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Michael Vaughan Slams ECB For Not Scheduling Red-ball Matches Before A Test Series
By Aditya Pratap - Aug 14, 2021 5:39 pm
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Former England skipper Michael Vaughan is not happy with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for not scheduling the matches properly. He also said it is silly how young players got to play the Test matches without getting to play the warm-up games.

Michael Vaughan
Michael Vaughan

England and India are currently going toe-to-toe in the five-match Test series. England’s batting woes were exposed by the Indian pacers in the first Test match at Trent Bridge, where the top-order emerged as the main concern of the lot.

Also Read: Michael Vaughan predicts no rain during the Second Test at Lord’s

Vaughan slammed England team management for letting the players in The Hundred rather than asking them to focus on the red-ball cricket with several Test matches on the horizon.

“It is silly that we don’t give our players one or two games facing the red-ball to prepare for a Test series. It is about management, and you might have to say to players you can’t play in The Hundred,” said Vaughan while talking on BBC.

He further criticized the ECB for not scheduling the County matches before the commencement of a big Test series. He felt it would have been better for the players like Dom Sibley and Haseeb Hameed had they been coming into the India series on the back of some county cricket under their belt.

Also Read: Michael Vaughan predicts India to win the Test series by 3-1

“In the last four or five weeks there should have been four or five rounds of County Championship cricket so players that are just Test players like Dom Sibley and Haseeb Hameed would have been playing cricket,” he further added.

haseeb hameed
Haseeb Hameed dismissed on a golden duck

“It is also important to have that cricket while Test is going on so people can make centuries, and take five-wicket hauls, and put pressure on the people that are playing in the Test team and not delivering.”

Haseeb Hameed bagged a golden duck in his comeback game at Lord’s while Dom Sibley hasn’t looked in touch despite spending time in the middle. Both batsmen were dismissed on successive balls by Mohammed Siraj on day two of the Lord’s Test.