PERTH: The torrid form of England’s senior players showed no
sign of ending on Sunday, as paceman Stuart Broad went wicketless and
opener Alastair Cook’s 150th Test was spoilt by another cheap dismissal
on day four of the third Ashes Test.
Already 2-0 down in
the series, England finished a rain-hit day at the WACA in a precarious
position of 132 for four, still trailing Australia by 127 runs with an
innings to spare.
Dismissed for seven in the first
innings, Cook was caught and bowled for 14 by seamer Josh Hazlewood to
continue a dreadful series with the bat.
The former
skipper has scored only 83 runs in the series at an average of 13.83,
comfortably the worst of England’s specialist batsmen.
Captain
Joe Root said prior to the match that he and his senior team-mates
needed to lift if England were to claw their way back into the series.
“It
probably will take one of the senior players to... really take it on
and do something special this game,” the young captain had said.
Root
himself was also unable to capitalise on starts of 20 and 14, leaving
the unbeaten pair of Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow to rescue the team
again after they combined in a first innings stand of 237 runs.
“If
[Cook and Root] don’t score runs, you expect them next innings to score
runs,” England number three James Vince told reporters after a knock of
55, having fallen to an unplayable Mitchell Starc delivery that jagged
back into his stumps.
“They’ve shown over their careers that they often don’t have long periods without scoring runs.”
England
have long relied on Cook and Root to lay a solid foundation, so the
lack of runs from the duo has put a heavy burden on the inexperienced
trio of opener Mark Stoneman, Vince and Malan.
The tourists also have struggled with their bowling.
Veteran
James Anderson (4-116) battled hard but his long-time pace partner
Broad finished wicketless for 142 runs on Sunday, his worst ever test
bowling figures.
The 31-year-old has not collected a five-wicket haul in 22 Test matches since January, 2016.
England
have few other options. Fellow seamer Craig Overton may be sidelined
for the rest of the series with a broken rib, leaving right-arm seamer
Jake Ball in reserve.
Ball was dropped after poor returns of 1-77 and 0-38 during the first Test in Brisbane.
The
bowling concerns have also extended to all-rounder Moeen Ali, whose
off-spin produced figures of 1-120 on Sunday. For the series, he has
only managed three wickets at a miserable 105.33 apiece.
He has been equally ineffective with the bat, scoring just 105 runs at an average of 21.00.
The
responsibility to produce ‘something special’ that Root demanded from
his senior team mates will now fall to Malan and Bairstow on day five.
