Detailed look at stats tell a damning story for England.
England's woes highlighted by stats
They’re the damning numbers that make England’s nightmarish Ashes tour all the more miserable – stats that show this team is a lesser version of the infamously inept side of 2006-07, which was humbled 5-0 by Australia.
Three Tests into this Commonwealth Bank Ashes Series, not a single England player has managed to score 200 runs – Ian Bell topping the list for the tourists with 190.
In contrast, four Australians have reached the mark, while in 2006-07, Kevin Pietersen had made 398 runs, Paul Collingwood 345, Bell had 223 and Alastair Cook 221 at the same point in the series.
Only three times in the history of Ashes cricket has England’s top scorer made fewer runs after three Tests – the most recent of those occasions being way back in 1964, when Ken Barrington led the way with 174 runs.
And the numbers for the England side as a whole are equally sobering.
Cook’s men have scored just 1403 runs through the three Tests, losing all 60 wickets for an average of just 23.38 per batsman. At the same point in ’06-07, they had managed 1772 runs for the loss of 56 wickets at 31.64.
The humiliating figures underline a tour that has slid off the rails from day two of the opening Test in Brisbane.
"It is very obvious we underperformed badly with the bat and we are not going to win many Test matches or many Test series if we don't score heavily in the first innings," coach Andy Flower said.
"It is interesting that the one hundred that we have scored has come from a 22-year-old allrounder (Ben Stokes), which may be a snapshot of our batting performance.”
The three-nil scoreline has also cast doubt over the futures of Flower and some of the side’s leading stars, most notably wicketkeeper Matt Prior.
"In every big Test series we need the senior players to perform, and need our experienced players to use that experience to bring results," Flower added.
"That hasn’t happened. It is time for those guys to stand up, in fact it’s past time because the series is lost. Three Tests is ample time for that experience to come to the fore.
"Like all positions we have to review them. We constantly review what our best side will be and we also have to have an eye to the future."
TOP 10 BATSMEN, ASHES 2013-14 |
|
Most runs |
|
Player |
Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 |
DA Warner (Aus) MJ Clarke (Aus) BJ Haddin (Aus) SR Watson (Aus) IR Bell (Eng) MA Carberry (Eng) SPD Smith (Aus) BA Stokes (Eng) KP Pietersen (Eng) CJL Rogers (Aus) |
3 6 1 457 124 91.40 75.91 2 2 3 6 0 331 148 55.16 62.10 2 0 3 5 0 325 118 65.00 66.19 1 3 3 6 0 200 103 33.33 56.17 1 1 3 6 1 190 72* 38.00 50.66 0 2 3 6 0 188 60 31.33 42.82 0 1 3 6 1 186 111 37.20 47.08 1 0 2 4 0 167 120 41.75 47.17 1 0 3 6 0 165 53 27.50 51.40 0 1 3 6 0 156 72 26.00 37.95 0 2 |
AT SAME POINT IN 2006-07 ASHES |
|
Most runs |
|
Player RT Ponting (Aus) KP Pietersen (Eng) MEK Hussey (Aus) PD Collingwood (Eng) ML Hayden (Aus) MJ Clarke (Aus) IR Bell (Eng) JL Langer (Aus) AN Cook (Eng) A Flintoff (Eng) |
Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 3 6 1 524 196 104.80 61.43 2 2 3 6 1 398 158 79.60 54.22 1 3 3 5 2 415 103 138.33 53.00 1 4 3 6 1 345 206 69.00 46.12 1 1 3 6 0 204 92 34.00 62.38 0 1 3 5 2 373 135* 124.33 63.43 2 1 3 6 0 223 87 37.16 40.39 0 3 3 6 1 230 100* 46.00 69.90 1 1 3 6 0 221 116 36.83 43.67 1 0 3 6 1 120 51 24.00 55.04 0 1 |