England’s horror Ashes tour has rolled on with their Boxing Day Test batting collapse creating an unwanted 124-year low.
The visitors were dismissed for 110 – 42 runs behind Australia after a nightmare day one at the MCG that saw 20 wickets tumble.
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Not since the 1901/02 Ashes series has 20 wickets fallen in a single day at the MCG in an Australia-England Test.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes it’s a technical issue holding the visitors back in what’s been an unsettled tour Down Under.
“Cricket Australia might have to start doing some busking at this rate! These Test matches are finishing too quick!” Vaughan joked.
Looking at Jamie Smith’s wicket – where he was bowled by Scott Boland for 2, Vaughan said: “I just look at that front foot … it just gets trapped.”
“He can’t move back into the line or the pitch of the ball – it just stays in the same spot. So then he just has to push his hands forward.
“And his bat and pad are not closed together because of that movement.
“There’s been a few techniques that have been found a little bit wanting in Australia.
“And that’s for the players to go away and think and try and improve.”
England were bowled out for 110 in under 30 overs in a woeful effort on Friday, responding to Australia’s 152 from earlier in the day.
Given the Poms were bowled out inside 32 and 35 overs in the First Test in Perth, that’s now three innings where England have come up short.
“I think it was 10 times in the last 18 months they’ve been out in under 40 overs,” Fox Cricket’s Isa Guha said.
“That’s not acceptable,” former Aussie Test star Mark Waugh said.
“I think it’s a few technical issues with a lot of the batmen.
“Their footwork, they get caught on the crease a lot. There’s always gaps between bat and pad.
“You’re going to get good balls – we know that. But I think technically, there’s a lot of areas they could tighten up there.”
England skipper Ben Stokes fell to a “disappointing” shot when his side needed someone to stand tall and deliver.
The 126km/h first ball of Michael Neser’s second spell was enough to lure Stokes in. And he paid the price.
“He’d be disappointed with that Ben Stokes,” Waugh said.
“That’s a real nothing shot. That’s a Ben Duckett dismissal in Adelaide.”
Only Harry Brook (41) and Gus Atkinson (28) showed some fight as England headed into the sheds trailing by 42 runs on the opening day.
Stokes was the only other England batsman to reach double figures.
Not since 1951 have 20 wickets fallen in one day in a Test match in Australia.
The collapse comes after 19 wickets fell on day one in the First Ashes Test in Perth last month.
UK REACTION FIERCE AFTER ENGLAND’S LATEST FAILURE
The English press savaged England’s latest batting woes, though scrutiny is now turning to the bigger picture.
Writing for The Guardian, Barney Ronay said that new No.3 batter Jacob Bethell — who infamously has never made a first-class century despite appearing in his fifth Test — had been thrown to the wolves.
“No rational judge could seriously expect Bethell to succeed here, batting at No 3 on the pitch from hell, having been confined on management orders to three proper red-ball games in the last 12 months,” Ronay wrote, saying that both the youngster and Ben Duckett — irrespective of their partying in Noosa — had been handed dismal preparations for the Ashes.
“Bethell’s problems are instead terrible husbandry, the basic weirdness of what he has been asked to do this year. The same goes for Duckett, who was in world-XI form at the end of the Test summer, but who has since played a series of random games, lost his rhythm, and averages 14 in his last 21 innings against white ball, Hundred ball, pink ball and elite Aussie opening attack.
“Bethell has been more obviously dangled out to dry. It is absurd that looking good in New Zealand last winter should be followed by 34 T20 games and almost zero red ball. This isn’t just a lack of practice. It’s talent-vandalism, a stop on his progress.”
Writing for The Telegraph, Will Macpherson said that Bethell was “on a hiding to nothing”.
“What a task for Jacob Bethell. He is 22, and has played three first-class matches in 2025. No problem – walk out in front of a record crowd at the MCG and save England. Bethell had come in for Ollie Pope, the fidgety No 3 who could not score even a fifty in his first eight Tests against Australia. Many felt Bethell should have come into the team sooner but here, he was on a hiding to nothing.
“He got off the mark first ball to Starc, but it only took Neser four balls to work him over. His half-push forward to a perfectly lined delivery from round the wicket just kissed the edge, and Alex Carey did the rest. There was a moment’s confusion, with umpire Kumar Dharmasena taking a moment to nod and raise his finger, but Bethell knew. There was no review – and England were in deep strife.”
Writing for The Times, former England captain Mike Atherton noted that the MCG carnage was borne of a dreary England performance from yesteryear.
“Over the past five years, Melbourne has the lowest runs-per-wicket average of any Australian ground. Blame Alastair Cook, whose mighty double hundred here on a featherbed in 2017 is still commemorated in the pavilion and which caused a rethink from the ground authorities. This was no snake pit, but it did offer plenty; having left out Todd Murphy, their available spin bowler, Australia knew what was coming,” he wrote, while summing up a brutal England innings.
“Ben Duckett’s Uber for the dressing room came courtesy of Starc and a leading edge; Jacob Bethell, on a hiding to nothing, got turned around by a beauty from Neser; Zak Crawley edged Starc to slip, defending, and Root spent 15 balls accumulating nothing, a measure of how difficult the conditions were.”
Atherton said that Harry Brook had “danced that fine line between madness and genius” in top-scoring with a big-swinging 41.
Writing for The Athletic, Paul Newman said that Brook’s approach was a more appealing option that succumbing meekly on the brutal Melbourne pitch.
“Was it brave or stupid? