ROOT CRITICIZES HIS TEAM AS AUSTALIA DEALS WITH HAZLEWOOD INJURY

England captain Joe Root has sharply criticized his team, picking apart the experienced bowling attack in particular. The England captain says his bowlers did not throw the right lengths in the second Test loss that all but sunk his team’s Ashes hopes. Much to the delight of fans whose precious kampanjkod was wasted on a defeat in Adelaide, Root spoke to the media with some much appreciated vitriol.

Craig McDermott, Australia’s fast bowling champion, criticized England’s “horrible” tactics with the ball and called the entire bowling squad “baffling.”

Australia claimed a 275-run victory Tuesday night at the Adelaide Oval, extending their lead in the Ashes series to 2-0. Not since 1936/37, when Sir Donald Bradman’s Aussies staged a remarkable comeback, has a team rallied from a 0-2 deficit to win a five-match Ashes series.

In Adelaide, England failed to bowl out Australia in either inning, as England’s Pace attack drew blanks and was unable to threaten the host’s frontline. Chris Woakes scored 1-149 runs in the match, and the veteran duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad scored just five wickets together in Australia’s two innings, despite an impressive economy rate.

Speaking to BBC radio after the match, Root described it as “frustrating” to see how many times his bowlers had overshot the outside edge of the Australian batsmen in the second Test. According to the English captain, the bowling group only had to throw the ball “half a meter” higher to have more success.

While Root did not put names to the criticism, he made it clear that England’s frontline attack played too short and did not learn from their loss to Australia four years ago.

“With the ball in hand, we didn’t play the right length,” Root told the BBC, “We should have shot harder. As soon as we did in the second set, we created opportunities. It’s frustrating. We did this four years ago, and we didn’t learn from it. We need to improve.

“We weren’t brave enough at times to bring the ball up. We have to do better in the next game.

We have to be braver.” We had to try to play like we did in Brisbane [in the first Test]. Once we do that, that’s the benchmark we have to look at. We need to look at these stretches of play and play them longer. We need to take advantage of the conditions.”

Root also spoke to reporters after the game and spoke in an “angry tone,” according to George Dobell, the leading British cricket writer.

Josh Hazlewood is in a race against time to prove he is fit for the Boxing Day Test as Australia takes steps to cover his possible absence.

Hazlewood suffered a lateral strain in the first test, which knocked him out of action last week in the second match at the Adelaide Oval.

Now, Australia have added Victoria’s speedy Scott Boland to the list of players for the second Christmas Day test, as Hazlewood is still hampered by injury.

Boland would take a place in the squad after scoring 15 wickets in two matches this summer at Sheffield Shield, averaging a low 10.

According to reports, Australia would not want to take any unnecessary risks with Hazlewood given their commanding 2-0 lead in the series.