Ashes 2017: Michael Vaughan calls for England batting reshuffle for third Test

Joe Root will look to take responsibility of England’s batting in the third Test. (AP Photo)

England will be fighting for survival when they take on Australia in the third Ashes Test in Perth as they trail 2-0 in the five-match series. Till now, the batsmen have failed to counter the Australian pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins. They will one again be facing them alongwith with the willy offspinner Nathan Lyon on one of the fastest pitches in the world at WACA.

So how do England prepare for the Australian bowlers? Former England captain Michael Vaughan, who won the Ashes in 2005-06, has called for reshuffle in the England batting order if they want to counter the bowling attack.

“If I was England I’d jig the order,” Vaughan was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au. “I’d put Vince to five, Malan to three. (Malan) bats at three for Middlesex so that’s a position he’s used to.

“He looks to me the kind of player that I don’t think he’s going to be over-aggressive but he’d fight to get rid of that new ball. It would allow Vince to bat a little more freely at five.

“He is a player that likes to play his strokes and against the Kookaburra new ball, particularly against the quality the Aussies have got you’ve got to fancy they create chances. Also, I’d have Jonny at six. Then you’ve got four, five and six all right-handers to nullify Nathan Lyon.”

England have crossed the 300-run mark only in four innings and that too after Mark Stoneman, James Vince and Dawid Malan scored half-centuries, their first in Ashes Tests. After that innings in the first Test at Gabba, England have struggled with the bat. With Ben Stokes missing from the team, England have been struggling to find runs lower down the order. The top order too hasn’t performed.

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting also had similar words and said that England need to see beyond their starting XI and think of changing their line-up for the next match.

“I think they’ll make a lot of changes for the next Test,” Ponting was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au. “They have to, because what they’ve done so far has not been competitive. Joe (Root) has a lot to think about and so does (coach) Trevor Bayliss and just a lot of their players.

“They’ve got to have a good look at themselves and work out how to be competitive in this series. You look at their batting. Stoneman has looked OK but he looks OK then gets out. Vince is a bit the same; they play a couple of nice shots but can’t sustain any kind of period of dominance over the bowlers and have a brain fade and play a bad shot.

“Malan has been the same, he’s occupied the crease but he never looks like he’s going to hurt you. And Moeen has looked ineffective with the ball and Nathan Lyon has got his measure. They’ve got a lot of areas of concern and I still don’t think their batting line-up is right.

“Even again today, Jonny Baistow looks like their second or third best batsman, as far as I’m concerned, he’s batting at No.7 and with the gloves on.

“We hear a lot about (reserve ‘keeper) Ben Foakes being a good player so I wouldn’t be surprised if they move Bairstow up the order next week and bring Foakes into the side and maybe one of Vince or Malan misses.”