Former England captain Michael Vaughan has accused Ollie Pope’s England of disrespecting Test cricket and Sri Lanka in third and final game of the series at Kennington Oval, London. Vaughan feels that the hosts adopted an overly aggressive approach whether it was their batting or field placements.
"They (England) have made a habit of becoming a bit complacent after a good period," Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph.
"I felt that they disrespected Test cricket and disrespected Sri Lanka in the third Test by being over-aggressive with both the bat and in their field placings. England have made a habit of becoming a bit complacent after a good period—I think of the start of the Ashes or earlier this year in Rajkot—and I hope it serves as a wake-up call for the tougher Tests that lie in wait in 2025. There is no way they will get away with playing like this against India or Australia," he added.
Attack is not always the answer
Vaughan feels that England can't just be a one-trick pony. This was England's fourth Test loss to Sri Lanka at home. Also, this is the first time since 1998, England have lost to Sri Lanka at Kennington Oval.
"For me, the intensity and concentration in the big moments were missing this week. It was all a bit flimsy, cocky even. They took the mickey out of the game. The answer in Test cricket's hottest moments cannot always be attack, attack, attack," he added.
Vaughan points out flaws in fielding settings
Vaughan further pointed out that the over-aggressive fielding settings from Pope in the absence of an injured Ben Stokes did not help the bowlers. He felt there was no need for as many as six slips given the conditions.
"I felt England's bowling was fine this week, but I thought the over-aggressive fields they went for did the bowlers a disservice and put them on the back foot immediately. They went out with an idea to be super-aggressive, but this wasn't the match or pitch for that," Vaughan opined.
"This was a top-of-off pitch, two or three slips and a gully, with extra cover in. They had six slips, short leg and leg slip. It was almost as if they had 650 on the board, but they had half of that."
England’s next red-ball assignment will be on Pakistan soil. Stokes and opener Zak Crawley have been named in the squad but they are yet to regain full fitness.
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