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Ian Bothamone of the finest all-rounders ever seen in the game of cricket, is losing his patience with the England cricket team. Sir Botham, a former England captain who, along with Kapil Dev, Imran Khan, and Richard Hadlee, formed the famous all-rounder quartet in the 1970s and 80s, is tired of seeing the England team refusing to learn from their mistake in the wake of their 1st Test team pounding at the hands of Australia in Perth.
For years, England’s Bazball mentality, a term coined after Brendon McCullumfondly called ‘Baz, took over as coach in 2022, has divided opinions. England, at first, benefitted from Bazball, but of late has turned into a recipe for disaster with the team drawing the Test series against India and now trailing Australia 0-1 in the five-Test series. Botham, more than anything, is startled at the lack of improvement and fears a 0-5 drubbing awaits England if things don’t change quickly.
“It (Perth) was horrendous, there’s no other word for it. England needs to fire up and fire up quickly. I’m fed up of hearing, ‘this is the way we play’. If I hear it once more, I think I’ll throw something at the television. If that’s the way you play, you might as well go home now because it’s going to be 5-0,” Botham, 70, told PA News Agency.
“They probably won’t like me saying that, but they need to need to get their heads around it. I want more pride when I see people pulling that sweater on.”
Botham urges Root, Stokes
Besides plenty of elements, Botham has urged two of the seniormost members of the English team – Joe Root and captain Ben Stokes – to up their game if they are to preserve their legacies. While Stokes and Root have experienced immense laurels at home, succeeding in Australia is of utmost importance to them, Botham reminds. 12 years ago, Stokes made his England and Ashes debut with a century in Australia, and although Root has yet to register a century on Australian soil, there’s never a better time than now.
“People remember you for what you’ve done over here. In Joe and Ben we’ve got two world-class players – Joe’s got 39 hundreds for goodness sake – but they are desperate to make an impression here. You can only do that by winning. They need to get the monkey off their back.
“They are the two who will want this the most because a lot of the others will get another bite at the cherry. I can tell you from experience, winning over here feels really, really good and it means absolute respect. I don’t have a favourite time because every time you beat Australia is a great day. That alone should drive England.”
