As England head into the fourth Test, fans are being confronted with the very same questions the skipper has set his players
It’s the week after Christmas 2021 and England’s men have just lost the Ashes. Again. After two years of preparation and planning, they have been beaten out of sight in 12 days’ play, the last three at the MCG, where they have been bowled out for 185 and 68, and gone down by an innings and 14 runs to a team who made only 267 themselves.
Covid has spread among the squad: three of the coaches have tested positive and so have four family members, despite all the precautions. They have been living in a so-called bubble for much of the past couple of months, mostly unable to mix, meet people, or even leave the hotel. And now they are being battered in the newspapers, on TV, radio and social media: “Embarrassing, abysmal, humiliated”; “This has to be one of the worst England teams to play ashes cricket PATHETIC”; “You are an embarrassment to the Three Lions”.
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