We want younger guys in England team to improve: Thorpe
Jun 15, 2021
Birmingham [UK], June 15 : England assistant coach Graham Thorpe has said that the younger guys within the team squad need to improve and also need to develop their game.
Neil Wagner and Matt Henry took three wickets each as England was bundled out for 122 in the second innings, and in the end, New Zealand won the second Test on Day Four comfortably by eight wickets here at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Sunday.
"We have some younger players in our team who are still developing and we're wanting them to improve. But sometimes the intensity and the spotlight of Test cricket, when you're up against a good team like New Zealand, just highlights how much of a challenge our players found their decision-making and the execution of shots," ESPNcricinfo quoted Thorpe as saying.
"Whatever technique you have, the basics are still the same. You have to get in, you have to be positive in your defence, leave the ball well outside off stump and play straight. These are the things that have applied to batting in Test match cricket for as long as it has been going. So it is a mental skill to be able to train the brain to do these things, and if anything we've been lacking consistency in that area," he added.
No England batter was able to stay at the crease for a long time in the second innings and as a result, the hosts were bundled out for 122. For the Kiwis, Matt Henry and Neil Wagner scalped three wickets each.
"If you look at the techniques of all our batters from Sibley to Burns, to Ollie Pope to Lawrence, you can go down our batting order, and to me, it comes down to decision-making. They have all scored runs at Test level and so it is about doing it more consistently and that is a mental thing really. It is about coping with the anxiousness when you first go out there and once you get in, and things become easier, it is about being hungry to score runs and to stay out there to accumulate," said Thorpe.
"You can do that in a number of ways, rotating the strike, putting overs into the bowlers and making them work hard, and then we have the players who can take advantage. We have the talent, but you have to mentally push yourself on further as well and that is the area where we have fallen down in this series," he added.
England will now lock horns against India in the longest format as both these teams will play five Tests against each other, beginning August 8.
