Geeves, who played one ODI and two T20Is for Australia and was a successful first-class bowler, said that baseball, a term coined to describe England’s overly aggressive and results-oriented style of play, was unlikely to work against Australia.
It (baseball) sets them (England) up for failure, and to me it’s something like even if we lose, we play better cricket and still win, Geeves told Sen Radio on Saturday.
It doesn’t work that way. Especially against Australia in the Ashes, said the 41-year-old.
He said it was disrespectful of England coach Brandon McCallum to tell his players that he was proud of them despite the loss. According to Geeves, by saying this, the coach was undermining the Australians’ efforts.
An article I read quoted Brandon McCallum saying that they lost, they were in the locker room, and Brandon spoke first and said: Guys, I’m immensely proud of the effort you put in. We made the game what it was. We were so close to getting an unbelievable win. We played every cricket in this game. If it wasn’t for us, the Aussies wouldn’t even have had a chance to win.
It’s just very disrespectful to Pat Cummins’ performances and the team’s work in the chase and their ability to keep England at 276 in the best playing conditions.
Australian skipper Cummins scored 44 points and his partner Nathan Lyon made 16 knockouts as things went sour and the visitors reached England’s winning goal of 282 points.
Geeves said Australia had a few tricks up its sleeve and would continue to improve as the five-test series progressed.
Australia still has room for improvement. They will improve their batting list some more as the series progresses, and if they can set themselves up right in terms of strategy and infield play, I think they will get good results.
In particular, if England has this mentality of wild arrogance, that’s what this statement was all about. It was wild arrogance to think that (8/393) was enough in the first inning on a very flat pitch.
And yes, certainly they (Australia) won the game thanks to a ridiculously stupid declaration by the English. There is no doubt that England played a part in their win. He said that if England hadn’t declared.Reds and scored another 50-60 runs, they could havewould have knocked Australia out of the fight.
They (England) could have come back the next day and tried to hit another 50 or 60 runs, which would have taken Australia out of the game, only one team could have won the game if they made 450 or 460, and that was England, he said.
It’s because of the arrogant approach to the game. Claimed 8/393 – that’s not how you do it in Test cricket matches. You don’t do that in a five-day game when Joe Root takes 118 outs. The second Test starts at Lord’s on June 28.