The 51-year-old urged the visitors to add a bit more aggression and unleash Mark Wood in the Boxing Day Test starting on Sunday.
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Legendary Australian pace bowler Glenn McGrath feels that the ongoing Ashes series lacks aggression because of much bromance between England and Australian players, which he largely attributed to the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Big Bash League (BBL). McGrath said he would like to see a close battle in the ultimate contest instead of “Political correctness”. Australia comfortably won the first two Test matches and are ahead by 2-0 in the series. Both sides will next face each other in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne on Sunday.
“It can be a little bit too nice sometimes. That’s the way everything’s going, isn’t it? There’s a lot of political correctness. People are a bit nervous about being aggressive and playing hard,” McGrath was quoted as saying by Syndey Morning Herald.
“I remember, when Nasser Hussain came out here with England, they weren’t even allowed to talk to us or say ‘G’day’.”
The Australians have a habit of shortening the longer words but McGrath is aghast to see the nicknames floating around.
“Every time you hear one of the English or Australian players interviewed, they use a nickname. Broady, Jimmy, Kez. I was asking the other day, ‘Who’s Kez?’ ‘Oh, Alex Carey.’ They’re a lot more familiar with each other than we were when I played.”
Australia won the first Test in Brisbane by 9 wickets and then thrashed England by 275 runs in the second Test but it didn’t show if the thrashing by the hosts was causing any hurt. The England players were chatting around nicely with the home players.
“It’s all about body language. How much does it mean, representing your country? England have to go back to the drawing board and have a real good thought about this. With the IPL and the Big Bash, these players know one another well. You see batsmen and bowlers joking around. I’d like to see some emotion out in the middle.”
Australia captain Pat Cummins and fellow fast bowler Josh Hazlewood missed the second Test but their replacements Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser bowled brilliantly. Richardson took five wickets in the fourth innings to dismantle the English batting line-up for just 192 while chasing a target of 467.
The most wonderful time of the year! ? #Ashes pic.twitter.com/mkkYTFz6IA
— Cricket Australia (@CricketAus) December 24, 2021
“I’d love there to be more of a battle. Australia aren’t going to take their foot off the throttle, now that they have Pat Cummins coming back. James Anderson looks like he’s down on pace, and the ball’s not swinging. This could get pretty ugly very quickly.”
The 51-year-old urged the visitors to add a bit more aggression and unleash Mark Wood in the upcoming Test. Wood was dropped from the second Test and England received a lot of criticism for making the quickest bowler in the squad sit on the bench.
“If you’ve got someone bowling over 150 km/h, you want to play him as often as you can. Ben Stokes hasn’t looked good, so for him to come out in Adelaide and play the enforcer role was a big ask. They needed Wood. Any bowler with that speed is a rarity. Look at what Jofra Archer did to Australia in 2019. Not to use an out-and-out quick on a deck like Adelaide is surprising.” McGrath said.
“Ollie Robinson will take wickets, but he’s not going to blast teams out, especially in Australian conditions… To turn things around they have to be much more aggressive. For all of us, the Ashes is the ultimate. All we want is to see a battle that’s close.”
