{"id":392793,"date":"2026-01-05T09:07:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T09:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/392793\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T09:07:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T09:07:13","slug":"the-ashes-2026-sir-ian-botham-and-merv-hughes-blame-preparation-for-england-losing-the-ashes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/392793\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ashes 2026 | Sir Ian Botham and Merv Hughes blame preparation for England losing the Ashes"},"content":{"rendered":"

You could argue that since the start of day five in Adelaide, England<\/a> has been the better team in this Ashes series, but the tiny problem that comes with that is, well, Australia<\/a> has already retained the urn. <\/p>\n

Coming off their win in Melbourne, England is on top early in Sydney, with Harry Brook and Joe Root<\/a> digging in as they bat first, despite weather delays.<\/p>\n

It has put them in a strong early position in the Test, but at the end of the day it is all moot because, as mentioned, the series is over. <\/p>\n

READ MORE: Teenager pockets $2 million with back-to-back titles<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Harry Brook on day one at the SCG.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

It has led English cricket legend Sir Ian Botham<\/a> to lament his side’s readiness for this summer of cricket, believing they cost themselves any chance before it even started.<\/p>\n

England lost in two days in Perth in the first Test before being battered in the day-night match in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

They had their chance at Optus Stadium to defeat the Aussies, if not for a second innings collapse and Travis Head’s heroics.<\/p>\n

Botham believes their lack of warm-up cricket before Perth cost them any chance to win that Test. <\/p>\n

And given the fine margin between the two teams on day two in that first Test, it may have meant a live series here in Sydney.<\/p>\n

“I would say that (preparation) was a massive part of the equation, yes,” Botham told Triple M Cricket.<\/p>\n

“Perth, for instance, the ball always appears quicker there because of the air and there’s the brightness of the sun, and there’s so many things you have to take it into account.<\/p>\n

“Playing around (at Lilac Hill) and just knocking the ball about, that was just a nonsense. Complete nonsense.<\/p>\n

“They should have played at least three warm-up games. They try and tell us ‘oh, we’ve got too much cricket’, you haven’t got too much cricket at all, and that’s been proven by the bowlers.<\/p>\n

“The bowlers aren’t match fit.”<\/p>\n

\"Sir<\/p>\n

Sir Ian Botham.\u00a0Triple M<\/p>\n

A joke going around the Australian camp after Perth was the fact that the Barmy Army actually played a game of cricket on the WACA, while the English Test side chose not to.<\/p>\n

Botham, who played 102 Tests for England, believes they should have organised practise matches against West Australian teams in the lead-up to Perth well in advance.<\/p>\n

“First and foremost, they shouldn’t have even had to think (about a game on the WACA), it should have been done 12 months ago,” he said.<\/p>\n

“12 months ago, we’ll play against, whether it’s Western Australia or their second team, whatever Australian side you can put out.<\/p>\n

“Without doubt, you would’ve got competition because all those younger players in the second team want to prove how good they are.<\/p>\n

“It’s a situation that could have been avoided.”<\/p>\n

Former Australian bowler Merv Hughes agreed, saying England was not ready for the intensity of Ashes Test cricket at the start of the summer.<\/p>\n

“The other thing is they played at Lilac Hill, not against West Australians but against other Englishmen, not a West Australian team,” Hughes said.<\/p>\n

“You can’t judge the length that the Australian bowlers are going to bowl and you can’t judge the footwork that’s being used because you’re playing against your own.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

England captain Ben Stokes speaks with coach Brendon McCullum.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“And then after the Perth Test they go to Brisbane. They’ve got an opportunity to go to Canberra, albeit it is a different wicket and conditions, but under lights with the pink ball and they choose not to send a single player there.<\/p>\n

“They go up to Queensland and look out of their depth up there.”<\/p>\n

It has been an even series since Brisbane, with Australia winning on day five in Adelaide, and both teams capitulating with the bat in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

In Sydney, England looks steady with the bat and is building a solid foundation for the Test.<\/p>\n

But the urn is already safely tucked away in Aussie hands until at least 2027, giving Australia a full decade of possession of the sacred trophy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You could argue that since the start of day five in Adelaide, England has been the better team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":392794,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-392793","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cricket","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392793","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=392793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/392793\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/392794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=392793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=392793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}