Chris Silverwood’s team is behind where he hoped it would be, but India’s series victory can provide a blueprint for success
There was a slightly anticlimactic feel to the announcement of England’s squad for the upcoming Ashes tour. Maybe it was only natural. The England management had, after all, spent a good two years talking about this team, and its goal of urn recovery, right up to the point when a sudden screeching of brakes indicated that hey, there might not even be an Ashes this year anyway. At which point, fans adopted the brace position and prepared themselves for the even-worse-case-scenario – not that England wouldn’t tour, but that they’d arrive at Brisbane with a team devoid of Root, Buttler, and anyone else with young family at home.
The fact that England coach Chris Silverwood was able to reveal a passenger list including literally every one of England’s current best Test players – unless you happen to be a diehard James Vince fan – should be cause for cheer, not to mention a hearty slap on the back to those who have made such an outcome possible. The problem is that Australia are still seen as such overwhelming favourites for the series that the first instinct isn’t to celebrate but to count the ways in which the published batting lineup has let England down in the past two years. Or to subtract the average speed of the bowling attack from the numbers of miles per hour which may have been available had Jofra Archer and Olly Stone not been injured. There is nothing some England supporters love to indulge in more than the anticipation of defeat.