England's Bazball turned into Ashes as Australia secure the Urn
ICC World Test Championship
2013. 2017. 2021 and now 2025. The last four times England has visited Australia for their most anticipated Ashes series, each time the series wrapped up after first three Tests with the home team taking the honors each time. On this instance, it just took a total of 11 days and 4719 balls (the second lowest bowled in any Ashes series before the winner was decided) for Australia to gain a 3-0 lead going into the last two Test matches. There is no doubt that the decorated Ashes series considered as the greatest event in cricket's history has been one-sided for decades now. To give you more context, since 1990 Australia has hosted 10 Ashes series, winning 9 of them except in 2010-11 when England won their first series in Australia after 24 years with the final score of 3-1. In the same timeline, England has hosted 9 Ashes where Australia have won three and drawn two even though England has been unbeaten at home since the infamous 2005 clash. The domination is incredible. In the last 12 years, England's record in Australia until the Adelaide Test match is zero wins and 16 losses in 18 games.
Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon come back into the team seamlessly
The return of regular Aussie skipper for this Ashes was a hot topic even before the series started. Making his way back from a back injury he wasn't rushed for the first two Tests even though Josh Hazlewood was ruled out of the whole Ashes. Scott Boland, Brendon Doggett and Michael Neser shouldered the responsibility with Mitchell Starc in the first two Tests in the absence of their two pioneer pacers. Cummins however returned to the team in Adelaide donning the captain's blazer at the toss along with their premier spinner Nathan Lyon who was dropped for the second time in the last three Tests at Brisbane for an all-out pace attack.
And both of them were instrumental in conditions helping the batters for almost the entire length of the match. Cummins shared the new ball with Starc and from the start of his spell it never looked like he spent around five months of time away from the game. Accurate as ever, Cummins took 3 wickets in each innings accounting for Joe Root's outside edge in both innings as he has now dismissed England's best batter 13 times in Tests, the most any bowler has done against Joe Root. His opening spell in the second innings was crucial putting the home team in a dominant position. Cummins took the first three wickets in the last innings laying the foundation for other bowlers as he bowled a total of 34 overs across both innings to build up a good workout in his comeback match as he moved ahead of Mitchell Johnson placing himself on the sixth position for all-time highest wicket-takers in Tests for Australia.
Nathan Lyon, the GOAT as he is causally named, started the game at 562 Test wickets, one behind Australia's greatest pacer, Glenn McGrath. It took him only one over to surpass McGrath and become Australia's second-highest and world's sixth-highest wicket-taker as he removed both Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett in space of four deliveries. It was particularly Lyon's spell in the second innings when England were in a comfortable position which showed the significance of the off-spinner in this side. After Brook attempted another poor shot, Lyon bowled a beauty to knock the stumps of Ben Stokes with a trademark delivery that pitched on leg stump and knocked his middle. Lyon has removed Stokes and many other left-handers including Duckett in the first innings this way and now increased the total to 10 dismissals against the English captain. There was a sour note for the home side when Lyon injured his hamstring while diving to stop the ball in the fine leg region on Day 5 of the third Test and is now ruled out of the rest of the Ashes. This is the 38-year old's second major injury after he suffered a calf injury in the 2023 Ashes. Results of the scan will give a better picture of the timeline Lyon will need to recover as Australia do not play another Test until August 2026 when they will host Bangladesh for a two-match series.
Khawaja makes use of a last-minute lifeline as the Adelaide boys make merry at home
Australia suffered a setback before the start of the Test match after their stand-in captain for the first two games, Steve Smith was ruled out due to Vertigo-type symptoms. This led to a last-minute recall for the 39-year old Usman Khawaja who was initially dropped for this game. Khawaja's international seemed to be over until this point but Khawaja is no stranger to surprise comebacks. He did it the last time England visited here when he was recalled as Travis Head was ruled out due to COVID and Khawaja went on to score a ton in both innings at the SCG. Since then Khawaja had been part of the side until he was dropped for this game only to be recalled just before the toss, an opportunity he made full use of by scoring 82 in the first innings taking his side to a comfortable position after Australia two quick wickets twice at 33 and 94.
The match nevertheless belonged to both the local boys Alex Carey and Travis Head. Carey who put on a masterclass with the gloves in the last game turned up fully prepared to go all the way here with the bat. After a 91-run partnership with Khawaja for the fifth wicket, he went on to score 106 completing his third Test century in the process to push his side's score to 371 and then returned in the second innings to score another 72 taking the game totally away from the visitors. Alex Carey has now completed 743 runs this year and is just the second-highest scorer for his team with an average of 53.07 after another local boy Travis Head who has scored 759 runs this year.
Carey's long-term teammate for the South Australian side in the Shield, Head has now completed four consecutive centuries in the last four Test matches he has played at the Adelaide Oval. His 170 at the top of the order in the second innings propelled his side to set a record target of 435 as Australia sealed the win by 82 runs. Unlike his swashbuckling century in the opening Test, Head played a very uncharacteristic innings here as he showed restrained during tough periods. His 162-run partnership second innings partnership left the visitors short of ideas and although he had a final Strike Rate upwards of 77, Head never looked in a hurry to mark his 11th Test ton and his 10th at home. Mitchell Starc, who is having a dream series so far also contributed with a 54, and he now averages 50 with the bat in this series better than all the English batters on tour so far.
England fall apart in all aspects
A project was cultivated in May 2022 led by the two hosreman, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes. Bazball started with a lot of passion and bright results as England went on to win nine of their first Ten Test matches. In the last 26 matches starting from the India tour in 2023, England has now won 12 matches and lost 13. With a 2-2 draw at home against both India and Australia and an away series loss in both the above nations, this new way of expression has not provided any significant results. Against stronger oppositions, the English team has just not looked dominant, clinical or even confident enough. There are gaping holes in all three departments of the game.
