“I think it might be 5-0 now” – Brad Hogg believes England are staring at yet another whitewash

Former Australia spinner Brad Hogg feels England are on their way to being on the wrong side of a 5-0 scoreline in the Ashes. The visitors were comprehensively defeated by 275 runs in the second Test and will have to win all three of the remaining matches to win the series.

Hogg added that skipper Joe Root and coach Chris Silverwood will have to lift the morale of the squad with the Boxing Day Test coming up. There has been heavy criticism of Joe Root’s captaincy and the England batting unit from fans and pundits alike.

While speaking on his YouTube channel, Hogg said:

“I think it might be 5-0 now moving forward with everything going on with England behind the scenes at the moment. The bowlers would be a little bit upset with what Root has said. That might cause a bit of unrest. Root and Silverwood will have to pick this team up. I think they just overplanned. They just looked at the negative scenarios rather than what they have to do moving forward.”

Former England pacer Steve Harmison emphasized that the ongoing issues in the team are deep-rooted and go well beyond the confines of the captain and the coach. He also termed the current English batting unit as the weakest in recent times. Harmison said:

“The issues are much deeper than Root and Silverwood, it is the prioritizing of white-ball cricket. Whenever we lose the Ashes, we always blame county cricket but that’s not the case. County cricket will continue to produce great players. This is the weakest batting unit England have had in a long long time. That is something that needs rectifying pretty soon.”

England have so far failed to cross the 300-run mark across four innings in this series. Barring Joe Root and Dawid Malan, no batter has looked comfortable or settled at the crease for England.

I think I’d have torn a strip off Root in the England dressing room: Harmison

Harmison was also displeased with the comments made by Joe Root in the post-match press conference. The England skipper had mentioned that bowlers had to bowl a fuller length to get more success. The 43-year-old claimed that the bowlers fared poorly because of dropped catches.

Harmison added:

“If I was one of the bowlers in the England camp, I think I’d have torn a strip off Root in the dressing room. Root mentioned in the post-match presentation that the bowlers did not bowl full and I’d be saying that the 10 times you bowl full enough, we made Australian batsmen nick it and we’ve gone on to drop those catches. England are bowling full enough, they are creating catches but we are dropping them.”

A great honour to lead England in an Ashes series in Australia.

We’ll give everything to make you proud back home.

A great honour to lead England in an Ashes series in Australia. We’ll give everything to make you proud back home. https://t.co/gH5ewu73pZ

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England dropped Marnus Labuschagne on two occasions, with Buttler being the culprit both times. They have already dropped a staggering eight catches over the course of two Test matches. The next Test will kick start on Boxing Day (December 26), at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.