England cricketers' gamble set to continue even as flops persist

England cricketers harbour a gambler's curse of chasing big scores and suffering spectacular failures, former captain Michael Vaughan feels

Vaughan's comments come after England's innings and 80-run defeat against South Africa in the second Test at Old Trafford, which levelled the three-match series at 1-1.

England, set 376 to win, were bowled out for 198 in 51.4 overs in their second innings as fast bowler Anrich Nortje took 5-36 while Kagiso Rabada had figures of 4-81.

England have now lost their last six Test matches, their worst run since 1999 and their fourth loss in their last five home Test matches.

Vaughan, who led England to Ashes success in 2005, said that England's batsmen were trying to match the records of the past, but ignoring the basics of Test match batting.

"England's batting is dictated on a risk and reward situation all the time and that's because they're trying to play a brand of cricket that suits the white-ball format," Vaughan told the BBC.

"That's great, but you've got to earn the right to play that way and you do that by getting the basics right first. Until that happens, they're going to continue to be vulnerable to the new ball.

"They're trying to find a way of replicating the success of 2019 (when they won the World Cup) and the white-ball team. They're trying to play catch-up, which is impossible. You can't go from A to Z without doing B, C, D, E and F. You've got to do it the proper way. They're just gambling all the time.

"Ultimately, if you want to be the best Test team in the world, you have to leave more balls than you play for as long as you possibly can, which means you've got to be strong defensively.

"England are so gung-ho about playing shots that they're not even looking to defend the ball. They're just thinking about playing shots and that's not Test match batting. That's not the right way to go about batting in Test cricket.

"You've got to have a solid base, you've got to trust your defence, you've got to be good defensively, you've got to have good feet, you've got to have a good awareness of the bowler's options and what he's trying to do to you.

"And then, after a while, if you've got the technique and the footwork and the confidence, then you can start to play shots. But at the moment, England are playing shots and forgetting about the basics.

"They're almost gambling at the moment. It's like they're sitting there thinking, 'We'll have a win here, we'll have a loss there, we'll have a win here, we'll have a loss there'. That's not how Test cricket works. You've got to be consistent, you've got to be patient, you've got to be relentless in what you do. And England are anything but relentless at the moment."