Follow UsAhead of their must-win second One-Day International (ODI) against India in Cuttack, the England side have decided to skip their practice session, which has irked former pacer and Ashes winner Steve Harmison. With the Champions Trophy just 10 days away, Harrison believes that this attitude from the English side is not great.
England lost the first game in Nagpur by four wickets and before that, they were also hammered 4-1 in the T20 International (T20I) series. “Yes, I must admit, I was surprised when we heard that England were going to have not so much a day off,” Harminson said on TalkSport Cricket.
“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 have lost, I struggle to understand, especially with the Champions Trophy coming up, that you just have a complete day off.
“A compulsory one, England don’t do compulsory practises 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? 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-quarter of a day of a Test match.
“In three and three-quarter days. So, I mean, it’s not that being demanding on 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 practising, you should be doing this, you should be doing that.”
Harmison also believes something is not right with the England team's attitude, which are worrying signs heading into the Champions Trophy.
“Where England are 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," Harmison said.
“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 back garden. 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.
“And if they do, I will praise them to the hilt. Good on them. Go for it."
England begin their Champions Trophy campaign against Australia in Lahore on February 22.