Ashes To Ashes: It’s Not Just Cricket

England have just finished what was meant to be a real high point in the transformation of the team as their new swashbuckling approach to test cricket led to an explosion of runs in Australia this winter, but instead ended up as the dampest of damp squibs.

In trying to pinpoint where it all went wrong in the Ashes, it might be easier to simply conclude it was never right to begin with.

A clear lack of suitable preparations kick-started the slide, and it never really got any better after that. Injuries and few alternative options meant the team never seemed quite strong enough  to compete (although Australia managed just fine with half a first XI) and, as it tends to go in these circumstances -  if something can go wrong, it probably will.

Despite winning the toss in four of the five tests, little else went England’s way. From some questionable team selections, to being on the end of some awful Snicko calls, to Harry Brook admitting to going after the wrong kind of bouncer in an earlier series in New Zealand, it just felt that the whole tour was a series of wrong turns at all the wrong times. Every little glimmer of hope was extinguished by another self-inflicted body blow. If they ever looked like getting on top, they’d contrive to find a way to lose the momentum, both on and off the field.

It's hard to know who’s worse off.

The management and the team itself will return by the weekend; bruised, battered, maybe even more than a little embarrassed.

The remaining fans will return too. Bruised, battered, also more than a little embarrassed.

And broke.

Many will have spent a fortune to make this trip, similar to the way I described fans who went to Qatar for the 2022 World Cup.

Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail

If England under-prepare, or get the selection wrong, then they might lose but they can dust themselves down and go again - a new challenge is always just around the corner, especially I cricket. The Twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka, for instance, begins a fortnight after the Ashes and while not all the same players well be involved, for England as a team it's onto the next one. They'll still be paid, still pampered and although - as in any team sport - they'll be a gradual change of personnel, there is no guarantee that - at a high-level – anything changes at all.

But for fans, a trip to an Ashes down under (or a football World Cup or Lions Tour for that matter) is potentially a once in a lifetime event for a fan, with thousands of pounds spent to travel, stay and watch sport - often at multiple locations.

The England fans are more angry than disappointed this time, according to BBC Cricket Correspondent Jonathan Agnew. It’s not hard to see why. Some travelled across the planet with tickets for days 3 and4 of games in Perth and Melbourne, only to find the game over in two days and themsleves sitting on their hands.

Some crass decision making, undercooked bowlers and batters, dropped catches, fitness, a lack of patience and, of course, Bazball have all been blamed, and as with any disaster, it's never one thing but a series of smaller ones that combine to create it.

But what next? No one can turn back the clock, but there has to be a clear pathway to prevent a repeat in future.

The next Ashes in Australia is four years away. That's a lot of time to evaluate and make changes. But as tournaments roll around every few months, the temptation to revert to type is strong. The hope that it'll somehow be alright on the night sounds ridiculous, but this was supposed to be the time when England really gave the home team a game, yet the wheels came off early and there was no spare. Despite them having four years to plan it since the Covid-bubbled debacle in 2021.

But will they learn from it?

After all, losing an Ashes series in Australia is nothing new; neither is losing one in the shortest possible time (3 matches) or heavily (the last four have finished 5-0, 4-0, 4-0 and 4-1) so it's also fair to say that not much has been learned since 2011 (when England won 3-1).

Too Good?

Or are Australia just too good and so much better than England?  If that were the case, then surely they'd also win in England (albeit in very different conditions) but they've not since 2001. It's possible to conclude that those conditions are so different that it sways the outcome more than the players do.

But the difference is in the detail; the scorelines. Austrailia might not have won for 25 years in England, but they've been ultra-competitive and drawn the last two series after some narrow defeats before that.

England, again, barely laid a glove on the home team this time and that's why the preparation has to be questioned. The fans paying all that money at least deserve to see the best version of their team, not one that is always behind the 8-ball from day one.

If that means that the team gets to the country earlier, plays some meaningful matches beforehand that ready them for the pitches and weather, and basically having the mindset for the long haul that it takes to win a series overseas then so be it.

The fans - they don’t call them the Barmy Army for nothing - who take weeks of work and shell out thousands deserve that. Yet some fans seem to have spent more time in Australia than the players. That kind of commitment deserves to see something better than they did.

It's the players jobs after all. And the suspicion is that the lack of warm up games has more to do with keeping the schedule freer for them to play in lucrative white ball competitions and make some serious dosh (for which you can't blame them at all). But the ECB and the top brass have to do better, and more, to prevent a repeat in 2029/30.

Much has been made of the tour's missteps; from the extended downtime in Noosa, the drinking, the altercations, the ill-judged comments to the media and an apparent surprise that the Aussies don't like us (at least not while the cricket is on). Much has also been made of cricketers being people too, and needing time off, but the balance wasn’t right. To not practice more for a pink ball test, under lights, seems scandalous with the benefit of hindsight, but didn’t it also seem illogical without it?

Four years feels an eternity from now, but it will soon come around. In that time, the powers that be should note that these trips are not just about what happens on the field. There is an obligation to the fans too; they can’t be left out of the equation.

As fans, we will make ourselves feel better by saying that Root might still be around then, that Jacob Bethall will finally fill the troublesome number 3 position and that, over the next four years, new fast and spin bowlers will emerge that will tip the balance back in our favour.

But if, a few months before the next overseas Ashes, they announce a couple of days training in the nets and one warm up game against a weak opposition, the travelling fans should be given a full refund by the ECB.

That in itself should be enough to focus their minds.