Gutted. There was just a glimmer for a while but give Australians the momentum and very hard to get it back.
Sure Starc etc bowled well but insufficient application, concentration and cricket intelligence by the batters. Head flayed it around but not from ball 1, and with proper cricket shots.
Can Stokes and McCullum actually learn from this or will it be just be ‘go harder’. I think I can guess.
Day 3/4/5 tickets for Brisbane going cheap I reckon.
Bruce
Looking forward to Boycott’s day summary in the Telegraph review.
He predicted a potential England win in day 3 in yesterday’s sum-up !
On the plus side - this lot will have more time free to hone up their golf. 
RIP BazBall , died 22/11/2025
Time for a new England manager , one a proven winner, with franchise experience, well embedded in the England set up and not tarnished by this debacle
Someone like Charlotte Edwards
I’ll get my coat
I watched a lot of this debacle this morning. It was one of the most unprofessional test batting performances I’ve ever seen. Darren Lehmann (on TNT) said it’s not a vicious strip, you just have to leave the ball a lot, and avoid driving through cover/EC i.e. across the ball. Play the V.
The Aussies must have thought their Christmas had arrived early. All it needed was for one person to get in, and that’s what happened.
I won’t be getting up early any more, as there’s some match-fee stealing going on.
I was listening Glenn McGrath talking some sense about batting. (Possibly surprising.) He said leaving the ball has the same purpose as playing a defensive shot, i.e. to avoid getting out, but leaving is a safer option.
England appear not keen on either of these options Even in Village or Club cricket you don’t play huge drives away from your body in your first few balls. Ten year olds know this.
“Analysts CricViz have an ‘Expected Leave’ model for every delivery tracked in Test cricket and historical data suggests Pope’s delivery would have been left 72% of times on average, Brook’s 68 and Root’s also 72.” BBC.
One of the successes of Bazball has been to remove the fear of failure. This has been achieved, they bat like they don’t give a ….
Yep, we were taught ‘make the bowler come to you’ (unless they are bowling ‘rubbish’). There’s nothing more wearing & dispiriting for an opening bowler than seeing loads of dot balls from ‘leaves’. Plus, ‘runs will come’ from LB’s, glances at al.
When England’s attack was struggling several years back, their ‘economy rate’ was quite good, which Rob Key attributed to ‘pretty bowling’, where opposing batsmen were leaving the ball so much early doors.
It’s time England woke up to the fact they are being taken for arrogant mugs.
Bowl tight, chuck a wide one down every so often and get ready for the catch somewhere on the off side.
Are they so arrogant they can’t see it?
Hit the ball if it’s in your area, otherwise leave alone and don’t try and end the game in three days!
Broad’s face sums it up. You can play the video.
I’m afraid the England team is The Fraud Squad - arrogant, brainless, shameless and spineless but worst of all they are defrauding English cricket fans. Fans who pay a fortune to travel and watch test cricket, but who are being cheated by a team that has no intention of playing proper test cricket.
The team has no pride in performance, doesn’t care if it loses, and operates in a delusional, self serving bubble. The set up is rotten to its core.
Yes - another lot who are arrogant, living in a bubble and refuse to listen to wiser, experienced heads. Plenty of it about !
They’d rather lose playing Baz-ball than win playing Test cricket…..
Quite.
Almost speechless after this humiliation. There is hope we can come back at the Aussies but we need to be far better prepared for test cricket. The manager should be sacked by the end of today, we were naively unprepared. I agree with RIP Bazball. This is test cricket. Our batsmen need to learn when to leave balls alone and to play defensively and far more intelligently.
Wisden cricket pointed out that Alistair Cook faced more balls in his Brisbane Double ton in 2010 than England faced in the whole Test here.
It is not positive, attacking batting that is the issue. Australia’s 4th innings 204 was scored at over 7 runs/over. It is knowing when to go and when not. In Rugby language ‘earning the right’.
England have achieved a considerable amount of improvement with this approach over the last few years but they have to be able to adapt. Playing Australia away calls for more intelligence and application.
McCullum’s reign will be judged after the next 4 Tests I think
Bruce
Totally believable as it is obvious that England now don’t enjoy batting.
Very disappointing. I really thought they were maturing and, whilst still playing aggressivly, were also learning to play according to the conditions (and the size of the boundaries). I was wrong.
I see none of the Perth 11 are playing in the pink ball warm up game. I struggle with that thinking, surely they need to get used to the pink ball before the second Test, and a game must be better than nets.
Plus 3 extra days off as well…… bizarre actually.
You know that, I know that, everybody knows that, but..
I wonder if they actually like playing cricket. From memory, in the last 50 overs series they were only batting for 35-40 overs most of the time. If they don’t compete in the next match having turned down the opportunity to practice under lights they will be slaughtered by the press and everyone else.