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<\/p>\nEngland cricket followers on Saturday got a glimpse of non-Bazball life \u2013 and it arguably produced the tourists\u2019 most competitive day of this summer\u2019s Ashes series to date.<\/p>\n
The issue, though, was that England\u2019s gritty performance came when the series had been essentially lost \u2013 and Australia\u2019s bowling attack was at its ruthless, dogged best \u2013 leaving UK pundits and scribes bereft.<\/p>\n
Ben Stokes\u2019 side is staring down the barrel of losing the Ashes within three Tests, still 228 runs adrift from the mammoth 435 the hosts set them to win in Adelaide with just four wickets in hand and a daunting task ahead on day five.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Watch The Ashes 2025\/26 LIVE and ad-break free during play with FOX CRICKET on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n The tourists had generated some hope on day four. They took 6-38 with the ball to rip through the Aussie tail then showed some fight with the bat, with Zak Crawley (85), Joe Root (39) and Harry Brook (30) all standing tall at times. Somewhat uncharacteristically, the trio were watchful and patient in their approach, defending well and attacking loose balls.<\/p>\n But Australia\u2019s bowling attack had a response every time it was challenged on Saturday, with Nathan Lyon and Pat Cummins doing the damage.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have started to write the \u2018Bazball\u2019 obituaries during this Test with England heading for a resounding Ashes defeat. As it transpires, those eulogies would have been relevant even if Stokes\u2019 team had avoided Lyon\u2019s late flurry of wickets,\u201d Tim Spiers wrote for <\/a>The Athletic<\/a> of Brendon McCullum\u2019s side.<\/p>\n \u201cBazball died here in Adelaide and, for long periods, England \u2014 for all the remarkable, logic-defying highlights they have given us since 2022 \u2014 suddenly looked all the better for it.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are we to make of it all? Should we knock England yet again for completely ditching their principles in conditions that McCullum said were \u2018more attuned to our best style of cricket\u2019? Or applaud them for finally applying common sense and playing the match situation?<\/p>\n \u201cIt has to be the latter, albeit it\u2019s still fair to chastise them for applying these methods far, far too late to save the Ashes.<\/p>\n \u201cThey wanted Bazball to entertain us. They wanted us to love their cricket whatever the result. But this orthodox afternoon in Adelaide was by far their most likeable innings of the series, despite the score at the close of play.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE<\/p>\n Bazball \u2018out the window\u2019 as \u2018reckless\u2019 error, \u2018ill-discipline\u2019 expose demise: Talking Pts<\/a><\/p>\n Ashes \u2018slipping away\u2019 from England as Lyon rattles Stokes with series-defining \u2018urn-ball\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n \u2018Only one survives\u2019: Legend calls for mass changes as England nears ugly 104-yr first<\/a><\/p>\n England captain Ben Stokes leaves the field after being bowled by Nathan Lyon on day four in Adelaide.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n Should England lose in Adelaide, the five-match series will be decided, with Tests in Melbourne and Sydney still to come after Australia won the opening two clashes in Perth and Brisbane by eight wickets.<\/p>\n \u201cAll that hope the Bazballers inspired has evaporated and jobs are on the line in Melbourne and Sydney,\u201d Nick Hoult wrote for <\/a>The Telegraph<\/a>. \u201cStokes and Joe Root will never know what it feels like to win a live Ashes Test in Australia and the possibility of a third Ashes whitewash in Australia in 20 years is an unpalatable reality for England.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the start of the tour, when the air was filled with promise, Stokes described those England captains who had won in Australia as the \u201clucky few\u201d and believed he had the arsenal to join the five to win an away Ashes since the second world war. Now all he can hope for is winning a dead rubber and ending the 15-year drought for any Test win in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n Veteran cricket analyst Simon Wilde declared it \u201ca dark time for English Test cricket\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThe public at home is turning away from the game through a mixture of disappointment and disgust. Youngsters who might have been engaged had Ben Stokes\u2019 team even been competitive will now remain among the unconverted,\u201d Wilde wrote for <\/a>The Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a generation of England players who do not know what it is to win an Ashes series. Stokes himself and Joe Root, who have done so much for the game in our country, have \u2014 amazingly \u2014 yet to play on a winning side in Australia. The next tour here may be a step too far for both. With the Hundred now drawing big salaries, the dangers of further erosion to the Test format in England are clear and present.