Ashes 2025-26.

[Durhamfootman]

beeb and the cricketer are both suggesting that Key and McC will be given more time in charge of England to try and improve the team and results, but on the understanding that they demonstrate they are willing to change their approach.

That was always likely for McC, because getting rid now would throw England's golf handicaps preparation for the T20 WC into chaos. Maybe they've included Key in that, so as not to look like they are blaming one more than the other

I would suggest that their jobs now hinge on England having a very good World T20 tournament. Thank goodness there are no SKY pundits calling for your head, eh Rob?
Even Vaughan the yawn can't bring himself to shout for the dismissal of a fellow pundit and he'd normally be the first to push and shove his way to the front of the pitchfork and flaming torch squad like.... well, Trump at a global photo call

[GarlicJam]

The number 3 has had a good game, but this was his one and only FC hundred, its hardly like he has the position on lockdown.

I thought yesterday confirmed his spot for years, and had him as favourite to be captain the next time England visit these shores.

Joe Root is 35 and has played nearly 400 international games, he is well passed the point you normally expect a batsman peak to last and by the next Ashes he will be 37, can we keep expecting him to be brilliant?

Hearing yesterday how he has had a better career than most batters - just counting the past 4 years (post covid), he has 24 centuries. Not sure what his average over this period is, but it must be very high.
He strikes me as someone who can keep this up for some time yet. I would not be surprised to see him here in 4 years time.

On a side note, I think that pre-series, I predicted the 2 centuries for him.

Harry Brook has been lucky and seriously needs to take stock on his game.

When the series started, I was genuinely excited to see him bat (and apprehensive). In Perth, as the second England wicket fell, I was about to go and do something, but called it off as Brook was coming in.
The fact that he disappointed ME, must show how poorly he has done this series - according to his potential.
When he gets his brain reprogrammed after the tour, they should consider doing the same thing with Smith - he also looked full of potential, but showed no cricketing smarts.

Just like with Cam Green - potential doth butter no parsnips.

[backfootpunch]

Just caught up watching the highlights

Am i crazy or was the brook dismissal another incorrect piece of technology screwing england

To me it flicks the front pad then hits his leg. There is a small spike on snicko (it grazing the pad) then a big one of it hitting his leg.

The ball tracker has then picked up on the wrong impact point and it shouldve been not out as it was outside the line

But maybe my eyes are going

He batted like a plonker again though. He is one of the most talented players i have seen. But if he doesnt engage his brain he could waste it.

Also will jacks shot was almost as bad as smiths was in the first innings. Perhaps worse given the game situation

[Arthur Crabtree]

Well, they're back out there.

[GarlicJam]

Just caught up watching the highlights

Am i crazy or was the brook dismissal another incorrect piece of technology screwing england

To me it flicks the front pad then hits his leg. There is a small spike on snicko (it grazing the pad) then a big one of it hitting his leg.

The ball tracker has then picked up on the wrong impact point and it shouldve been not out as it was outside the line

But maybe my eyes are going

I did not notice it BFP, but I did see someone online say the same thing, so very possibly.

He deserved to be out for a few shots that he got away with over the previous couple of overs, anyway.

[Arthur Crabtree]

England not going to get enough. Though the memories linger of the Aussies falling short of small targets in the 90s. Is there an Angus Fraser or a Dean Headley?

3-2 would be flattering. It's been more or a 4-1 series. Even if the hosts have been less dominant since Brisbane.

[Arthur Crabtree]

More snicko malarkey.

[GarlicJam]

Interesting review (and result) for a Weatherald caught behind off Carse.

It took England about 14.5 seconds to refer the decision, and the third umpire decided that the long (very long) noise heard on snicko as the ball passed the toe of the bat was inconclusive. I thought he was quick to conclude that it was inconclusive.

Lucky break for Weatherald, and back luck for England? Probably.

That does not excuse Carse getting pretty stroppy with the onfield umpire though. Stokes did well in quickly pushing him away before he made trouble for himself.

