Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has slammed the Ollie Pope-led side’s over-aggressive approach with the bat and field placements in the third Test against Sri Lanka at the Oval. According to him, the hosts disrespected Test cricket and the Sri Lankan team with its tactics.
After England’s shocking defeat by eight wickets in the third and final Test of the bilateral series played at the Oval on Monday, Vaughan, in his column for The Telegraph, said “they (England) have made a habit of becoming a bit complacent after a good period.”
“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,” Vaughan wrote.
“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.
The 2005 Ashes winning captain also pointed out the tactical blunders committed by the English team as a fielding unit.
“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 said.
“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, which won the first two Tests by five wickets and 190 runs, posted a total of 325 runs in the first innings and managed to take a 62-run lead as well after dismissing Sri Lanka for 263 runs. But in the second inning, Sri Lanka made a comeback by bowling England out for just 156.
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