Botham confused over England 'crawling into shells' in 'celebratory' Boxing Day Test

Former England Test captain Sir Ian Botham has expressed his confusion over what England was scared of and why they 'crawled into their shells' and refused to come out in the first day of the Boxing Day Ashes Test, which is a game worthy of celebration.

Botham warned England to either take the game to the Australians or risk facing being walked all over again, and believes that the tourists are making their life doubly difficult by giving away that sort of a lead before a ball has been bowled.

According to the Mirror, Botham said that at no stage during the opening day at the MCG, did England's batsmen take the game to the Australians and tried to take the initiative, adding that there was no attempt to wrestle control away from the home team and put their bowlers under pressure,

Botham further said that the match looked as if England was waiting for their wickets to be taken, adding that they were smothered by bowlers who were not even particularly 'on song'.

Stating that the timid England batsmen had allowed the not-so-well performing Australians to dictate terms to them, Botham also said that although it is necessary to be cautious, but if the middle and the lower order is exposed to the new ball quickly then there is every chance of damage, which is what happened finally during the day.

Botham also said that Australia has scored at one run per over quicker than England over the course of the series, adding that although it might not seem like a lot, but that is 90 runs per day, or 450 over the course of the match.