Interesting to hear Michael Vaughan carp on about it. First I've seen him letting his natural bias get the better of him.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Head goes to Tongue. All very anatomical. My late night punt is Aussies win by 7 wickets.

[backfootpunch]

It appears the rules are if theres a murmur on snicko and an aussie is batting its not out but if an englishmen is batting its out

Have all these dodgy ones not favoured australia?

This one has no effect on the result but the lack of consistency has been a disgrace

Snicko will hopefully never be seen again. Though can australia afford to upgrade after the two 2 day games?

[alfie]

That latest snicko debacle underlines why it needs binning. Do think 3rd umpire should have given that one , as the quite significant , though not sharp , murmur came precisely as ball passed bat. Hard to see what else could have caused it at that exact moment - and certainly we've seen similar murmurs adjudged enough evidence in this series.

Not that it would have likely affected the ultimate result - though might have helped Weatherald's claims for a continued presence in the side

Pleased to see England really fought this one out to the end - and actually caused a few flutters in the Australian camp before Carey and Green steered them home. Another forty runs might have made things very interesting.

Leaving the detailed analysis for later ; but suffice to say that after a disappointing tour the way this team rallied to win in Melbourne and make a real contest in Sydney was at least a pleasing contrast to the wreckage of the previous three 5th Tests in Australia. So some hope for the future , perhaps , if a few things can be improved.

Congrats to Australia for a well deserved series victory

[bigfluffylemon]

Another game that looked somewhat close, but where England lost key moments. To be honest, if England had simply held all their catches, this series, and this test, could have been an awful lot closer. The gulf in quality isn't that high between the two sides - the gulf in preparation and execution of basic skills has been the difference.

My verdict on England's players, FWIW

Reputation enhanced:

Tongue - 18 wickets at 20 - England's best bowler in the three games he played left everyone asking where he was for the first two tests. Should be in the first choice XI for the summer.

Bethell - Only one significant contribution across two games, but the first was played on a minefield. His 150, while it came on the best batting surface of the series, was mature beyond his experience and made everyone ask why England had left him out until after the series was decided. The number 3 slot is now his to make his own.

Passing grade, but inconsistent:

Root - England's highest run scorer, 2 magnificent centuries firmly got that monkey off his back, but outside those innings didn't contribute a lot and was as culpable as anyone for the batting collapse that squandered the lead at Perth.

Archer - Bowled some of England's best spells, but also had some poor ones that showed he was probably short of cricket (no surprise there). Injured again is a concern.

Carse - England's highest wicket taker, and an average of 30 and SR 37 isn't that bad, but in a bowler-dominated series he had too many bad spells also.

Poor series, but enough credit in the bank to stay on:

Brook - Came in as England's second best bat, after Root, and somehow was England's second highest run scorer at an average just under 40 - but only 2 50s and no hundreds, he failed to make a single match-defining contribution. Too many brain-dead dismissals shows that his judgement is muddled, to put it kindly. Gets some credit for getting England over the line in Melbourne.

Stokes - England's most consistent bowler across the series, but his batting has fallen off a cliff. Should remain as captain in the short term if he can bowl, but drop down the order. Injuries remain a concern.

Need to go away and work on their game, but enough talent that I hope they'll be back:

Duckett - Came in with a claim as one of the best all-format openers, and surrendered that title to Travis Head, of all people. A dreadful series in which he failed to adapt his game and didn't pass 50 once.

Smith - The chase against India at the Oval seemed to scramble his brain, and he hasn't recovered, but there is talent there. Needs to get some big runs under his belt in the county game and get his confidence back.

Atkinson - Had a great first year of test cricket, but been unable to back it up in his second - failed to hit the right areas too often.

Potts - Unfair? He was on a hiding to nothing with no cricket for months. But was crap nonetheless.

Drop them and I hope to never see them in England whites again

Crawley - Do I really need to say more?