\u201d<\/p>\n Carey reveals what makes Lyon so special | 10:48<\/p>\n Crawley and an uncharacteristically subdued Brook began a rebuild at the crease. But Brook badly mistimed a reverse sweep and was bowled by a classic Lyon off-break \u2013 a shot that drew fierce criticism.<\/p>\n \u201cWildly off balance, with his limbs splayed from an abortive reverse sweep, Harry Brook looked as if he had no idea what had hit him,\u201d The Telegraph<\/a> chief sports writer Oliver Brown wrote<\/a>. \u201cIt felt a fitting motif for England\u2019s befuddlement on this tour, for their woeful inability to anticipate the Australian juggernaut thundering towards them. <\/p>\n \u201cBrook, the country\u2019s most extravagantly gifted young batsman, just stood there dumbfounded, confused as to whether he had been bowled or stumped. Advancing to a delivery from Nathan Lyon that pitched outside off stump and spun devilishly, he could only swipe at thin air as the ball clipped the top of leg stump. And sure as night follows day, his team would tumble through the trapdoor once more.\u201d<\/p>\n Writing for The Guardian<\/a>, Barney Ronay said that Brook\u2019s fate was a sad indictment on the Bazball era \u2014 and took a barely-veiled swipe at creator and coach McCullum.<\/p>\n \u201cTough on Harry Brook, yes. But we must also be tough on the causes of Harry Brook. No child is born playing performative reverse-hoicks with a Test match to be saved, just as most acts of cult-like behaviour have their roots in a smooth-talking cult-like instructor.<\/p>\n \u201cFor England the beginning of the end of the age of Baz started when the disciples of Baz began to deny such a thing even existed; to insist that the buckle-up-and-enjoy-the-ride stuff didn\u2019t actually exist at all, but was instead a creation of another, much worse cult, also known in this world as \u201cthe outside\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWith this in mind, Brook\u2019s dismissal in Adelaide was at least a tell, a moment of anti-gaslighting. No, you really didn\u2019t imagine all that. For the England regime, a hard stop is now in sight, and in the usual way of these things, in the fire of an overseas Ashes immolation. But at least we got a moment here, an epitaph for an era, albeit one that was incoherent, misspelt and appeared to have been scrawled on a hotel napkin with a frankfurter.\u201d<\/p>\n Dejected Crawley on near series defeat | 08:10<\/p>\n Two of England\u2019s most under-fire batters also failed to deliver in the fourth innings.<\/p>\n The team lost Ben Duckett in the second over. After hitting his first ball for four, Duckett poked at a Cummins delivery outside off-stump and edged to Marnus Labuschagne at second slip.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing has encapsulated England\u2019s inability to impose themselves on Australia in this series more than the decline of Duckett,\u201d Paul Newman wrote for <\/a>The Athletic<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe opener\u2019s all-action style and refusal to leave almost every ball has been a feature of England\u2019s \u2018Bazball\u2019 style since he was plucked from international obscurity by England coach Brendon McCullum to replace Alex Lees at the top of the order towards the end of 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cBut Duckett has been a shadow of himself throughout this Ashes campaign and his out of character, tentative prod at a Cummins delivery saw him dismissed by just his second ball at the start of England\u2019s improbable run chase in Adelaide. It was a ball he could have left on line as well as length. Instead, he guided it obligingly to Marnus Labuschagne at second slip.<\/p>\n \u201cIt summed up England\u2019s series in a nutshell.\u201d<\/p>\n 170! Travis Head UNLEASHES in Adelaide | 06:55<\/p>\n Out-of-form number three Ollie Pope was widely seen as on his last chance with Jacob Bethell.<\/p>\n He failed to deliver again, gone for 17 with Labuschagne taking a stunning one-handed catch at full stretch in the slips, again off Cummins.<\/p>\n While Jacob Bethell is waiting in the wings and is seen as the likely Pope replacement, veteran BBC commentator Jonathan Agnew lamented the lack of healthy internal squad pressure for spots in the starting XI.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need competition for places. The big criticism of mine of this squad is there\u2019s no competition, there\u2019s no accountability,\u201d Agnew told the TMS Podcast. \u201cSo you get out, you play a rash shot: \u2018OK, well anyway I\u2019m playing next week, that\u2019s good news.