Posted by We’re not sure this is the effective rebuttal he thinks it is. England have been criticised for their fitness both before and during this Ashes capitulation, but head coach Jon Lewis says they didn’t lose because of that – there are in fact loads of other reasons why they’ve lost every game, as well as the fitness thing.
To quickly bring you up to speed, in October England were knocked out of the T20 World Cup in the group stages. Their final match, against the West Indies, featured a lamentable fielding display in which opener Qiana Joseph was dropped five times. (On two of those occasions, she was effectively dropped for six.)
After that match, former England player, now BBC pundit, Alex Hartley, said that England needed to get fitter. “Australia have got 15 or 16 athletes; genuine athletes. You look at our team – I’m not going to name names, but if you look at them, you know.”
Hartley’s view was that 80% of the England team were fit and athletic enough and the remainder were letting the side down.
Lewis disagreed. He said the criticism was unfair and that in his view: “Fitness was absolutely nothing to do with us losing that game.”
Either way, Hartley’s assessment has hung in the air for this Ashes and as the series has progressed, it has become more and more of a ‘thing’. Australia have fielded like demons and so far won every game.
Hartley has since said she’s been given the cold shoulder by some players, highlighting as one example Sophie Ecclestone allegedly refusing to do an interview with her. Against all odds, revealing this development in a podcast has not defused the situation.
England are digging in. Lewis is in fact so keen to disabuse people of the idea that fitness is a problem that he’s gone out of his way to list all the other ways in which Australia are superior.
“I would say yeah they are, they’re a much more athletic team than us,” he told the BBC. “They’re more agile, they look faster, at times they look more powerful.
“Is that the reason that we’re not winning cricket matches here in this country? No. I think their discipline and their skill level has been higher.”
Lewis thinks his team have been more competitive than the scoreline suggests (they haven’t, not really), but concedes: “We definitely need to get faster and we can access more power for sure.”
That sounds a little like he’s come round to the idea that the T20 World Cup criticism had some merit, after all. Might that bring a ceasefire from those still taking potshots at the messenger?
Extras
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