England Slammed By Steve Harmison For Skipping Training Ahead Of Second IND V ENG ODI

Former England batsman Steve Harmison launched a stinging assault on the England cricket team for not missing a practice session before their must-win game against India in Cuttack on Sunday. While India had a long training session, the Jos Buttler-led team chose not to train.

England was beaten by India in the first ODI in Nagpur very convincingly. England had batted first in Nagpur and only managed 248 runs on the board. Apart from Jos Buttler and Jacob Bethell’s fifties, only Phil Salt made 43 runs.

England lost the 1st ODI

In reply, England's bowlers took two early wickets to reduce India to 19/2. But then Shreyas Iyer counter-attacked with a 36-ball 59-run knock. He added 93 with Shubman Gill, who dropped anchor at one end.

Then Gill accelerated, adding 102 runs with Axar Patel, who made 52 after being promoted to the no.5 spot. India won the game comfortably with 4 wickets in hand and Shubman Gill won the Player of the Match for his 87-run knock with 14 fours.

“I struggle to understand”- Steve Harmison slams England for skipping training session before 2nd ODI

Steve Harmison, ex-England pacer, was flabbergasted to know that England opted not to practice for the second ODI in Cuttack despite the thrashing they got in the first game in Nagpur.

“Yes, I must admit, I was surprised when we heard that England were going to have not so much a day off. Sometimes it can be counterproductive when you keep getting beat or things aren’t going as well as you’d want. Sometimes it is a good thing to get away from it, but like I’ve said in previous podcasts, how England has lost, I struggle to understand, especially with the Champions Trophy coming up, that you just have a complete day off,” Harmison said on Talk Sport Cricket.

He also talked about the workload management aspect for England players.

“A compulsory one, England doesn’t do compulsory practices under Brendon McCullum. It’s them that want to work on their game, they go and work on their game. And I mean, what have we had? In the series so far, we’ve had five T20s and an ODI. It’s had 340 overs, combined overs, and I mean, that’s probably a full test match, three and three-quarters of a day of a Test match.

In three and three-quarter days. So, I mean, it’s not that being demanding from the body point of I think it’s been demanding technically, I think it’s been demanding mentally for some of them. And I think, well, hey, I’m not going to sit here and say you should be going practicing, you should be doing this, you should be doing that,” he added.

Steve Harmison feels something is not right with the England team

Steve Harmison also said there is something not quite right and clicking with this England team.

“Where England is with a week or two weeks to go before a Champions Trophy, number 11’s has batted six times in six white-ball games, five of them in T20s. Something’s not right. Something needs addressing and people lying in their rooms, playing on a golf course, sitting playing on a PlayStation, possibly lying by a pool.

Is that going to solve it? Hey, I’m just questioning what a lot of people will be questioning, that there’s something not quite right and clicking with this team because they’re playing against one of the best teams in the world in their own backgarden. You could argue it was their B-side in the T20s, it’s their A-side in the 50 overs. And look, like they did before, they might come back and ram this straight down my throat and win here,” he said.

“And if they do, I will praise them to the hilt. Good on them. Go for it. But I’m very, very, I was a little bit surprised to hear that not one person trained, especially with a 15, 16-man squad and you’re getting beat affectionately 6-0 so far. Sorry, 5-1 in a six-match series so far. I was a little surprised,” he added.

The English team won the toss in the second ODI in Cuttack and chose to bat first.

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