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England has made only one change for the Sydney Ashes Test against Australia starting on January 5. Stuart Broad, who was left out of the Melbourne Test, is back in the team to partner James Anderson. Ollie Robinson, who has played all the three Tests so far in the Ashes 2021/22, has been ruled out due to a sore shoulder. Thus, England’s pace attack will consist of Anderson, Broad, Mark Wood, and Ben Stokes. The spin department will be handled by Jack Leach, who has not been that effective on Australian conditions.
The decision-making of the England cricket team has been horrendous in the ongoing Ashes. On a green pitch in Brisbane, they left out both Anderson and Broad. When the series moved to Adelaide and the teams were greeted with a flat pitch, they left out Jack Leach. Nathan Lyon impressed with five wickets on a pitch that had turn. During the Melbourne Test, on a seaming pitch, they once again left out Broad as pacers gained a lot of wickets.
England has lost 12 out of their last 13 Tests in Australia and is staring at yet another 5-0 whitewash. They have been whitewashed thrice in the Ashes by that margin. Worryingly, the last two whitewashes have come in the last four series. In 2017/18, they managed to overcome the whitewash thanks to a high-scoring draw in Melbourne.
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The England team has been ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic as well. Chris Silverwood, their coach, is in isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus in Melbourne. The backroom staff, which includes spin consultant Jeetan Patel, have also tested positive. Graham Thorpe, the batting coach, will double up as the head coach of the team in Sydney.
The weather in Sydney might help England avoid the whitewash. The forecast for all the five days of the Test is not looking good, with rain predicted. In the last two Tests in Sydney, England have lost by massive margins.
If there is one area of concern for England in the Ashes, it has been the batting. The team have not posted a single score of 300 in six innings of the Ashes so far. The woeful capitulation in Melbourne, where they were shot out for 68 after trailing by 82, was their lowest point in the tour. England will be hoping that the batsmen pull up their socks in Sydney and Hobart. Joe Root, who ended the year 2021 with 1708 runs, will also be desperate to break the Ashes jinx of never having scored a hundred in Australia.
Haseeb Hameed, Zak Crawley, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Mark Wood, Jack Leach, Stuart Broad, James Anderson
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