New Delhi, Nov 3 (IANS) Former England cricketer Michael Atherton has asked England to “keep the pressure on Australia” during the upcoming white-ball series Down Under, as he feels that the Aussies can “implode” before the Ashes next year, considering the problems they are dealing with and the hectic schedule ahead.
Australia recently lost to South Africa 2-1 in the Test series, which saw them lose their World No. 1 ranking and also their top spot in the World Test Championship points table. They have problems of their own with Marnus Labuschagne in serious danger of being dropped after another underwhelming Test series.
The famous Aussie pace trio of Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc will also be absent for the three-match ODI and the five-match T20I series against England, which begins with the ODIs from November 13, as they have a hectic schedule ahead with a four-match Test series against New Zealand in late 2026 and then a five-match Test series in India in early 2027.
Atherton feels that England’s white-ball series Down Under gives them a great chance to keep the pressure on Australia by not letting them win, feeling that the Aussies can “implode” before they head to UK for the 2027 Ashes that begins in June.
“Although some of the big guns are not playing, it is a chance to keep some pressure on Australia now – pressure on their selectors after the decisions around Labuschagne and what have you, pressure on some of their big-name players and pressure on them to keep their results modest,” Atherton said as quoted by Sky Sports.
“The past players will start to go at them as they started to do, actually, after about day one of the Ashes in Perth last year, before England then let them off the hook,” he added.
Australian batters have been facing the heat as David Warner recently lambasted the poor batting in the second innings of the third Test against South Africa, where the Aussies were bowled out for 111 and lost the Test by 176 runs, eventually going down in the series too.
“I’m just upset. It’s terrible. It’s un-Australian. There’s no fight whatsoever. It’s disgraceful,” Warner said on Fox Sports. “288, you’re winning a Test match; you could win a series. It’s on the line. And this is the way they’re playing?”
A tour of South Africa that began with the Matt Renshaw-inspired visitors claiming a famous victory in Durban ended in ignominy on the fifth day in Cape Town, with an all-too-familiar batting collapse bringing about a first series loss in more than 1,300 days.
“I think it’s deplorable. The batters have let the bowlers down the whole series. Yes, Matt Renshaw showed fight in that first Test, but I think the batters have been disgraceful. What the batters should know is that this bloke here (Rabada) is going to come out firing. And he has done that. If you get through 10-15 overs…” Warner added.
–IANS
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