Captain Ben Stokes loves to give it all in the field whether with the bat or with the ball. He has taken the fight to the Aussies alone at different moments in this series even reigning his aggressive approach to give his side a chance but the support from his teammates has been absent. While his team did show up a fight chasing a huge score on the last day in Adelaide, apart from the first two innings in Perth, this side has just not looked mentally strong to compete against an all-round Australian side.
The batting looks shattered. Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett has endured a horrid run in the six innings they have played so far. Pope in particular, looks lost as he just can't find a way to challenge the bowlers. Apart from his century at Brisbane, Root has got some starts but his performance has not matched the stature that he holds in this line-up by any means. The Australian bowlers have beautifully exploited the area outside off as he has nicked behind to Carey in his last three dismissals. Root's footwork has looked circumspect and his judgement seems to be affected which has been pouched by the home side unerringly. The rest of the batting line-up barring Crawley and Stokes in a couple of innings have contributed nothing.
But it is not the lack of performance but the way they have gotten out that needs to be the center of discussion. This side cannot get away by playing stupid shots in crucial situation anymore. Harry Brook had committed to play in a mature manner after he gave away the advantage his team was in the last two matches by playing some horrendous strokes. His partnership with Crawley in the second innings had built a strong foundation for both the batters to play sensibly and move the score steadily on an easy batting pitch. Brook then attempted a horrible reverse sweep against the highest active wicket-taker in Tests to leave his side hanging yet again as his dismissal triggered a mini-collapse with the score being from 177-3 to 194-6. The virus did not stop there. A resolute Will Jacks and Jamie Smith had put on a strong 91-run partnership and Australia had already lost Lyon to a hamstring injury. As Australia took the new ball, Smith went in full counter-attacking mode scoring four consecutive boundaries against Cummins and Starc bringing up his first 50+ score of the tour. Mind you Mitchell Starc had been the leading wicket-taker this series with 19 wickets up till that point. The next ball, Smith casually hits a mistimed pull in the air and straight to Cummins at short mid-wicket without any need to play that shot. This casual approach of giving away your wicket and not looking to improve is exactly the root of the problem with this batting line-up which was on show at such significant junctures in the last Test.
Harry Brook bowled after attempting a rash reverse sweep against Nathan Lyon
It's not like the other departments have done any better. Their best bowler on tour, Jofra Archer has taken only 9 wicket in 6 innings. Their highest wicket-taker, Brydon Carse(14 wickets) has been their worst bowler going at 5.08. Carse has either come in as first change or taken the new ball in the third game. On all three occasions he has allowed the opposition to take advantage by bowling extremely wayward line and length. None of their bowlers have had any plans. The first 20 overs they bowled in the first innings at Brisbane was one of the worst 20 over spells in recent times after posting a solid first innings score. Add to that their inability to dismiss the tail has directed the series only one way. England has dropped 12 catches of the 45 chances compared to Australia's 8 out of 55 in the field.
All this points towards a side which was never ready for this tour. Add to that the weird selection calls and lack of preparation. It was baffling enough when the English side denied warm-up games as they opted to play the England Lions instead of the Australian domestic sides. They also did not play a 2-day pink-ball game before the Brisbane Tests even after having around 10 days of rest period between the first two games. Let's also analyze the roles of both Shoaib Bashir and Will Jacks. Shoaib Bashir was selected their No.1 spinner and after three Tests he has not gotten a game even at Adelaide which is a spin-friendly pitch. Instead Will Jacks was offered a second straight game. With all the talk about being aggressive in different conditions, the management took a weak decision of lengthening the batting line-up at the expense of a proper spin-bowling option in the last two games. The result: 39 overs, 3-212 in both innings at Adelaide. The first bowler to concede 100+ runs in both innings of an Ashes Test since 2005. Can the ECB now step up and start to ask some real questions around this weird selection process this Bazball regime has employed? It is really damaging a lot of quality domestic players who have put in some impressive displays in both County and England Lions matches.
With the winner decided, what is next for both teams?
Australia have been on a roll in this Test Championship so far. 8 matches and 8 wins with a 100% record they are sitting pretty at the top of the table. England, well they have never really cared about the WTC as they slip to seventh with 26 points in 8 games.
Captain Pat Cummins hinted that he will be resting in Melbourne and even potentially Sydney since the series is already won. This would mean a return for either Neser or Doggett with Starc and Boland expected to feature in the next Test. Steve Smith will return and after a strong showing in the last game, Usman Khawaja should keep his place at the expense of Josh Inglis. The bigger question will be the replacement of Nathan Lyon for the next two games. Matthew Kuhnemann who played both the Tests earlier this year in Sri Lanka is the obvious choice with Todd Murphy's off-spin being the other option. Western Australia's Corey Rocchiccioli can also be considered. Corey has been the highest wicket-taker in Sheffield Shield among the spinner in the last three years. Both Murphy and Corey were also part of the Australia A side to tour India in September this year however they both had poor returns in the two 4-day matches they played.
For England, there should be some changes in the batting line-up. Surely Ollie Pope has played his last Test match for a while now. There aren't many great options in the squad which will mean Bethell will replace Pope. Will they move Jacks at 3 and recall Bashir in Melbourne? Both Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse have played all three matches. Other pacers in the squad include Matthew Potts, Gus Atkinson who played the first two games and Mark Wood's replacement Matthew Fisher.
References: Statsguru by ESPNCricinfo
Comments
Post a Comment