England suffered another humiliating defeat to Australia on Sunday and are now 2-0 down in the Ashes, leaving Ben Stokes’ side with a mountain to climb ahead of the third Test in Adelaide
A host of England legends including Sir Geoffrey Boycott, Ian Botham and Michael Vaughan have torn into Ben Stokes‘ side after they went 2-0 down in the Ashes. Sunday saw England suffer another miserable eight-wicket defeat, having been out-bowled, out-batted and out-caught by a dominant Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane.
Stokes and Co. lost the opening Test in Perth by the same margin, a match which lasted just two days. In order to regain the Ashes, England will have to become only second side in cricket history – and the first since 1937 – to win a five-match Test series after losing the first two.
Although they were able to take the day-night Test deep into day four, England were rarely ahead of the game and Joe Root’s gutsy first century on Australian soil in the first innings was ultimately in vain. A who’s who of former England stars have now laid into the team’s abject performance, taking aim at Stokes’ captaincy and the failing Bazball philosophy instilled by coach Brendon McCullum.
“Brisbane was a horror show: irresponsible batting, bowling too short, too wide or too full and catches dropped,” legendary ex-batsman Boycott wrote in his column for the Telegraph. “England talk the talk but can’t walk the walk. With this sort of batting and bowling, they couldn’t win an egg cup.
“Ben Stokes said England had a blueprint. They had been planning this tour for four years and know what they are doing. What a load of bull****.
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“We can’t believe anything Ben or his team say. None of them want to listen to anyone outside of their own camp. They are up their own backsides convinced that Test cricket has changed so much that only they know anything about the modern game.”
Boycott also took issue with one of Stokes’ comments in the build-up to the series. England’s captain controversially described former players who’d criticised their preparation for the Ashes – or lack thereof – as ‘has-beens’. “But what do I know?” Boycott asked. “I am just a has-been who did four England tours of Australia, winning two Ashes series and drawing the other two.”
Meanwhile, ex-all-rounder Botham took issue with England’s decision not to send any of their first-choice players to Canberra for a two-day game between the opening Tests. Stokes and his team-mates had 12 days off but opted not to take part, despite the match being a day-nighter, meaning that it would’ve given them experience under lights and with the pink ball.
“They missed the trick,” Botham fumed on Australian radio station Triple M Cricket. “They could have sent the team to play in Canberra and they could’ve gone there and at least they would’ve had some experience with the pink ball.
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“What do we do? ‘Well, we don’t need to’. Well, I suggest you do need to. You’ve dropped five catches, which England could now be ahead in the game for the first time. They’ve lost it and dropped five catches, of which three were pretty straightforward.”
Botham also questioned Stokes’ tactics in the field, saying: “They (Australia) stuck it out and they knew what they were doing. It was pretty obvious when [Mitchell] Starc starts playing block, block, block, ‘Oh we’ll have one now’. And England have got their field spread out. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
Vaughan, on the other hand, has called for England to make changes to their XI for the third Test in Adelaide, but says that ‘mentality’ is the side’s biggest problem. “They’re going to have to make changes,” the Ashes-winning captain explained to Cricbuzz. “Ollie Pope’s position at number three has to come under a huge amount of threat.
“There’s a few ways you can go, you can throw Jacob Bethell to number three. He’s got a few runs in the England Lions game against Australia A. But he’s never got a first-class century and if you’ve never done that, do you really think he’s going to do it against this Australia side with Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon potentially back?
“Could Ben Stokes bat at number three? I’ve said it for a while that he’s such a leader, he’s got such a good technique and he likes the fight. Could he go to number three? That means Will Jacks could bat at number six.
“You start looking at little scenarios of what could happen within the England side and then you look at the bowling attack, you look at Josh Tongue, Matthew Potts… that English-style bowler, do they bring one of them into the side?
“But the Adelaide Oval, it’s probably not that style of week for an English quick. You probably want a bit more pace. They’ve got so many questions to answer. The big thing for this England side is the mentality.”
In a solemn post-match interview, Stokes appeared to agree with Vaughan. “Do we need to start thinking about what mentality we are taking into those pressure moments?” the skipper told Test Match Special.
“When we are on top we are great and when behind the game we are also very good but when that moment is neck and neck we are not coming out on top on enough occasions. There is a saying that we have said a lot here – Australia is not for weak men. A dressing room that I am captain of is not a place for weak men either.”
The third Test begins at 11:30pm UK time on Wednesday, December 17.
Watch the Ashes live on TNT Sports
The Ashes gets underway on November 21 and all the action in the battle between England and Australia will be broadcast live on TNT Sports. Fans can tune in via discovery+ or Prime Video’s TNT Sports channel.
