‘Joe Root will be enjoying this’: Michael Vaughan explains how ‘cracks in Australian team’ can help England in The Ashes | Cricket - Hindustan Times
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‘Joe Root will be enjoying this’: Michael Vaughan explains how ‘cracks in Australian team’ can help England in The Ashes

May 19, 2021 07:05 PM IST

Michael Vaughan has stated that dragging the 3-year-old incident again has exposed the ‘cracks’ in the Australian team and Joe Root will be enjoying the turn of events going into the Ashes later this year.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan feels that the recent statement of Cameron Bancroft on the infamous 2018 sandpapergate scandal will affect the Australians in the upcoming Ashes series. The Australian batsmen, in a recent interview with the Guardian, had hinted that the Aussie bowlers might have known about ball-tampering. Later on Tuesday, bowlers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon released a joint statement to make their stand clear.

England captain Joe Root (L), former England captain Michael Vaughan (R) (HT Collage)
England captain Joe Root (L), former England captain Michael Vaughan (R) (HT Collage)

Vaughan, in his latest column for The Telegraph, stated that dragging the 3-year-old incident again has exposed the ‘cracks’ in the Australian team and Joe Root will be enjoying the turn of events going into the Ashes later this year.

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“Dragging up the ball-tampering scandal has shown there are cracks in the Australia team that England could exploit if they start the Ashes series well later this year. David Warner, Steve Smith and the bowlers are under scrutiny again, and it would only take a poor Australia performance in the first Ashes Test for the pressure to mount. The captain, Tim Paine, is under the microscope after defeat by India, and while some think this could galvanise Australia, rarely are such public problems good for a team's unity.

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"Joe Root will be enjoying this and thinking it could help. He knows an argument or two in the opposing team is always good. But fundamentally, England still have to play great cricket to win in Australia. They should not become distracted by Australia’s problems. Enjoy it in private, but rise above it in public,” Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald.

The former skipper also wants the English team to focus on their own game and come out strongly against a quality Australian outfit.

“England have enough to worry about in their own backyard, by making sure they arrive with a settled batting unit, a fit bowling attack and a team who can ultimately win in those conditions. There are cracks in the England team as well, and I see two sides who are quite similar. Both are quite vulnerable and that should make for a fascinating contest,” he wrote.

(With ANI Inputs)

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