Former Australia cricketer Greg Chappell was unsatisfied with the batters' performance in the fourth Ashes Test held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The match got concluded within two days and saw a total of 36 wickets fall as no batter was able to deliver. No one was able to score evena half-century as the bowlers totally dominated on the lively Melbourne track.
Chappell pointed out how batters from both Australia and England decided to go for the aggressive route and didn't try to stick on the crease for long. He further remarked that the batters "abandoned" their techniques and played their natural game despite wickets falling regularly.
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"Two Tests in the series have failed to reach day three, not due to superior skill but a glaring absence of desire. Batters slashed wildly, abandoning technique for bravado, as if playing their "natural game" excused capitulation," Chappell wrote in his column for ESPNcricinfo.
"They let down predecessors who bled for this rivalry; they shortchanged fans who braved the holiday heat; they betrayed their own generation by forsaking cricket's core tenets - playing each ball on merit, scrapping for every run, enduring bruises for the greater good," he added.
Chappell's verdict on Test cricket's future
Chappell also argued that white-ball cricket has changed how Tests are played in the modern day era and warned that if today's batters cannot collectively bat for 100 overs in a match, then the format is "doomed".
"I get that white-ball cricket has changed the game and power is valued more in the marketplace today than the ability to absorb pressure, but if the modern player does value Test cricket, as they say, then they must show it by being able to bat collectively for a minimum of 100 overs in any conditions. If they can't, or won't, do that, then the format is doomed," Chappell further wrote.
England record historic win
Meanwhile, England won at the MCG by four wickets and registered their first Test victory on Australian soil since 2011. The Ashes series now stands at 3-1 with the hosts having already taken an unassailable lead. It remains to be seen if the Three Lions will manage to end the assignment on a high and come out victorious in the fifth and final Test that will be held in Sydney from January 4.