Michael Atherton believes “England blinked” regarding their buzz-ball batting approach as they stare down an Ashes series defeat with two Tests remaining.
England lost the series opener in Perth within two days and suffered another disastrous eight-wicket defeat in the day-night second Test in Brisbane, but were slightly more competitive in the third Test in Adelaide.
Ben Stokes was the slowest Test fifty with 159 balls on the third day, while Zac Crawley’s 102-ball half-century on the fourth day was the second slowest of his England career.
Zak Crawley scored his lowest test score of 50 on the fourth day of the third Ashes Test in Adelaide.
Despite Stokes’ hard work, England conceded an 85-run lead in the first innings, but although Crawley’s knock briefly gave the visiting team hope of chasing the Test record of 435, they collapsed late on the fourth night, leaving them 207-6, still some 228 points short of the win needed to keep The Ashes alive.
“I think they blinked with the bat,” Atherton said on Sky Sports Cricket’s latest Ashes Daily podcast.
“But I think in a way they were forced to do that by the fact that what they did didn’t work on the bouncy pitches of Perth and Brisbane, and the relentlessness of Australia’s attack.
“And the captain’s message before the game was, ‘I want to see the fight, I want to see the dog, I want to see the mongrel.’ That told me he wanted a little bit of old-fashioned grit and effort.”
“I said before this game that I wanted them to continue to play aggressively, stay true to themselves, but also have some pragmatism and common sense at times, but still play aggressively.
“Stokes was very stuck that second day, but you could see what he was trying to do as captain and he was trying to say, ‘Can I get over my body and get out?’
“But the next day he found exactly the right tempo. I thought Crowley’s tempo today was perfect.”
“Duckett’s failure encapsulates Buzzball’s failure.”
Crawley’s opening partner Ben Duckett has been one of the success stories of the Buzzball era, averaging 43.31 and scoring 600 and 1550 in 37 Tests since returning to the Test arena in 2022.
However, Duckett’s top score in the first three Tests of this series was 29, and in the bottom of England’s second innings at Adelaide, Duckett was out on the second ball, leaving Pat Cummins behind.
Ben Duckett’s poor form continued as he was sent off for his second pitch in the second innings against England in Adelaide.
“Duckett’s failure here encapsulates Buzzball’s failure,” Atherton said.
“He played some of the best innings in this system, scored some great hundreds, and played in a very unconventional way with very few balls left.
“But the question was: Could England’s bat be successful in Australia? Could Duckett’s bat at the top of the pecking order, with the bounce of the ball, be successful in Australia?
“Well, so far I have to say no. He hasn’t been successful. He averages 16 years old and hasn’t even crossed 30 yet, but he’s nicked it three times.
“He’s had some good balls, but as an opener you’d expect that. Today’s shot was a half-shot. It wasn’t a confident shot and it wasn’t a breakaway, because he obviously doesn’t like to leave the ball.”
“I thought it was a very dangerous place to be, wondering whether to play as an opener or get sent off, especially for a batsman whose whole identity is based on not walking away from the ball and putting the bat on the ball.”
Hussein: I’ll bring Bethel for the Pope.
Ollie Pope’s struggles in the series continued on day four in Adelaide, when he was sent off in the 17th time for a brilliant diving catch from Marnus Labuschagne.
This increased Pope’s record against Australia to 16 innings, less than a half-century, and he averaged 17.62 in eight Tests and 20.83 in this series.
Ollie Pope is yet to score a fifty against Australia in eight Tests, averaging 20.83 in the series.
“I don’t see him batting at number three in Melbourne (in the fourth Test),” Nasser Hussain told Sky Sports, adding that he would bring in Jacob Bethel at number three from now on.
“Honestly, his career and series have followed a very similar pattern. He started well. He got off to a good start in the tour matches, scored 46 runs in the first innings of the first Test, and then slowly picked up the same form outside the stumps.
“You want a No. 3 to calm the dressing room down. That’s what the greats do. They calm things down. On this tour, Pope looked vulnerable up front when he was batting.
“Personally, I would move on from Pope. Jacob Bethell has been here and been in and out of the England side for quite some time, so I think he should probably come to Melbourne.”
Ashes Series in Australia 2025-26
Australia leads series 5 games 2-0
