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England disrepected Test cricket during Oval loss to Sri Lanka: Michael Vaughan
Former England captain Michael Vaughan has criticised the Ollie Pope-led England team for their overly aggressive approach in the third Test against Sri Lanka at The Oval. Vaughan expressed disappointment with both their batting strategy and field placements, accusing the team of showing a lack of respect for Test cricket and the Sri Lankan side through their tactics.
Sri Lanka secured a historic win at the Oval as England were left ruing their batting collapse in the second innings of the match. The hosts were criticised for their over-aggressive approach by fans and pundits with Vaughan being the latest. The former captain wrote in his column on the Telegraph that the England team has made a habit of becoming complacent after a good period. Vaughan feels that the loss will serve as a wake-up call for the side heading into tougher assignments.
“I felt that they disrespected Test cricket and disrespected Sri Lanka in the third Test by being over-aggressive with both the bat and in their field placings. England have made a habit of becoming a bit complacent after a good period—I think of the start of the Ashes or earlier this year in Rajkot—and I hope it serves as a wake-up call for the tougher Tests that lie in wait in 2025. There is no way they will get away with playing like this against India or Australia,” Vaughan wrote.
“For me, the intensity and concentration in the big moments were missing this week. It was all a bit flimsy, cocky even. They took the mickey out of the game. The answer in Test cricket’s hottest moments cannot always be attack, attack, attack,” he added.
Vaughan felt that England were over-aggressive with their field settings and put the bowlers on the backfoot.
“I felt England’s bowling was fine this week, but I thought the over-aggressive fields they went for did the bowlers a disservice and put them on the back foot immediately. They went out with an idea to be super-aggressive, but this wasn’t the match or pitch for that,” Vaughan said.
“This was a top-of-off pitch, two or three slips and a gully, with extra cover in. They had six slips, short leg and leg slip. It was almost as if they had 650 on the board, but they had half of that.”
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