Aus urning it!

England are looking more like a team resigned to the fate of losing the Ashes rather than the freewheeling confident bunch that felt it could comfortably achieve victory at home in any circumstances The Australian team have great confidence and belief in captain Pat Cummins who has proved his leadership style in a variety of conditions England on the other hand are reeling having lost a Test at Edgbaston they thought they would win and then seen their hopes at Lordrsquos dashed by allround sloppy work in the field and a failure to cope with a bouncer attack from the oppositionAustralia are growing in strength while England are starting to question itself and this is a recipe for a hometown disaster Having suffered an ignominious fournil hammering in Australia Englandrsquos ugly scars are reemerging and theyrsquoll have trouble halting the slideThere is no doubt Ben Stokes is employing the right strategy in trying to win Test matches from the first ball that is how the game is best played What is in doubt is Englandrsquos abilitymdashas theyrsquore currently constructedmdashto successfully employ that strategy A camp full of doubtEnglandrsquos bowling and fielding has been disappointing and now their batting has suffered a dramatic collapse against the shortpitched delivery Major doubt is now evident in the English campItrsquos going to take a monumental display of strong leadership from Stokes to reboot Englandrsquos confidence to a point where they can turn the tables on AustraliaForget the first innings declaration in the Edgbaston Test that was a positive move The reason England lost the Test is their unbalanced struggling attack backed by inept fielding and their confusing and downright poor selectionThey had an ageing attack which lacked variety and whose control over line and length was in question when confronted by an onslaught They also donrsquot have the pace required to mount a meaningful bouncer barrageWhen their battingmdasha source of comfort in the pastmdashcollapsed in a flurry of panicked shotmaking at Lordrsquos the doubts quickly resurfaced The fact that this madness occurred following a major injury to Australiarsquos prized offspinner Nathan Lyon just reenforced Englandrsquos plightThe England batsmen had no sensible answer when Australia resorted to a bouncer attack and this gave Cummins men a huge boost Itrsquos true that Australia have the bowlers with height and pace to employ a bouncer barrage but it helps when the opposition commits batting suicide While itrsquos also true that a bouncer barrage extracts a physical toll on the bowlers if it helps secure an early series victory then the remaining Tests become a matter of coasting home Time to answer big questionsItrsquos all well and good for England to say ldquoThatrsquos the way we playrdquo but when wild and woolly shotmaking like the Lordrsquos debacle becomes an excuse for a dismissal then itrsquos time for the batsmen to answer some serious questions In the field England are struggling to combat Steve Smithrsquos monumental thirst for runs Usman Khawajarsquos stubbornness and the aggression of Travis Head In addition David Warner has shown tremendous resolve to overcome Stuart Broadrsquos domination In the face of Australiarsquos determination England needed to field superbly but failed in this endeavour Englandrsquos errorridden selection was summed up by Moeen Alirsquos recall Moeen was not a successful spinner against Australia even at his peak and yet England chose to make another serious miscalculationNow that Englandrsquos batting has stumbled and fallen the selection blunders become more apparent In the past England hasnrsquot been quick to change tack and resolve thorny issues Irsquoll be surprised if the modus operandi changes under this selection group while Australia are likely to go from strength to strengthTrying to win from the first ball is an admirable trait and Stokes is correct in employing that strategy However gifting your wicket to the opposition with recklessshot making is not a tactic designed to beat good sides Australia under Cummins is a good side