London: Concerned about England’s deteriorating performance in the one-dayers after a 0-5 whitewash in India, former captain Michael Vaughan said if Alastair Cook men want to be the best team in ODIs, they have to play consistently on slow and turning pitches.
“It is always harder to play away from home but England have to lose their short-sighted vision of playing on green wickets in this country,” said Vanghan.
“Look at results this year. Away from home we have lost 6-1 to Australia, been beaten by Bangladesh and Ireland during the World Cup, and now lost 5-0 in India. Our overall result against Sri Lanka and India in the summer was 6-2, but the scores only tell a certain story.
“They perhaps wanted Alastair Cook to win a few games as a young captain but I am sorry, if you want to be the best team in one-day cricket then you have to play on slow, turning pitches consistently,” the former skipper wrote in his column in ‘The Daily Telegraph’.
Describing how England fared against Sri Lanka on green pitches as compared to the spinning tracks in India, Vaughan explained: “Last summer we played Sri Lanka on the greenest Oval pitch I have ever seen and won comfortably. England then played at Headingley on a flat wicket that took a bit of spin and lost. They were not happy and went berserk at the groundsman.
“What happened next? At Trent Bridge, Sri Lanka were rolled over on an absolute classic English green top. Result? England won by 10 wickets.”
The 36-year-old said England are always certain to win when they play on green-tops.
You can pick any one of England’s last ten 50-over teams and, on a green top, they would win. That is going back 14 or 15 years.
“But when it is flat, bowlers are put under pressure and batters have to rotate the strike in the middle overs, and clear ropes at the end of the innings, or you don’t win many games of cricket,” he said.
Despite agreeing that the current English side is one of the all time best, Vaughan said they have not done things right as far as one-dayers are concerned.
“I have been saying this for ages. It is not that we have a group of players who are not good enough. This is the best generation we have had in terms of skill, coaching and preparation.
The former player also said that the English batsmen need to learn better stroke selection. (PTI)