It’s been only six days of cricket in the AUS vs ENG Ashes 2025-26, and England, who were touted by many to improve on the performances of their last three tours, are staring down not only a series defeat but also a humiliating one.
After Andrew Strauss’ side won the 2010/11 Ashes in Australia, England have failed to win a single Test match on Australian soil. They lost 5-0 in 2013/14 and 4-0 each on the 2017/18 and 2021/22 trips down under.
The Ashes 2025/26 was England’s great chance to record their first Test match win in Australia since 2011, given their own pace attack coupled with Australia’s concerns regarding injuries to their pacers and batting form woes.
However, Ben Stokes’ team has wasted two golden opportunities to beat an Australian team without Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, with the hosts now taking a 2-0 lead through thumping wins in the first two Tests.
England have done well in patches in this series: they were on top in Perth after day 1 and after the first session on day 2. But from there on, England’s extravagant batting approach, simply bizarre and mind-boggling bowling tactics, and poor lapses in the field have cost them the Tests in Perth and Brisbane.
Only once in the entire history of Test cricket has a team gone from 2-0 down to win a Test series: that was Don Bradman’s Australia in the 1936-37 Ashes who won 3-2 despite losing the first two Tests.
England can take confidence from their comeback in the 2023 Ashes at home: similar to this series, they lost the first two Tests but won two of the remaining three Test matches to draw the series 2-2, and were in a dominating position in the drawn Test in Manchester, where rain played spoilsport for Stokes’ team.
Let’s see how England captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum reacted following the defeat at the Gabba.
“Just show a little bit more fight when needed”: Ben Stokes rues not winning important moments
While Stokes admitted his team is “definitely not weak,” the England captain attributed the two defeats to failing to grab the important moments when they have done well and build momentum on them. Stokes reckoned his team allowed the key passages to play to slip away, and that cost them.
In the post-match presentation ceremony at the Gabba, Ben Stokes said,
“Obviously very disappointing. I think a lot of it comes down to not being able to stand up to the pressure of this game, this format. When the game is on the line in small passages we’ve been able to bring the game back into some kind of control and then we’ve let it slip away and we’ve done that again here this week.
“And it’s very, very disappointing, in particular because of the ability of the players that we have in that dressing room. And, yeah, I think we need to think a bit harder and a little bit deeper about those moments and what we’re taking mentally into those and overall just show a little bit more fight when it’s needed.”
When asked about England’s unusual bowling plans, Stokes backed his bowlers but rued on the lack of successful execution of their plans.
The England captain also took some blame, along with pulling in Brydon Carse, for not backing up the controlled start with the ball provided by Archer and Atkinson in Australia’s first innings.
“I think we over prepared to be honest”: Brendon McCullum After Winning AUS vs ENG 2nd Test
Where Stokes was more rueful in lamenting the defeats, Brendon McCullum gave a bizarre statement that would surely leave the England fans more frustrated as others pound on their misery.
England’s first-choice players didn’t play in the pink-ball warm-up in Canberra—a decision Michael Vaughan said was “amateurish”—and now McCullum stating that they “overprepared” has gobsmacked those following the English team.
McCullum said, “Leading into this Test match, I actually think we over prepared to be honest.”
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