'Absolute garbage, they got what they deserved': Ian Botham launches scathing attack on England over rotation policy

The legendary Ian Botham did not mince words as he launched a scathing attack on the England cricket team over adopting the rotation policy during the last World Test Championship tournament. As part of the policy, England rotated several key players for important assignments – including the tour of India earlier this year – including Jos Buttler, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Moeen Ali, Mark Wood and Jonny Bairstow, as the team as the team drew flak from former cricketers.

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England lost the Test series 1-3 to India and missed out qualifying for the WTC final, which led to several debates whether the rotation policy is the right way to go about in the future. Captain Joe Root, however, with two big series approaching – against India and later the Ashes against Australia – has indicated that England are doing away with the policy, but the damage may already have been done, reckons Botham.

"I am not sure we are picking the right players. Rotation, I think, is the biggest load of b******s of all time. Absolute garbage. I tell you what, I would like to have seen someone say to me when I was playing "well done, but you’re having a rest next game". Err, no I’m not. Bowl, get fit and stay fit by bowling," Botham wrote in The Daily Mail.

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Botham weighed in on England's 0-1 Test series loss to New Zealand last month and highlighted the areas the Three Lions need to address. With the batting appearing fragile, Botham appeared miffed with England's decision to not go for the chase of 273 on Day 5 of the first Test.

"I think our batting is a big worry. Last month, England had a great opportunity at Lord’s when they were given the opportunity of a last-day run chase against New Zealand. People had been waiting for months and months to see live sport and to go out and bat like that in the final innings with no intent was appalling," the former all-rounder added.

"I thought 'you guys need to wake up a bit, you rely on the public'. Their reason for why they didn’t do it was because Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes weren’t playing. Excuse me. That gives a chance for someone else to come through. I thought it was very weak. They got what they deserved in the end, to be quite frank."