The Ashes Tour of Australia 2025/26

Absolute laughable that they think they are really good cricket team - well they need to take their sunglasses off and see the bigger picture, they are an embarrassment to English cricket.
Well they got a couple days off for golf again..

All over As Australia win by 8 wickets
Steve Smith seals it with a 6

A bloody mountain to climb now to get the Ashes back

Shit show.

What changes would you make for the Third Test?
Providing Wood is fit I'd swap out Carse for Wood but who could bat at 3 if you drop Pope and who can take Brooks' place?

Feel those are the weakest links batting - wise

Mark Wood suffered a recurrence of his left-knee injury during the first Test in Perth, ruling him out for the rest of the Ashes series. Surrey's Matthew Fisher joins as a replacement. He has one Test cap in 2022.

^^ Not just hindsight, I expected the Mark Wood news.

Matt Fisher is a steady hard working bowler, more like a Matt Potts only less robust, & not a like for like replacement for Wood, we don't have another 95 mph bowler to select.
Yorkshireman Fisher has one thing in common with Wood he has had an injury prone career.
In the recent Australia A v England Lions match which we lost he went for 105 runs & was wicketless, but had the best economy rate of the quick bowlers.
In the same match England's NO.1 spinner Bashir had figures of 25-2-115-0. In terms of England making changes you could say that Jacks was a minor success hanging around with Stokes in their 96 run partnership, but his place could be at threat with a spinner required at Adelaide.

When the squad was picked before England arrived in Australia it was built around rotation of quick bowlers, they went all in at Perth, it didn't quite work after a great initial bowling display. At the Gabba whilst Australia figured that their GOAT Lyon was surplus to requirement, England fudged their decision by including the part-time spin of Jacks, more than likely it was to bolster their batting after a pathetic 1st Test display.
The fact that Jacks came off to a small degree as a batter has led to him retaining his place, arguably it should've been at the expense of Pope who has looked all over the place. But Pope is safe at 3 given they have no suitable option, Bethell filled that role in New Zealand when Pope was down the order in Smith's absence, Bethell should've retained his place at the expense of Pope, and they should've build on his success. He has since regressed with little match time, & still without a first class century. It would be unfair to ask Jacks to move to 3, Stokes has too much of a workload, Root & Brook are happy at 4 & 5. The same goes for the openers Crawley was at risk but saved his place after making runs at the Gabba. Duckett is struggling, but again we have no reserve openers.
Same issue with the keeper, Smith is short of run for the first time in his short career, if his poor form continues the reserve keeper is Pope.
The view was that the Lions squad could be utilized as reserves, James Rew was a viable option but is now away playing T20 cricket somewhere.
So whilst Lyon is expected to return, England's No.1 spinner Bashir can't fit into the side due to the batting failures. Bashir has been picked, despite modest returns with this Ashes series in mind. Jack's height was suppose to mirror that of Bashir, with the view that overspin is more of a wicket taking delivery on Australia's bouncier pitches. Lyon gets more overspin that sidespin, but neither of our options are Lyon, all muddled thinking.
England have at least brought in Tongue who is a wicket taker, but will go for runs, Atkinson is the man to miss out, partly as rotation, but he's made very little impact, aside from a good opening spell at the WACA.

Does it look a balanced batting order? I would have liked to have seen Bethell in the line - up, but I have to think longer term, we have probably seen the last of Mark Wood, even if he did come back into county cricket next season, I would not be surprised if he felt that was it at international level.

What would make me happy that the players start applying themselves to the game situation and thinking better when batting, but certainly if we get beaten again inside a couple of days, serious questions have to be asked.

The batting is always going to fail at some point, given that they are encouraged to throw the kitchen sink from ball one. When it comes off it's amazing, but the Aussie bowlers know that the England batsmen will play risky shots all the time. They know what subtle changes in deliveries to bowl to get them out. For my money, it's the England bowling that is letting the side down. The English bowlers are looking like one of the worst bowling attacks we have ever sent down under. Jofra Archer is currently supposed to be the fastest bowler on the planet. Apart from the first innings in the first test, the Australian batsmen have looked perfectly at ease with him. If England don't win this next Test it's P45 time for Key, McCullum and Stokes. They have treated this tour like the actual Cricket was an interruption to their holiday.

I have been listening to Darren Gough on Talk Sport & he noted that England have been bowling for one mode of dismissal, caught. By giving up on line & length far too early they just become one dimensional.
When former Aussie fast bowler Jason Gillespie coached Yorkshire to back to back Championships his mantra was top of off, the method works on all types of pitches across the world, simple but effective.
By employing back of a length & short pitched bowling England have become one dimensional, the method hasn't resulted in wickets & has allowed the Aussies to score at a quick rate.
Aussie pitches are not quite what they were, bowling fast is not the be all & end all. There is still a place for bowlers like Neser who embarrassed England bowling with the keeper up.
Our so called quick bowlers haven't stayed fit, maintained their pace or bowled with any accuracy.
I'll gamble a 43 year old Jimmy Anderson would've faired better.