Jeff Thomson takes a dig at England bowlers after failing to pick wickets on the final day at MCG

The war of words in the ongoing Ashes continues as the former Australian great Jeff Thomson has taken a sly dig at England bowlers. The fourth Test match in Melbourne ended in a tame draw as the pitch refused to break down even on the final day of the game which led to the criticism of the surface. Moreover, England had a great chance to secure the result in their favour but could only scalp a couple of wickets. However, Thomson has criticised the likes of James Anderson and Stuart Broad and believed that they lacked power in their bowling.

Australia have already regained the Ashes by winning the first three matches of the five-match series and the talks of England being whitewashed down under started doing the rounds again. But the visitors put up a spirited display first with the ball and then with the bat courtesy Alastair Cook who played a marathon knock of 244* and carried his bat through. But unfortunately, they didn’t get enough time to bowl out the home side in the second innings due to rain even as the pitch didn’t retaliate much.

I can bowl quicker than them

Jeff Thomson, however, decided to criticise the bowling attack of England as the other experts were busy in blaming the pitch. He believed that the visiting side failed to get life out of the pitch on the final day as they lacked the much-needed intensity. “Some of it’s to do with the bowlers. Especially his (Ian Botham’s) mob. I think they lack a lot of power in their bowling. Your two best bowlers are your oldest and then you’ve got two young blokes in there, I could bowl quicker now and I’m 60-odd,” he was quoted as saying by fox sports.

Meanwhile, the 22 yards surface at MCG prepared for the Boxing Day Test has been rated ‘poor’ by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was ruled poor under the reasoning “little or no seam movement or turn at any stage in the match together with no significant bounce or carry, thereby depriving the bowlers of a fair contest between bat and ball.” Now all the eyeballs are stuck at the surface in SCG as the teams will lock horns for one final time in the ongoing Ashes.

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