Pat Cummins looked beleaguered at times — as did the rest of the Australian team in fairness.
However, former England skipper Michael Vaughan said on BBC Test Match Special that although the Australian team is up against an England team that is admittedly hard to play against, they only had themselves to blame.
“I have been staggered by Australia’s tactics. Absolutely staggered,” he said.
“They had Mitchell Marsh bowling to Ben Stokes, with mid on on the boundary and mid off back – he’s not hit him back over the top once.
“The last over they’ve got all the field spread.
“This isn’t an Australia mentality that we’ve seen for many generations.
He said Australia appeared to be trying to protect their 2-1 series lead, which is not a bad idea in theory, but can get teams unstuck in practice.
“They look like a team that is trying to hold on to what they’ve got and that’s a very dangerous mentality because if you’re just holding for what you’ve got and that’s that two victories in the first two games, then this England side just plays with that careless approach, they don’t care about losing.
“It’s really hard to play against because this mentality keeps coming at you and it keeps throwing this aggressive style at you.
“This Aussie team at the minute, they just look like they’re hanging on.
“And the hanging on mentality against a team that keeps going for you, that’s just not going to work.”
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