The Ashes Tour of Australia 2025/26

^interesting reading
I would think an average score over 300 has to be far more acceptable which must be where Australia are averaging

Quite possibly the most Embarrassing Defeat in test Cricket history 2 F*****G days on a pitch that was actually pretty decent in the end judging by the 4th Innings.

Really cant see England winning a test or batting long enough to even draw one.

They probably won't unless they now wake up tomorrow and realise that a totally different approach is now needed.

I doubt Stokes will the first one to put his hand up and admit "We got it wrong" they all have to admit they got it wrong batting - wise, but I doubt we'd even see a hint of apology.

A bit of 'Bazball' here and there is fine and at the right time, but Test Match Cricket is about character and individual performance, and a team working together as one. If you want to bat Australia out of the game you have to put solid innings & partnerships together.

Definitely one of the most embarrassing defeats.

The Sir Geoffrey Boycott take.....

“I cannot take this stupid England team seriously anymore.

They never learn, because they never listen to anyone outside their own bubble, because they truly believe their own publicity.”

^^ There is a degree of arrogance from the England management, coaches & captain their stubbornness is affecting the outcome of so many matches. This was highlighted when Stokes hit back at former players Vaughan, Sir Ian Botham & others over the criticism of the lack on sufficient preparation with just one internal warm-up game. Stokes disrespected 2 Ashes Legends, different eras but they have both been there & done it.

why do you think that Perth has now become the 1st Test of the series ? Look at the history, England have the worst record at the WACA, even when Strauss lead our team to the last Ashes series win in Australia, they were heavily beaten at last venue. The bounce on that pitch is completely alien to anything we play on worldwide, only Joburg & Centurion come close.
Given that our initial pre was that some of the Test players would gain form & practice from playing 50 over cricket in New Zealand with low bounce, small grounds etc & yet still aside from Pope & Stokes who weren't included the batting line up failed to get through 50 overs.
They move on to Oz & play at Lilac Hills against England Lions, again not a bouncy pitch & a small ground.
Whilst the game of cricket has moved on in terms of better fielding, faster scoring rates, bigger bats etc. the fundamentals of teh game 7 batting in particular remain the same. A the start of an innings or session, take a few balls to adjust to the pace of the wicket the light or a different bowler. This includes leavening balls that are not threatening the stumps. The WACA, be it the old or new ground hold specific challenges in terms of bounce, many deliveries can be left to pass over the stumps. The high bounce will dictate the scoring areas & types of shots required to be successful. Cuts & pulls are safer options than scoring shots in front of the wicket unless a delivery is obviously overpitched. Scoring square & behind square will be beneficial. If the ball isn't there to be scored off then leave if possible or defend.
I'll start with Crawley, who Sir Geoffrey describes as rubbish & I'm inclined to agree. With his height the England management have led us to believe he's perfectly suited to batting in Australian conditions. In my mind he's been drinking in the last chance saloon for many years as an England player & is only an average county batsman. But they've made it easy for his by having no threat to his place with no genuine reserve opener Bethell is a better bet in the future but I can't pick a player with no first class century.
The Aussie bowlers must be queuing up to bowl at Crawley, his 2 dismissals were a nick-off drive & a caught & bowled driving on the up, both the wrong shots & too early in an innings. Once any batsman has got in, passes 5o, they can expand their shots when appropriate & when their team is in a commanding position.
After leading by 105 runs with nine 2nd innings wickets remaining Duckett was dismissed by a good ball rather than a bad shot. The state of the match was still heavily in England's favour with the best part of 11 session remaining in the match, time was not a factor, the pitch had to particular demons in it, Australia had to make all the running. Boland was hanging the ball out wide of off stump, bowling to his field tempting England into an error, trying to dry the runs up. It was a case of who would flinch first. The England batsmen had no patience or game awareness, like lemmings off a cliff Pope, then Brook both drove at wide deliveries from Boland, flat footed & caught in the cordon. Root then played at a wide ball from Starc & dragged the ball back onto his stumps. After a calamitous first innings the didn't learn, their poor bowlers dragged them back into the match, only for them to throw it all away, & then it took Atkinson & Carse to slog their way to an unlikely lead of 204.
It came as no surprise that their bowlers couldn't climb the mountain again, I suspect if the Aussies had chosen to open with Lyon instead of Head the result would've been the same.
England have now gained the unwanted reputation of being experts at throwing away matches from winning positions.
As fans, we don't really care too much about the style of cricket we want the win. After the initial honeymoon period the Key, McCullum, Stokes axis is failing to deliver Test Match victories consistently enough. There whole ethos is build around the occasional majic moments & wins, but is highly susceptible to batting collapses & heavy defeats.
The balance between providing entertainment & being tactically sound is completely out of sync. Maybe everything was all still a bit raw after such an embarrassing loss but Stokes stood firm & blindly stuck to his gun, failing to answer the most pertinent question regarding batting for longer. A very disappointing performance from the captain who must wake up & smell the roses before it's too late.

(22-11-2025 14:47 )SecretAgent Wrote:  Just heard from my friend in Australia. Full of praise for Travis Head & full of condemnation for Englands stupid batting. Failure to learn the lesson on that pitch and adapt how England were playing was a sorry state of affairs indeed.

I feel for him - do you have a link for his blog?

Former Michael Vaughan called it "Batting without Brains"

I would too agree with Sir Geoffrey Boycott, I just think the team now has to accept the criticism it so rightly getting and also it is about time Brendan McCallum accepted the criticism and answered in a way that showed he accepts some blame for this.

I haven't seen what Sir Ian Botham's comments were or Stokes' response. But when Botham, (who I still value as one of true greatest batsmen) has something to say whether it is criticism or not, it has to taken at value, but for Stokes to rubbish both Vaughan & Botham, show just how little at value he takes criticism . Sure both Botham & Vaughan made some errors when they were playing but quite often they did ram the words of their critics back down their throats, which I have to admit Stokes has dismissed their criticism of the performance with even acknowledging their comments.

Australia have resisted adding captain Pat Cummins to the squad for the 2nd Test on Thursday at the Gabba. They have named the same 14 players, with Inglis, Neser & Websters the 3 unused players from the WACA.
If training went well during training there's still a slim chance Cummins could be parachuted in to a comeback appearance.

They should have made sure they had someone on tour as a mental coach (I'm sure that there is, and probably vastly under - used) as I think that one area which was seriously lacking in the First Test. I doubt many of you would agree agree with me on this though but some times I feel there is a mental side to cricket than often gets overlooked and I remember reading Marcus Trescothick's autobiography which was a good read, and I feel a tour of Australia is probably quite a strain on the mental side as touring anywhere else.

I would agree Boomer that as fans sometimes it's not the style of cricket we play, its the win we want, and many of us probably think the team has forgotten completely HOW to play Test Cricket. For me, the bubble has probably burst big time on the Key, McCallum & Stokes partnership and if we do lose 5 - 0, I would not bat an eyelid if all three lost their roles.

We most certainly now have got a reputation of having got into a decent strong position where we could win, and we come out and play an absolute shithole second innings with very little application to batting sensibly and completely and utterly undo the good work of the first innings. I think many teams find us far too easy to work out. I think if we were ever to lose a Test to Ireland or Bangladesh at some point in the next year or two that would almost be the ultimate humiliation for me and set the alarm bells ringing. I remember when we used to go to Australia and we played several games against the state sides for several weeks before the First Test who I would think would probably batter the current team into submission.

As for the arrogance? I think it is summed up with that First Test performance - it's an embarrassment.

I think Australia are messing with England's head by not naming Cummins in the 14 man squad. Every indication is that he has a decent chance of playing.