Sir Andrew Strauss says England made it ‘too easy’ for South Africa as Proteas romped to innings win | Cricket News

Sir Andrew Strauss on England’s defeat to South Africa: “There was this irresistible momentum and they couldn’t seem to find a way to stem it. There was certainly no digging in and trying to gradually wrestle momentum. Before you knew it, it was all over”

Sir Andrew Strauss reflects on England’s crushing innings defeat to South Africa in the first LV=Insurance Test at Lord’s as Ben Stokes’ side were thumped inside three days after being rolled for 165 and 149…

I think we are all pretty startled to see England fold as quickly as they did on day three. There was some excellent bowling but it all happened like a deck of cards.

There was this irresistible momentum behind and England couldn’t seem to find a way to stem it. There was certainly no digging in and trying to gradually wrestle momentum. Before you knew it, it was all over.

You have to take the rough with the smooth. For all of England’s brilliance so far this summer, it is high-risk cricket and when you play high-risk cricket the odds conspire against you and it can look quite ugly when it doesn’t work out.

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Head coach Brendon McCullum says England will not panic after seeing their four-match winning streak come to an end

You can give England the benefit of the doubt in the first innings – there was plenty of movement there and it was dank, dark and overcast.

But in the second innings, I am scratching my head wondering why it has all happened so quickly. There were soft dismissals and it all looked too easy for me – but I don’t think it was about aggression.

There was a spell when Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes were together and had a bit of a waft, while Jonny Bairstow showed some intent but by that stage, the game was set up after early wickets. At no stage did England get into the game.

In Test cricket, you are always hoping for that ebb and flow and it never happened. Ultimately, we have had two days of Test cricket with the rain on day one. The pitch did not demand a two-day Test. It was fine.

It was high quality from South Africa against an England team that were either undercooked or overconfident or just didn’t hit its straps.

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Captain Ben Stokes says England’s confidence has not been dented by their innings loss to South Africa at Lord’s

How will England deal with defeat?

After the four victories earlier in the summer, Brendon McCullum only had to say the same thing – ‘rinse and repeat, keep being aggressive, keep being positive’.

Now they’ve lost – admittedly not playing aggressively – do they now say to the players they have to earn the right to get on top?

England’s middle order are always going to be aggressive with Bairstow, Stokes and Joe Root but you still need that foundation so we need more returns from the top order. It is absolutely crucial.

The problem Zak Crawley has is that we haven’t had the upside to go with the downside. It feels like his game is a bit skewed at the moment.

He doesn’t understand the high-risk from the low-risk options. From what we have seen, he is not at ease with his game or his place in the team either.

Zak Crawley is averaging below 17 in 10 Test innings so far this summer

In that double hundred against Pakistan [in 2020] we saw his strengths. He is tall, can hit balls on top of the bounce – he is hard to bowl to in full flow.

But the secret to batting at the top of the order in international cricket is problem-solving and understanding that different pitches and bowling attacks ask different questions.

We haven’t seen enough of that – the learning, the adapting his game, the smart decision-making. If you have not got that you are not going to last in international cricket. There is too much analysis and too many smart bowlers who will work you over very quickly.

England vs S Africa

August 25, 2022, 10:00am

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‘South Africa hunted in packs; England attack one-paced’

It was brilliant from South Africa. From the moment they arrived, they have meant business. They grabbed the initiative when the conditions were in their favour on day one and haven’t given England anything to work with.

Everyone talks about Kagiso Rabada’s strike rate being the best of all time and I think we saw in this game [as he took seven wickets] why that is.

He has so many ways of taking wickets. He has got enough pace and can keep bowling at that speed all day long. He has movement, swing.

It was a phenomenal performance and he was helped by the other bowlers. You talk about bowling in partnerships and hunting in packs and South Africa did that outstandingly well.

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Anrich Nortje’s searing bowling spell saw him nick off Jonny Bairstow, Alex Lees and Ben Foakes

Anrich Nortje showed why pace bowlers are worth their weight in gold and that’s why England are missing Mark Wood and Jofra Archer at the moment.

This game was about England not batting as well as they would have liked to but I thought there was a real contrast in the bowling attacks.

England’s looked one-paced and one-dimensional and for the enduring quality of Broad and James Anderson, South Africa had that extra edge that England couldn’t match.

It feels like South Africa have all bases covered in the bowling sense. We don’t know fully how potent their batting line-up is. Sarel Erwee played very well but there is still inexperience there and England will still see vulnerabilities.

Watch day one of the second LV= Insurance Test between England and South Africa, from Emirates Old Trafford, live on Sky Sports The Hundred from Thursday. Build-up starts at 10am ahead of the first ball at 11am.