The Ashes Tour of Australia 2025/26

The wheels have just about come off, England have had another poor day, more dropped catches. Only Stokes & Tongue look capable of maintaining the accuracy to stem the flow of runs. Carse looks exhausted, he been given the new ball role but is completely the wrong man for the job, a wicket taker, but almost bowls 6 different balls an over. Potts has been thrown in at the deep end with very little cricket behind him, his bowling action hasn't stood up. The look like a side with no bowling plans other than short pitched stuff. Stokes has lost his magic as a captain, but his bowlers & fielders constantly let him down. Bethell did a decent job with is slow left armers & looks better than Jacks.
The lead is already too big, if Australia bat another session they could be 200+ ahead & would need to bat more than 3 sessions to get any sort of a lead, Australia will case anything in whatever overs they have left. It will more than likely be an innings defeat.

(05-01-2026 06:59 )TDK2008 Wrote:  We've seen some shit England dismissals this Ashes. Jamie Smith to Marnus Labuschagne, 5th Test, Day 2 is the worst yet and that's really going some.

Add Will Jacks just now, out on the second ball. Fucking stupid shot.

Jacob Bethell gets not just his first test 100, his first first class one as well. Congratulations.

England lead by 81 runs - it's got be over 250+ to set up a good last day run chase.

Overall, I'd say this has been one of the most depressing and definitely disappointing Ashes series Down Under for me. We have been exposed quite frankly by one of the weakest Aussie teams for some time in almost emphatic fashion, and this was supposed to be one of the best England sides Down Under for some time, but the way the team have performed has been one that didn't really live up to that expectation sadly for me. At times they hardly ever got out of first gear and took the game to the Aussies or batted with sense, and when they did, it was too little too late at times. And I have to say there is a lot of work to do on the attitude side off the field.

There were bright spots but really those bright spots disappeared very quickly with their reckless batting in several innings, especially Brook.
The inquest to this defeat has to be a long and hard one for the rest of the winter and I almost certainly would expect McCallum, Key, and Stokes to be relieved of their duties and McCallum sent packing and Whether the ECB try to poach Gillespie or another coach that has that style of knowing what Test cricket really means - and has to be a priority I do think Gillespie would be a good fit, but I think turning Michael Vaughan would be good too - Ashes winning captain, he has been there & done it. Bazball was good fun to watch for some I'm sure, but to me, after a while it becomes way too easy & predictable for the opposition to work it out and dismantle.

The lowest point was Mark Woods's injury. I hope the surgery was a success and he is on the road back to recovery (I think that was probably his third surgery in as many years), and one must wonder whether whether we will see him bowling for England this summer.

At least England have taken this into day 5. It feels like yet another opportunity. As much as England dreamed of making it a 3-2 series loss I just don't see how they expected to take 20 wickets with this bowling attack, but it's pretty much all they have left But there would be no shame in coming away with a hard fought draw. One thing I have hated about the Stokes McCullum regime is the mantra of going for winseven at the expense of a loss, just nonsense.
This pitch has been one of the best to bat on in the series. England were 150 below par on first innings and worth pointing out that we have selected 8 top order batsmen. The control was handed to Australia in the first innings followed up by a poor bowling and fielding performance, the 2nd innings followed a similar pattern with 4 top order batsmen making double figures. If we had a decent one to call on, it would make more sense to pick another specialist bowler.
It has taken a young inexperienced batsman in Bethell to show the rest how to go about compiling a Test Match innings. I really hope someone persuades him to miss the IPL & play some County Championship Cricket in April & May. He's a special talent but still has much to learn. You can see why the gave him a shot at some white ball captaincy, he has shown great maturity & seems a quick learner.

I don't think that a 200 lead will be enough, & for that Bethell would need to turn his maiden century into a double. The 2nd new ball is only 5 over away. Australia will not give Bethell any easy boundary options scoring will be made difficult and Australia have plenty of time.
With Stokes unable to bowl England's wicket taking options are limited & Carse & Potts Will have to tighten up their lines & lengths. Head will come out throwing punches, if he get any sort of a start the target will be made even easier. Australia have everything in their favour as they are fielding their longest batting line-up.

^That's my big worry with Head

(07-01-2026 15:24 )lovebabes56 Wrote:  ^That's my big worry with Head

If there was a thread for comments taken out of context

^Oops should have said Travis Head

Australia won by 5 wickets and a 4 - 1 Ashes series defeat and this one really hurts because simply because we had built for 2 years to go to Australia and be one of the best England winning back the Ashes and we got totally totally outclassed us over 5 Test matches by an Australian side that weren't even their best side. I am now concerned it could be 5 - 10 years before we have anything like the 2005 Ashes side.