"Selfish" England batsmen not good enough to help regain Ashes, says Bob Willis

The former Test bowler has some harsh words for Joe Root and his team ahead of the series with Australia later this summer

England's batsmen play for themselves and lack the discipline to help win back the Ashes from Australia, according to former bowler Bob Willis.

The formation and identity of the top order remains a mystery for Joe Root's side as they seek a long-term replacement for Sir Alastair Cook, who retired last summer.

Rory Burns, Keaton Jennings and Joe Denly are the men in possession of the top three positions but none of the trio have fully convinced in the red-ball game.

Recent series have seen the middle order relied upon to produce the runs, with the quartet of Root, Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow among the most formidable around.

But Willis believes none of those players are prepared to risk their own individual reputations and move up the order for the good of the team.

ENGLAND HUB

"A fair amount of selfishness goes on," said Willis, who appeared in seven Ashes series and is England's fourth all-time wicket-taker.

"Someone like Joe Root isn’t prepared to walk into the fiery furnace at one, two or three in the order. 

"I have an old fashioned view that the best batsman in the side should bat at number three. But Root steadfastly refuses to do that. 

"So we’ve had a shuffling pack of ‘maybe’ players. If the Bairstows and Buttler consider themselves Test Match batsmen, they should be good enough to take those positions.

"But they don’t think they are, so instead we’ve had the revolving door, with Jennings and Burns getting a run. 

"Joe Denly at his age? Are they really thinking that he’s going to be an England opening batsman or a number three? 

"I don’t think that the quality is there in county cricket. The lack of real quality in the bowling people face is stunting the growth of fully fledged international batsmen."

The 69-year-old, who observed that Australia will pose a formidable threat now that Steve Smith and David Warner are available again after their ball-tampering ban, added: "I’m worried about England’s batting the Ashes. 

^{Burns and Jennings are far from certain to be opening in the Ashes}

"A better disciplined and behaved Australian side will be a real handful for England. 

"Clearly, if they go well in the World Cup that will give them an enormous boost. 

"But I don’t think the quality of England’s batting is good enough to win the Ashes as things stand at the moment."

"The lack of patience and application from England batsmen in the Test Match arena does worry me greatly. 

"Now that Alastair Cook has headed off into the sunset, there’s only one proper Test match batsman in that line-up and that’s the captain.

"There are positive signs from Jos Buttler, but he needs big scores on a regular basis, particularly if he’s relegated to third choice wicket keeper. 

"The team is crowded out with all-rounders. Their performances are too intermittent for me."

An Evening with Bob Willis at the Spread Eagle Hotel in Thame Oxfordshire, UK. Sunday July 7th. Tickets here.