Ian Botham blames poor team selection for England's debacle

Former English all-rounder Ian Botham came in support for skipper Alastair Cook in his recent column. In his column for the Daily Mirror, he blamed the faulty team selection as the root cause for the debacle in the Test series against India. England are currently trailing 3-0 in the Test series with a Test still to play. They are under serious threat of losing 4-0, given the kind of form that they are in.

Ian Botham clearly remarked that the team got it all wrong in their selections. With such poor selections, they gave themselves minimal chances of succeeding. “The squad they picked was never going to give them their best chance of success and they stayed on the same road to a dead end even when they had plenty of opportunity to take a different route,” noted the former cricketer.

He went on to cite the example of Ben Duckett and Gary Ballance. Duckett played in two matches but was left thereafter. Ballance did not get his opportunity at all. When an injury blow came, the team management showed no faith in them and instead opted to call someone from outside the squad (Keaton Jennings). “Gary Ballance and Ben Duckett have been unselectable for most of this trip and yet they are still here,” said Ian Botham.

“Keaton Jennings made the trip from Dubai to join the team and make a difference and so too should’ve another batsman, because of the lack of faith in what they had,” he added further. Stressing his point a little more, he mentioned that there was no need to go with four seamers and two spinners in the Mumbai Test. The team actually demanded to have an extra batsman.

“They did not need four seamers and two spinners, they needed the extra batsman because that is where they have been falling short, and in the end in Mumbai they could have done with a few more runs as well as taking their chances,” quoted the former English all-rounder. He concluded by saying that a team needs to perform more than just in patches. He also said that whatever Alastair Cook decides, he will support him in the decision.

“Sadly over the course of five days and five Test matches, competing in patches is only going to get you so far, you need more than that. England’s batsmen need to be more ruthless when they get in and make sure their wickets are earned not gifted. That is something that Alastair Cook has prided himself on over the years and for more to come, whether he does that as captain or not is up to him. People should back off and let him make the decision in his own time, I will support him whatever he decides,” Ian Botham concluded.