Sidebottom Insists Pope Is "On Roller Skates" Amid England's Top Order Turmoil In Australia

While Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Surrey's Ollie Pope arrived with swagger and headlines behind them, Sidebottom insists the warning signs were blinking red long before they stepped off the plane.

"No, I'll be brutally honest," Sidebottom said when asked if the top order failures shocked him when speaking exclusively with BOYLE Sports ahead of the third Test in Adelaide.

"In England, the ball doesn't swing around as much as it used to. The wickets are flat, and they've probably come up against bowling attacks that don't pitch the ball.

"Pakistan, for example, is a fast bowling team; New Zealand have had their transitional period, and India showed how to bowl in English conditions. You pitch the ball up, you move around in the crease, you change angles, and you challenge the top of off.

"And Australia, characteristically, has pace and bounce in the wickets, or they have bounce and carry. The way that Crawley, Pope and Duckett play, it's no surprise that they've got out regularly, fairly early, driving on the up, cross back shots, and trying to hit big drives."

But it's the Brown Caps' Pope who gets the most stinging assessment.

"Ollie Pope looks like he's on roller skates, for want of a better word. Unfortunately, that is what's been identified. He's all over the place. His head's all over the place."

Duckett, he says, is "trying to cut everything," and Crawley is falling into the same trap - flashy strokes before they've even managed to get in.

"The three are very, very fine players, don't get me wrong, but I did worry about the top order in Australia, how they play.

"They play so many shots. It's like they want to play every shot in the first 20 balls, and you can't do that in Australia. It's no surprise to me that we've had these struggles instantly."

The early numbers back every word of Sidebottom's criticism. England's top order hasn't just suffered; they've embodied the technical flaws he highlighted. Crawley's fluent 76 and gritty 44 in Brisbane are offset by the two ducks he suffered in Perth.

Pope's series thus far has been equally volatile: a bright 46 in the opener followed by 33, 0 and 26, his frenetic footwork a real-time example of being "on roller skates… all over the place."

Duckett has mirrored the pattern - scores of 21, 28, 0 and 15 - repeatedly falling while trying to dominate too early, just as Sidebottom lamented when he said England's batters want to "play every shot in the first 20 balls."

Talk has turned to Jacob Bethell to slot in ahead of Pope in Adelaide. But Sidebottom thinks that idea makes little sense.

"You look at the last sort of 18, 20 games, they've not really liked to change that much, have they? Jacob Bethell has played and come in lower down the order.

"If they were to change, you'd probably argue that Bethell might come in at three, but then he's played little cricket at the level. How can you throw someone in like that? He looked like a duck out of water when he played that Test match against India."

And once again, the criticism circles back to England's wider structural flaw: not enough red-ball cricket.

"We keep talking about these players, have they even played enough cricket? I love the hype, but have they done it consistently in county cricket? No, they haven't."

Is it already too late?

"They're fine players, but they've given it away too early through no thought and playing in different conditions. They've not identified the conditions yet. It's taken them two Test matches. Is it too late? You probably would argue yes."