimbabwe were just out of their depth. Anyone could see it. England batted first on a flat pitch and took advantage of club bowling and enjoyed easy batting practice.
Victory was poor advert for Test cricket
The top three of Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope made hundreds. Well done. It is not their fault the bowling was so poor. It was exactly what any batsman wants early season: easy runs. Runs breeds confidence, confidence sets you up for the summer. Form and confidence is everything. They did their job but, if we're honest, it was not a great advert for Test match cricket. It flattered one team and knocked seven bells out of the other one. But England's top three go into the Test series against India full of confidence. They have no excuse now.
But we cannot say suddenly that Crawley and Pope have solved the technical and mental issues that have dogged their careers because the Zimbabwe bowling was so average. They were medium pacers not good enough or consistent enough to expose any flaws in Crawley and Pope's batting. We will have to wait until the India series to see if there really is any improvement against better bowlers. That will be the real test and give us a better idea of where they stand.