An inquest into how Australia completed a thumping 16-0 whitewash is desperately needed but exactly the same conversations were being had after England crashed out of the 2024 T20 World Cup at the group stage.
The wounds of this tour run deep enough that those changes alone would not necessarily fix the chasmic gulf that has emerged between England and Australia.
England were torn apart by spin (Photo: AFP/Getty)
Even on the slower pitches England could not turn the screw when they had put the pressure on; Ash Gardner’s first ODI century came after Australia had been teetering on 59-4 when she came to the crease.
An identity crisis
In the 2023 Ashes – an 8-8 draw – England looked so close to getting it right. Lewis was appointed in the hope he would instigate the same carefree cricket as Brendon McCullum has done in the men’s squad.
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At last year’s World Cup, it would have been hard to envisage a more embarrassing fielding display than the five dropped catches – all off opener Qiana Joseph – as England were sent packing by the West Indies. Well, here it was.
It was that kind of sloppiness that left them climbing an uphill battle in the T20s too, chasing needlessly high totals.
No contingency plan
Ecclestone is still only 25 and we are often told that the future is exceptionally bright, especially with the likes of Bess Heath, Ryana MacDonald-Gay and Issy Wong coming up. However, England have to be judged in the here and now and they are paying a heavy price for a lack of contingency plan.
Australia are polar opposites. Sutherland already looks like the next Ellyse Perry. Alyssa Healy has stepped in as captain following Meg Lanning’s decision to step away in 2023. England meanwhile spent much of the tour sweating on whether veteran seamer Kate Cross would be fit enough to play a part.
…And the Knight question in particular
The inquest into England’s dismal performance has begun (Photo: Getty)Knight’s future was already up for debate after the World Cup, but there were also questions over the leadership on the field without her when she suffered a calf injury. That does not bode well.
Knight, in particular, batted like a woman under unmanageable pressure, slogging away at Perry. The series could have been levelled in the second ODI; instead Lauren Bell was among those who threw her wicket away, undoing Ecclestone (4-35) and Alice Capsey’s (3-22) best work.
An Ashes tour – already spiralling into farce – is not the climate for it and England did not adapt their approach even when it became clear just how badly they were flailing against spin. It is a long-standing issue – think back to how ruthlessly Deepti Sharma destroyed them in their Test defeat to India – and no lessons seem to have been learned.
Lewis’ howler
Australia players pose with the Ashes trophy (Photo: Getty)Lewis said that his young son has to play football when it’s “minus five and raining sideways”, a contrast to “the whole of the eastern suburbs of Sydney out swimming in the sea”.
More alarmingly, Lewis conceded that Australia were a “more athletic team”, “more agile, faster, at times they look more powerful”. The Australian set-up are notorious sticklers for fitness and nutrition, and Lewis also admitted that their “discipline” set them apart.
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Players are desperate to play more Test cricket – as are all the other nations. The powers that be have to help them make that happen.
Whisper it quietly, though, as England did not take kindly to the debate surrounding their fitness. When former spinner and BBC pundit Alex Hartley said some players were “letting the team down” in that regard, she says she was given a “cold shoulder” by Ecclestone, who refused to be interviewed by her.
Both those things are perhaps understandable for a group who have been catapulted into the limelight but they are not going to be able to escape media probing – learning to deal with it has to be a priority.
The pathway
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This was an Ashes lost before a ball was bowled – and England know it.
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