Former England captain Nasser Hussain has criticised England’s performance in the Ashes series against Australia, stating that the latest campaign has been “no different” from previous heavy defeats in Australia, despite a significant change in approach.
Australia retained the Ashes with a commanding 82-run victory over England in the third Test in Adelaide on Sunday. The hosts secured the series win midway through the final day, with Scott Boland taking the decisive wicket as England were bowled out for 352 in their second innings. This victory gave Australia a 3-0 lead in the five-game Ashes series.
This series marks the first away series loss of the Bazball era, following the appointments of Brendon McCullum as head coach and Ben Stokes as captain
in 2022. England had previously lost 4-0 in Australia four years ago.
Speaking on the Ashes Daily podcast on Sky Sports Cricket after the third Test, Hussain mentioned that he initially welcomed England’s attempt to think differently after repeated failures in Australia.
“I quite like the fact they have done things differently over the last four years since the last Ashes drubbing. I do like the fact they have thought differently; they have planned ahead. If you carry on doing what you have always done, you will get the same results, so they saw we need to do something different. I quite like that, they’ve thought ahead,” said Hussain.
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Hussain said he appreciated that England had tried a different approach over the last four years since the last Ashes drubbing.
“But actually, if you’ve come here and looked at them in the last three-four weeks you’d have thought ‘is it really that different from any other England side?’ They’ve not batted well, they’ve not bowled well, they’ve not caught well. Under key moments and pressure situations, they’ve buckled.
“Every other England side apart from the (Andrew) Strauss side [in 2010-11] has come here and lost and lost convincingly. Joe Root has now played 17 Test matches in Australia; he hasn’t won one,” he said.
‘That’s What Disappoints Me’
Hussain highlighted that England’s history of losing convincingly in Australia drove the rethink. He pointed out that Joe Root, despite playing 17 Test matches in Australia, has yet to record a win there.
“So that’s why there was this rethink… even after the massive rethink and left-field selections and ‘we must have pace’ and ‘we must have batters that put bowlers under pressure’, actually we’ve ended up getting exactly what we’ve had on virtually every other Ashes tour, and that’s what disappoints me because I thought this time, with this opposition, it might have been slightly different. It has been no different,” he concluded.
(With inputs from Agencies)
