England could be set to call up cricketers from the Big Bash League as they look to avoid further disaster in this year’s Ashes.
England cricket fans had rather modest hopes heading into this year’s tournament. Not only because it was being staged down under, and England have won the series just once on away turf since the 80s, but because the squad is as devoid of quality as it has ever been in recent memory.
Those who hung onto the hope of an unlikely triumph in Australia will have been brought back down to earth by England’s woeful performances in the first two tests of the series. Captain Joe Root and co have been left in danger of suffering the ultimate embarrassment, with England fans fearing a whitewash.
Drastic measures are reportedly set to be taken in a desperate attempt to save England’s series. According to the Cricketer, England are considering call ups from the Big Bash League as they look to inject some quality into a squad that has looked beaten from the very beginning.
As per the report, Saqib Mahmood, a bowler for Big Bash League side Sydney Thunder, has been placed on standby with the 24-year-old likely to get the call up to compete in the third Ashes test on Boxing Day. Mahmood is currently the most likely Big Bash League player to join the squad, but there could be more to follow.
At this point, England really have nothing to lose. Repeating the same mistakes with the same deadwood players is not going to result in any sort of positive outcome. A wise man once branded it the definition of insanity, with there being nothing sane or reasonable after the drastic nosedive in standards.
England cannot even blame off-the-field controversies on their struggles in the series. Chris Woakes himself insisted that what has happened off the pitch will stay there. What is happening ON the field of play at current has stolen the limelight away from even the damning allegations of institutional racism in English cricket.
The gravity of the capitulation is unprecedented. We can only hope that the reported intention to draft in reinforcements from the Big Bash league can give English cricket fans something to draw optimism from in the tests to come, because as things stand, the players will be returning home to an entire country bemoaning their shortfalls in this year’s Ashes.
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