Ashes 2021-22: England batters 'forced' to rewatch dismissals during team meeting ahead of Boxing Day Test

Post the disappointing display with the bat by England in the second Ashes Test, the players were made to rewatch their dismissals during the team meeting following their 275-run defeat at Adelaide. The English batters were bundled for 192 in the fourth innings, and looked clueless against the Aussie bowlers.

Barring their skipper Joe Root and number three batter Dawid Malan, none of the other player have stood up so far in the series. Thus, according to a report by The Guardian, the English coach Chris Silverwood replayed 14 of the 20 wickets on the TV screen of their dressing room. He even highlighted the flaws of the batters, with respect to them leaving the balls outside the off-stump.

The report further states that their star all-rounder Ben Stokes was apparently a strong voice in the meeting, while wicket-keeper Jos Buttler, who followed his duck in the first innings of the second Test with a resistant 207-ball 26, also voiced his opinion to correct one individual who suggested the focus should be on the first 20 balls each batter faces in Australia. Instead, the 31-year-old stressed the need for this discipline to be the focus throughout.

“More a kick up the bum” – Mark Wood on England’s preparations in the dressing room

Buttler even cited Marnus Labuschagne as an example to stress the need for discipline. In the meanwhile, English pacer Mark Wood also spoke about the team meeting on Wednesday. He also mentioned the fact that the same mistakes kept on happening.

“We obviously review the game, things we could do better, things we’ve done well. But this was more a kick up the bum to say look we are 2-0 down now, the same mistakes keep on happening. It was a good discussion.” said Mark Wood, as quoted by The Guardian.

“If I’m brutally honest, it doesn’t feel in the dressing room that it’s a batters v bowlers thing, with all the batters in one corner giving a snidey talk about the bowlers and all the bowlers in the other corner talking about the batters. It’s not like that.” said the speedster while speaking about the dressing room atmosphere.