England players? mental fortitude under question after Lord?s debacle

LONDON: If someone had turned up Lord’s for this first Test not knowing who were the home side they would have got it the wrong way round; writes former England captain Nasser Hussain.Pakistan’s batsmen played the ball late, underneath them, and with soft hands so they did not go hard at the ball. And their bowlers pitched the ball on a very English full length and got the batsmen coming forward.They also had a captain in Sarfraz Ahmed who read the conditions better on the first morning and wanted to have a bowl before Joe Root gave him what he wanted by electing to bat.So you have to ask the question – why is it taking England’s coaching staff so much longer to instil the sort of disciplines and basics required here than Mickey Arthur and company have done with Pakistan?Losing away is one thing but England have not lost a home Test series for four years, so to lose a May Test against a very inexperienced Pakistan does not bode well for what lies ahead at Headingley on Friday and then against India. The most worrying thing is that the England bowling looks innocuous away when the ball isn’t doing anything while the batsmen are looking fragile at home when it does do something. We are seeing collapse after collapse after collapse.Is it a mental thing? They are so scarred now they are vulnerable? Perhaps it was no coincidence that the two guys who temporarily arrested the decline on Saturday night were the two new to this side in Jos Buttler and Dom Bess.The trouble is on paper England still look to have so many good batsmen. Are you going to drop Alastair Cook? No. Joe Root? No. Jonny Bairstow? No. And Dawid Malan did well in the winter in Australia.Mark Stoneman is horribly out of nick and doesn’t know whether to stick or twist so England have to make a decision on whether to give him one more game or say ‘enough’s enough’ and go for Nick Gubbins or Keaton Jennings.One thing is for sure. England need shaking up. The time for putting an arm around someone is over. They need a good strong talking to. There is too much fudged thinking and catch-up cricket going on. It’s time for the softly-softly approach to be put to bed.

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