Pope - So many chances, so many failures to kick on, he's destined to be the Ramprakash of this era - scoring bucketloads at county level but unable to handle the rigours of the test arena.

Wood - Did anyone really think he wasn't going to break down again, or contribute anything of note while the series was live?

Jacks - Again perhaps unfair, he was a bizarre selection asked to do something he's not remotely suited to. But not a test player - stick to white ball.

WTF award:

Bashir - What were they thinking?

Verdict on my predictions:

- Final prediction: Australia 3 - England 1, with one of the three east coast tests a rain-affected draw.

Close but not quite - didn't rain enough in Sydney to save England, for once.

-Other predictions, some more serious than others:
- Stokes to play 3 tests at most due to injury

Nope. Somehow he held up until the penultimate day of the series.

- At least one Australian to announce that the Sydney test will be their last

Ding ding - So long, Usman. Thanks for all the fish.

- Boland PoTS

A fine performance, but not close in the end.

- Root to score a century at last, but Duckett to top score for England

Part A spot on, part B couldn't have been more wrong.

- Wood or Archer to break down mid-test and leave England a bowler short

Or? Try both.

- Every England fan to turn up to Perth to be issued with a sheet of sandpaper by the Barmy Army

Maybe

- At least one player in Sydney will not have been in either squad before the series as injuries mount

Technically no, but I'm claiming a moral victory on this one with Richardson playing in Melbourne, and Murphy and Fisher being called up.

- Starc to take a 5-fer in the D/N test (bet the house on that one)

And the house is safe.

[Arthur Crabtree]

My view is that while players cheat, they have no justification in complaining when the umpire gets something wrong. Teams soon enough began referring decisions in the (unlikely) hope that an edge wouldn't show, (and apparently put tape on the edge of the bat) so they have no right to complain when the tech works against them. The first and simplest route to better decision making is the players are honest.

If snicko doesn't work, then it's crazy to use it. But if you are going to cheat, then don't have a meltdown when you are cheated. And in my view- while we're here- referring correct umpire decisions is as bad as cheating in cricket gets.

[sussexpob]

My verdict on England's players, FWIW

Agree with virtually all of this, aside from Potts. I think he played in every game in the parallel tour/warm up, and was the pick of the all the bowlers on display. He was in decent knick and had the biggest lead in as a warm up of all England's players..... I don't think he can be excused in anyway, he bowled like a drain, simple.

[sussexpob]

Hearing yesterday how he has had a better career than most batters - just counting the past 4 years (post covid), he has 24 centuries. Not sure what his average over this period is, but it must be very high. He strikes me as someone who can keep this up for some time yet. I would not be surprised to see him here in 4 years time

It's hard to underestimate just how much he has played, and how quickly he has accumulated test caps compared to everyone else in the history of the game. Kane Williamson for instance has played nearly 60 tests less and debuted 2 years before him, and despite being of almost identical age, Williamson now has a part-time deal to play when he wants and no longer wants to commit to being a central contract player. Kohli had retired by this stage with his form plummeting. Smith has 40 less tests in 2 extra years after debut, and he too is showing decline in recent times, with a very sharp decline after 2020, although lets be fair he declined from 2nd best player all time level to being merely elite, but age is still showing in him.

Root will during the next England upcoming series get to 3rd on the all time list, only 25 odd tests below Anderson and a further 12 from Tendulkar..... who had careers 8 and 11-12 years longer. No one really comes close to have played such an amount of games so quickly.... Graham Thorpe got to 100 tests in about the same time as a comparison between eras on how much cricket is played.

At some stage that has to factor in to how long you can continue to drag yourself to get the best out of you. Joe is an excellent role model and his performance speaks for itself, but after 35 you have to work even harder as the body declines to stay where you are. I don't think anyone would begrudge him deciding he didn't want to.

And irrespective of what he wants/does, father time gets everyone in the end.... and history tells us that past 35 years old stage is the end for almost all players. I think you could count on one hand how many players remained at absolute elite level past 35.