Former England captains Geoffrey Boycott and Michael Vaughan have made a scathing assault on Zak Crawley and Chris Woakes after Ben Stokes and co. suffered a humiliating 337-run loss at Edgbaston within the second Take a look at of the continued Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.Boycott mentioned opener Zak Crawley has not learnt a factor and has resorted to his outdated dangerous methods.“At Headingley, he performed straight with the complete face of the bat, left large balls, and let the ball come to him so he might maintain his bat near his pad,” Boycott wrote in his column for The Telegraph.“The 2 photographs he obtained out to at Edgbaston had been terrible. Within the first innings, his toes obtained caught in cement, neither ahead nor again, after which he wafted on the ball to be caught at slip.“Within the second innings, he batted on off stump and drove at a well-pitched-up ball two toes large. He didn’t have to play it. He was on nought, had been fielding for 5 classes, and his legs had been drained, so he ought to have been enthusiastic about surviving that night.“I don’t suppose he can change or get higher.”
The 27-year-old opener has performed 56 Exams and nonetheless averages 31 in Take a look at cricket, which Michael Vaughan mentioned is simply not ok.“There have been many gamers who’ve annoyed followers – together with me – through the years, however he’s proper up there as essentially the most irritating I can bear in mind. And in my time watching, enjoying for, and overlaying England, he’s the participant luckiest to have gained as many caps as he has,” Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph.“He has to rely himself lucky to have performed 56 video games, whereas scoring simply 5 lots of and averaging 31. Amongst all of the openers in historical past with greater than 2,500 runs, he has the bottom common: 30.3. He’s batted 102 instances in Take a look at cricket and been out in single digits 42 instances.”Boycott used even sterner phrases for Chris Woakes, who he thinks is previous his sell-by date.“His tempo is dropping, as you’d count on as a seamer will get older. He has by no means been a wicket-taker overseas, the place his document is poor. He’s good – or has been good – on English pitches, and his batting has been useful at instances as a security valve when others have failed. His job shouldn’t be to shore up dangerous batting. Batsmen are there to attain runs, and bowlers have to take wickets,” mentioned Boycott.“Woakes has been cricketer, however not a grasp craftsman like James Anderson, who took buckets stuffed with wickets house and away persistently.”





