The England cricket team are a formidable outfit in white-ball cricket, but some of their performances in Test cricket in 2021 were appalling to say the least. India dominated the English in Home and Away Test series (one Test has yet to be played), while Australia gives them another beating in the ongoing Ashes series Down Under. England’s battle at Test cricket has left much to be desired, and a stat, shared by a journalist on Twitter, shows how bad they’ve been this year.
In the 28 innings they played in Test cricket in 2021, England have fallen under 200 12 times.
Apologies – actually only the 12th time. Everything good
— Tim Wigmore (@timwig) December 26, 2021
Former Australian cricketer Damien Martyn, responding to the tweet, wrote: “There is clearly something wrong. Just look at the 2021 batting averages for England.”
Something is clearly wrong. From an at bat standpoint, just look at the 2021 batting averages for England. #ash https://t.co/dn5bAp6rsf
— Damien Martyn (@damienmartyn) December 26, 2021
Other Twitter users also expressed their shock at England’s dismal battle performance in 2021.
This is something you cannot digest as a cricket fan.
— Ibrahim Badees (@IbrahimBadees) December 26, 2021
And this is despite an absolutely great year for Root. Hard to believe how worse it could have been if Root hadn’t been in demigod mode
— naabh4 (@naabh4) December 26, 2021
England have failed to find a replacement for Alistair Cook, exposing their middle order
— Rajesh mudras (@MudrasRajesh) December 26, 2021
Arguably Eng’s worst hitting performance in 21st century testing.
— movie man (@movieman777) December 26, 2021
& Root Scored 1600+ runs this year
— Dee (@deenadylan) December 26, 2021
Too much focus on cricket with limited overs in recent years?
— corleone (@notbilberkeley) December 26, 2021
While the rest are stranded, England Test Captain Joe Root has made a record-breaking attack. He scored no fewer than 1,680 runs this year. Root’s number is the third highest for a player in a calendar year, behind only Pakistani Mohammad Yousuf (1,788 runs in 2006) and former West Indian skipper Sir Vivian Richards (1,710 runs in 1976).
The fact that Root scored runs from the bucket loads is a further indictment of the rest of the English batters.
On Sunday, the English batters faltered again on Day 1 of the ongoing third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Root fought for another half century before being fired by Mitchell Starc.
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Some of the rest, such as Jonny Bairstow (35) and Ben Stokes (25) got the start, but failed to make it count as England were eliminated for 185 in the first innings.
At the time of writing this, Australia, in response, was well on its way to 33 with no loss.
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