Category: Cricket

As Brendon McCullum and Rob Key limp on, perhaps it is worth retracing the steps that brought us here

There will be consequences. There must be consequences. Perhaps there have already been consequences. Harry Brook is very sorry for getting punched by a bouncer in New Zealand. Rob Key is very sorry for overseeing an Ashes tour that in retrospect could probably have been an email. Brendon McCullum is not sorry, but has promised to “look at things over the next little while”, which is basically the same as an apology, so fine.

In the meantime, the travelling circus of English cricket rolls on. There is a white-ball series in Sri Lanka starting on Thursday morning, for which – consequences, remember – McCullum remains as coach, Key remains as managing director and Brook remains as captain. In addition Zak Crawley returns to open the batting in the 50-over team, a fitting reward for not playing a single 50-over game in the whole of 2024 or 2025. Nature heals.

Brainless moments, moral victories and tough lessons were abundant during a series that still provided plenty of drama

Player of the series Travis Head was the boxing kangaroo at the top of the Australia order. But this one goes to the other animal on the baggy green crest, Mitchell Starc bounding in like an emu, slicing through England during the live bit, and playing all five to finish with 31 wickets at 19 apiece. Elite.

Australia were there for the taking but Brendon McCullum’s tourists were so poor and ill-prepared they never got close

As far as endings go, it ended nicely. People streamed on to the Sydney Cricket Ground, wanting to get close to the trophy presentation and to have a canter on the turf. Nothing thrills an audience more than a chance to walk the stage. On a sun-kissed blue-heaven day, the match had finished early enough to leave plenty of afternoon to spare. Later Usman Khawaja soaked that up with his own crowd of family and friends, on his last day as a Test player.

These endings are supposed to signal the close of something momentous. Another Ashes wrapped up, another chapter in the rivalry written. Still, once it was done, the whole thing felt like it had been more hole than doughnut.

Ben Stokes, the England Test captain, has said the team 'need to go back to the drawing board' after losing the Ashes 4-1.

'When you come up against a team like Australia, who know how to play cricket out here and you are adding to your own downfall then you're going to end up losing the series 4-1 like we have done,' Stokes said.

'In the first couple of years, teams found it difficult to try and come up with anything ​to combat the way we played, but now teams are coming up with plans that are standing up ⁠to a certain style of cricket that we want to play.

'When a trend is happening on ⁠a consistent basis, that's when you do need to go back and look at the drawing board and make some adjustments.'

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Harry Brook has issued a public apology for becoming embroiled in a late-night incident in New Zealand just before the Ashes, admitting his actions “brought embarrassment to both myself and the England team”.

A matter of hours after the 4-1 series defeat by Australia was confirmed in Sydney and shortly after the England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive, Richard Gould, launched a formal review into the tour – including into the behaviour of players – the growing sense of crisis around the team deepened.