He even went so far as to claim that he would have asked the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for a refund if he had been a fan who paid money to see England play at the venues. Botham felt that the main team should have played the two-day preliminary match against the Prime Minister’s XI ahead of the pink-ball clash at the Gabba.
“If I was an England supporter and had paid the money to come here, I would be asking the ECB for a refund. Because for me, this team is not prepared. They have missed a trick. They could have sent the team that was going to play in this Test to Canberra and had some experience with the pink ball. What should we do? ‘No, that is not necessary’. Well, I suggest you should. You have dropped five catches recently. [Day 2]. England could have been first,” Botham said while speaking on Triple M.
It is interesting to note that, contrary to Botham’s view, head coach Brendon McCullum believed that this was England had “trained too much”. He was referring to the “five intensive training sessions” in the run-up to the second test.
The tourists came into the second Test on the back of a thumping eight-wicket haul in the series-opening match in Perth. This time they were defeated by Australia in both innings and not one. Mitchell Starc secured the Player of the Match award for his eight-wicket, 141-ball, 77-run first-innings display.
The third Test is scheduled for December 17 at the Adelaide Oval. While both teams have plenty of time to take some time off and prepare for the match, all eyes will be on Ben Stokes’ unit and the way they train in what looks like a do-or-die game for them.
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