Ashes 2025-26.

[sussexpob]

Alison Mitchell....

"I think pound for pound, England aren't a worse side than Australia"....

The delusion....

[Arthur Crabtree]

My 5-0 series prediction is looking a bit optimistic.

[Durhamfootman]

after the innings defeat looked off the table for a while, it is firmly back on again

I think there is more chance of Trump handing back his FIFA peace prize than of Australia having to bat again

[sussexpob]

The match is all but over, and with it the series. Only one side has ever gone from 2-0 down to win a series..... but I don't see England having a peak Bradman to score 700 runs in 3 tests...

[Arthur Crabtree]

Maybe if they had taken some wickets into tomorrow, they might have built something of a target for the fourth innings. Not really giving themselves a chance.

Still, credit to the Aussie attack for exploiting the England batters' weaknesses.

That was an incredibly bad day for England. Could hardly have gone worse.

[backfootpunch]

Prior just asked trescothick about the decision making and shot selection and what is said to these guys when thry throw their wicket away

His response

A few bits of rubbish then "it is what it is"

0 accountability then, 0 thought about playing the moment and being ruthless

It is what it is

Get these guys away from this cricket team

[sussexpob]

Well done to the Aussies. I applaud the fact that in 2025 they haven't sold their soul to a load of snake oil salesmen punting sh*t ideas as revolutionary solutions.

Hopefully someone from the golf world is free for a few months to accept 2 million quid to sort out the mess. Can't wait to see the report.

" We advise that picking non-retired, full time spinners is a good idea"

Will be worth all the money the ECB pay.

[backfootpunch]

Im all for playing positive aggressive cricket

What the management are actually doing is enabling recklessness and have created an environment with no accountability

[sussexpob]

That was an incredibly bad day for England. Could hardly have gone worse.

Indeed, but complaining about it is a bit like going to a casino, shoving all your money on blindly on black time and time again, and then feeling sorry for yourself the next morning when the people come to repossess your house. Today was the day that all of the years of bad decisions came to an explosive finale - and for most of that time, its been obvious to me that we would reach that point.

I have said time and time again that you cannot pick a battery of unfit express pace bowlers in hot conditions, and expect them to keep on running in day after day. I said not playing a proper spinner with such an attack was suicide. And yet here we were this morning in the first innings of the 2nd test, following one of the shortest Ashes tests in history the game before, and faced with the might Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc the knackered fire-throwers bowled like drains at half pace and let what could have been a chance slip into chaos. We picked a spinner who, at 9 down, came on and took 10 overs to get out the 11.... I have a feeling Stokes was only bowling him to get a wicket on his figures to make it look like on paper he had some contribution.... while in actual fact the game was already lost by the time they called on him, and the selection just uncovers the fact that the management of this team do not know what they are doing.

We can fault the batting, sure. But the batsman did ok first innings, it was the lacklustre attitude in the bowling this morning that sums up this team, and the rubbish fielding last night that let the game slip away gradually. Let's be honest, by the time we came out to bat tonight it was embarrassment limitation as the goal.

Sorry Ben, but playing golf doesn't make you sharp in the field. Bowling in the nets doesn't make you sharp in games. Batting in the nets hasn't overturned any of the problems pre-series. Duckett came in after a late season/early Autumn disaster patch... he has had his worst game in an England shirt. Jamie Smith was the same.... had his worst game in an England shirt. Archer has hardly played in 4 years, with every passing over it shows. You telling me having him build match fitness by bowling in games is a bad thing? Wasn't part of the plan, blah blah... oh well.

I am sick of hearing Ben Stokes is a great leader. A great leader would never let his team come into a series unprepared. A great leader would never have overseen the shambles this morning. A great leader would not accept this rubbish and would call people out in public for it. We get the opposite instead. As BFL says, Tresco sent out to face up to the cameras and mumble some shite about "ah well, its only a cricket match"....

The castle was build on sand, and the tide is coming in. Its time for a purge across the board. The sooner Rob Key and his funky counter-factual babble is removed from our game, the better. Rob, you got what you wanted, all the jazzy, eye catching pace. Well, in the past two innings its gone for 750 odd for 12 ...... the guy you gave the longest contract ever to in ECB history has a knee brace on after bowling 12 overs in a year. For 3 years, we have been gaslighted into believing what we were seeing wasn't leading us to a dead end. Well, here we are... I guess I told you so. It was obvious this would be the end.

Imagine having the arrogance to believe in 150 years of the game being played, you stumbled on the secret formula 146 years after 1000s of brilliant minds and players tried. Well Rob, it turns out ignoring county cricket didn't work. It turns out pace doesn't buy a wicket when you are struggling. It turns out that maybe Surrey part-time spinners do have no use whatsoever.

I can already feel Alfie's eye's rolling, and yes I am ranting. But how have we allowed our game to be taken for a joyride by such morons? Its been like witnessing the cricket equivalent of a Maoist cultural revolution..... whatever the value, tear it down. We know better.

Well Rob...time to dust off your CV and get to the job centre.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Plenty of rowing back to do when England pull off a miracle win!

[Arthur Crabtree]

I'm clearly not believing hard enough.

[backfootpunch]

I suppose whilst stokes is there, there is always a chance

Hed need to make 150 though then take 5/30

[Durhamfootman]

It must have been total chaos at the end there. Over the first 2 days there were 3 challenges to umpiring decisions (all of them struck down) Then towards the end of that final session there were 6 challenges in 7 overs...... 3 of them involving Harry Brook

It must have been bedlam.... car crash stuff

I'm glad I haven't watched any of it..... doesn't feel like a productive use of what time I have left, given my age

[Durhamfootman]

I only know this, because I was checking how many overs had been bowled in the day

[sussexpob]

The hostility in the English cricketing media is palpable after today. The patience seems to have run out, which is slightly strange after so many of these people have blissfully watched England make the same mistakes for a while, and have been nothing but gloating. Even Agnew, AGNEW!!!!!!!!!!! is on the war path.. You know times are bad when he breaks from the party line.