Sir Ian Botham says England should seem to bed in some young talent as they build to the future and plan for the Ashes time.
England drew this summer’s Ashes series after clinching a 135-run win but Australia keep the urn with the 2-2 tie.
Botham considers the final result is a reflection about the series, adding that Steve Smith along with his staggering 774 runs for the show has shown the difference between the two sides.
“Things swung from that first Test at Edgbaston,” said Botham. “Australia were 122-8 and built those partnerships with the tailenders.
“Steve Smith has been glorious. And he has been the standout for the series.
“I really stated, if he does not fail now, he is not human. He did fail [scoring 23] however he has been quite wonderful.
“If you look at the two sides, batting was a problem for the two, particularly the very best purchase. Ben Stokes was Steve Smith for Australia along with the exception for England.
“I feel that the pace attack of Australia has been outstanding. They’ve played better cricket.
“However, England are at a fairly great location typically, they just require a bit of fine tuning.
“Together with the bowling, we are in a similar situation for Australia, we have got a lot of young talent coming but England should check out the batting line-up.
“Are they going to look at younger players, which I believe that they ought to do? It is two or three years until we’re back for the Ashes in Australia – and – you’ll want to have a side that is settled, so now is the time.
“In New Zealand, it is a terrific opportunity to experiment, have a look and see exactly what these young guys can do. Zac Crawleyplayers like that, who everyone has been talking about.”
In amazing and his mate David Gower’s final stints as broadcasters to get Sky ncaaf picks after 25 years of service botham spoke, and he represented fondly on his time behind the mike.
“It’s really been enjoyable,” he added. “It was the start of Sky and I said at the time,’what exactly are we going to do? Where are we likely to proceed with this?’
“They said, we want to bring the game to the front room of the people at home viewing. I think we have got fairly close to that.
“It’s been a fantastic trip. There is youthful blood on the market, time to proceed. However, it has been fantastic; the areas of the world we’ve seen, the games we’ve seen and the players that have surfaced.”