\u2019 It shouldn\u2019t be like that in a team.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to have people breathing down your neck. You need to have somebody in form, playing games between Test matches who\u2019s getting into form and putting pressure on the people that are playing. It\u2019s a good thing \u2026 and that\u2019s just not happening.\u201d<\/p>\n Pat Cummins celebrates taking the wicket of Ben Duckett.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n England headed to Australia with high hopes, but it has been mostly one-way traffic despite the series being hyped beforehand as having the hallmarks of being a classic.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I know, as various captains out here know, once you lose and it starts going in the wrong direction in Australia, this crowd gets behind a nation and it becomes very difficult,\u201d ex-England captain Nasser Hussain told Sky Sports News. \u201cAnd it\u2019s very difficult to stop that momentum of the opposition.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they lose the Ashes (on Sunday), which looks likely, you\u2019re going to have to pick yourself up. You\u2019re going to have to think of all the people that are flying out to the MCG and the SCG for Boxing Day and New Year\u2019s Day Test matches, hard-earned money saved, you think of those people and people back at home waking up at 3am trying to follow this side. You\u2019re playing for your country and you keep going right to the end.<\/p>\n \u201cHistory tells you coming here as an England side, it\u2019s so difficult to win out here. But it will feel like a missed opportunity because of the players Australia has missing. They\u2019ve had Hazlewood ruled out the whole series, Cummins didn\u2019t play in the first two Test matches, Lyon left out of Brisbane, Steve Smith not playing here \u2013 they are some of the greats of the game and it still looks likely that Australia will go 3-0 up.\u201d<\/p>\n Crawley said the mood in the England dressing room was \u201cflat\u201d, adding: \u201cWe came here to win the Ashes, we\u2019re always an optimistic team, an upbeat team, and we\u2019ll try and put up as much fight as we can.<\/p>\n Crawley admitted England had been outplayed by a better side.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re a very, very good side. I feel like it was always going to be tough coming here, against them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were the favourites going into it and they\u2019ve proven why.<\/p>\n \u201cObviously we\u2019ve been slightly short of our best, but a lot of credit has to go to them. They\u2019ve not allowed us to be our best.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England cricket followers on Saturday got a glimpse of non-Bazball life \u2013 and it arguably produced the tourists\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[196766,3443,18761,196769,196771,11638,64,63,689,196759,101243,14675,38712,13104,196762,33217,1208,143709,196778,196772,2057,194909,196776,12546,12548,17071,2105,196765,38709,17066,38698,163565,188196,647,24773,29547,196758,673,185344,196763,3583,677,24820,196774,1948,76792,46,196764,196779,196773,47911,38704,196780,12005,1124,85,18784,670,196767,24833,196770,44867,196768,196761,196775,660,3439,196760,196777,20339],"class_list":["post-361094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-abortive-reverse-sweep","tag-adelaide","tag-alex-carey","tag-alex-lees","tag-all-action-style","tag-ashes-series","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-juggernaut","tag-bowling-attack","tag-brendon-mccullum","tag-chief-sports-writer","tag-cummins-inc","tag-dark-time","tag-dressing-room","tag-england","tag-england-captain","tag-england-cricket-followers","tag-england-media-reaction","tag-europe","tag-ex-england-captain","tag-expose-demise","tag-five-match-series","tag-fox-cricket","tag-gareth-copley","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-improbable-run-chase","tag-jacob-bethell","tag-joe-root","tag-jonathan-agnew","tag-leg-stump","tag-match-situation","tag-melbourne","tag-nasser-hussain","tag-nathan-lyon","tag-near-series-defeatcricket","tag-new-south-wales","tag-nick-hoult","tag-non-bazball-life","tag-northern-europe","tag-oceania","tag-oliver-brown","tag-orthodox-afternoon","tag-pat-cummins","tag-paul-newman","tag-perth","tag-putting-pressure","tag-rash-shot","tag-reverse-sweep","tag-series-loss","tag-series-win","tag-simon-wilde","tag-sky-sports-news","tag-south-australia","tag-sports","tag-steven-smith","tag-sydney","tag-tentative-prod","tag-the-times","tag-tim-spiers","tag-travis-head","tag-under-fire-batters","tag-upbeat-team","tag-veteran-cricket-analyst","tag-victoria","tag-western-australia","tag-world-war","tag-young-batsman","tag-zak-crawley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}