England’s bowling coach, David Saker, remains optimistic about the abilities of the English attack despite their narrow defeats in the Ashes series. Saker, who previously served as England’s fast bowling coach during successful Ashes campaigns in 2010-11 and 2013, is back in a similar role for the current red-ball summer.
During his previous tenure as England’s fast bowling coach from 2010 to 2015, the team achieved significant milestones, including winning the Ashes in Australia, successfully defending the Urn at home, and securing a series victory in India for the first time since 1984-85. Saker later worked with the Australian team in a similar capacity from 2016 to 2019.
As the current coach of the Melbourne Renegades, Saker is now working with the English seamers to change the course of the Ashes series after some impressive performances from the Australian batsmen. With two close defeats, England finds itself trailing 2-0 in what has been an entertaining and somewhat controversial series.
Despite the setbacks, Saker affirms that England’s strategy will remain unchanged heading into the upcoming matches, including the pivotal Headingley Test. He believes in the team’s approach and sees no reason to deviate from it, considering the closely contested nature of the previous matches.
“As a group, we want to keep playing the way we’ve come up against a great team; there’s no reason to chuck all that method out and say it’s not working. I think we’ll keep playing the way we played. Both have been close games, particularly the first one, which could have definitely gone either way.” Saker told Zero Wicket.
The aggressive strategy adopted by the English side has drawn speculation from the media and former players. However, the team members remain optimistic about their ability to execute this unorthodox approach against the highly-ranked Australian Test side.
England’s aggressive style, advocated by coach Brendon McCullum and all-rounder Ben Stokes, aims to relieve pressure and play free, open-minded cricket with both bat and ball. While this approach may deviate from traditional English cricket, the team remains committed to it.
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Saker acknowledges that the first two Tests could have gone either way and highlights the closeness of the contests. Despite the initial results, he expresses confidence in the team’s method and believes that the players are capable of executing it effectively.
“Brendon and Ben Stokes want to play a really aggressive brand. They want to take pressure off the team and go out and just play really free, open-minded cricket with the bat and with the ball. They just want to be aggressive and try to take wickets. It goes against the grain a little bit for an English team, so it’s exciting to be in the dressing room listening to the way they go about it. We played two great Test matches, and both Tests could have gone either way, so we’re not panicking. We’re not going to change the way we play. We think the method’s right. We’ve got the right players in our group, and I think the method’s going to stand up; it hasn’t in the first two Tests, but it’s been very close, so you can’t really say it hasn’t worked.” said the England bowling coach.
