Test The Ashes Fifth Test January 4-8 1000hrs @ The SCG

[Kennedy Parker]

You can't seriously claim 'no Lyon' inclusive of a test he was dropped for as if somehow England got an advantage from it. It's also very unlikely he would have been selected in Melbourne and wouldn't have bowled if he was. We probably would have picked him in Sydney, but we clearly didn't rate spin there anyway.

Lyon is approaching 40 and and Haze is a perpetually injured 35-year-old whose 'replacement' is superior to him in every relevant statistical category. It's a bit rich to lament their absences at this point as if they are 28-year-olds unexpectedly cut down in their primes.

England lost Wood, Archer, Atkinson throughout the series too. And had in-game injuries too.

Injuries to bowlers are expected. We kept two front-line bowlers in Starc and Boland for the entire series. England had some more genuine luck with Cummins but that is offset by their own injuries.

Australia won easily anyway. The injuries narrative is unnecessarily pathetic.

What injuries narrative are you referring to?

The facts that Stuart Broad listed out as the basis of why he believed this side to be the worst Australian team since 2010-11?

He is not wrong either.

19min onwards

Michael Vaughan has also said similar

The Ashes 2025: England humiliated by Australia - Michael Vaughan

England have been humiliated by Australia in the Ashes and are at risk of "psychological damage", says former captain Michael Vaughan.

www.bbc.com

Just because players are old do well does not mean they are not valuable. Two of the star batsmen of this test are Joe Root and Steve Smith, two of the elder statesmen to take the field.
Lyon's last 100 wickets since 2023 have averaged around 25. In hindsight he may not have been required on the MCG pitch but he certainly is a loss on an SCG pitch where Will Jacks is able to bowl jaffas.

Prior to the series, anyone part of the England setup would say that they would prefer to face Neser and Boland, rather than Cummins and Hazlewood. The fact that Neser and Boland had such strong performances means that Australian depth is strong, not that they are superior to the incumbents they replaced.

By the same token, Mark Wood is important to the English attack but it can also be said Josh Tongue has played brilliantly in his absence. Both Archer and Atkinson were available for the first three tests when the Ashes were on the line.

Australia won 4-1 and a big part of that is guys that are not in the best XI stepping up and contributing. At the same time England came to these shores with a huge reputation and have missed a great opportunity to at least take the series down to the wire. Much of it is their own doing.

 

[Andrew Mc]

Agree with some of that SR, however in the 2nd innings of the Adelaide test, Crawley played 'normally' and looked really good.

Yup, and both Root and Bethell were hardly batting bazball style when they picked up their tons. They lose too many partners too it though. You just need to look at the dismissals of Smith and Jacks in this Test. It's just dumb cricket for the sake of being "aggressive".

 

[cats_09]

 

[Moonwatcher]

They've won an Ashes series in Australia far more recently than we've won one in England.

Yes, but we definitely have the moral win in 2019

 

[Bedi]

What was the last time England won an Ashes series?

2015

 

[Moonwatcher]

Even 2005 with the glove being off the bat and sugar on the balls.

 

[sr36]

In Perth they bowled as well on day one as any team has as a unit since their own colleagues 15 years ago. Maybe the Philander/Abbott/Rabada assault in Hobart in 2016.

It was fools gold. It was an up and down Perth pitch ideal for their entire summer's bowling plan of digging it in fast short of a length.

 

[PhatBoy]

2 tests against Bangladesh in August and 3 tests against SA in Sep/Oct is not a reason to not have a 5 test series against NZ in Dec/Jan.

There are a bunch of ODI against england in Nov 26 but who ****in cares about ODI.

Maybe ask the players how they feel about it. 9 tests in 5 months is a lot, 7 in 2.5 months plus any extra white ball cricket. Also ask NZ about it who have their own home schedule to consider

 

[Jimthegreat]

They've won an Ashes series in Australia far more recently than we've won one in England.

Prior to that was 1986/87. They've won 5 Tests here this century. At least we draw Test Series over there and keep the Ashes.

 

[sr36]

If this series doesn't make England genuinely reflect on how bad they approach test cricket nothing will.

Complete lack of perpetration, game plan and in game tactics.

Their batting will become good. They need to find some bowlers.

 

[ams4crows]

I can't believe after all that Root and Brook were 2 and 3 for runs scored this series and Id say both of them massively underperformed

 

[ABAB]

They've won an Ashes series in Australia far more recently than we've won one in England.

That wasn't the question.

 

[Mr Meow]

They've won an Ashes series in Australia far more recently than we've won one in England.

The question was when have England last won an Ashes series?

The answer is August 2015.

 

[PhatBoy]

They’re professionalism is piss poor and their resilience almost non existent.

Their not good enough to rely on ability.

Few teams or players are. Even the West Indies under Lloyd and Richards were often lauded as just being naturally gifted; they were the first truly professional superstar team.

And even they barely scraped by in some games and series against Pakistan.

They’ve only tried one way to BE resilient, under this regime, and it has been to fight fire with fire and to chase down big totals with aggression or come out swinging etc. And it has actually worked a number of times. Their problem is that they don’t want to try any other way of being resilient

 

[Kennedy Parker]

What was the last time England won an Ashes series?

2015 which was Clarke's last series.

 

[Bedi]

Prior to that was 1986/87. They've won 5 Tests here this century. At least we draw Test Series over there and keep the Ashes.

retain = win in my book

 

[sr36]

Agree with some of that SR, however in the 2nd innings of the Adelaide test, Crawley played 'normally' and looked really good.

That's what I cant understand about him. Looks like a million dollars when he bats and then plays a stupid shot to get out.

A test average of 31 reflects that.

Is his first class average any better? He doesn't play late enough.

 

[Pakenhamsaint]

Once more, just for a laff

Between them they did run 2 runs.

 

[Mr Meow]

2015 which was Clarke's last series.

The record since then is a respectable 16 wins, 4 draws and 5 losses Australia's way. 3 of the 5 losses came after the Ashes were already retained. So England have won 2 Tests from 5 series when the Ashes were actually on the line (both in England after trailing in the series).

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

Yup, and both Root and Bethell were hardly batting bazball style when they picked up their tons. They lose too many partners too it though. You just need to look at the dismissals of Smith and Jacks in this Test. It's just dumb cricket for the sake of being "aggressive".

Spot on. At times, some English batsmen abandoned the Bazball principle, got their heads down and batted very well. Makes you wonder why they still seem to think Bazball is the right path to follow.

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

The record since then is a respectable 16 wins, 4 draws and 5 losses Australia's way. 3 of the 5 losses came after the Ashes were already retained.

Both teams have won 14 Ashes away series.

We’ve however drawn seven, them two.

 

[Pistol Night]

They've won an Ashes series in Australia far more recently than we've won one in England.

We’ve retained them over there twice in a row now. They haven’t looked anywhere near that over here

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Spot on. At times, some English batsmen abandoned the Bazball principle, got their heads down and batted very well. Makes you wonder why they still seem to think Bazball is the right path to follow.

It’s hard to rewrite your brain after it’s washed.

 

[compact72]

Does anybody miss cricket already?

 

[Mr Meow]

Both teams have won 14 Ashes away series.

We’ve however drawn seven, them two.

Recent history has (largely) seen England competitive at home and pathetic away. Australia competitive away and dominant at home.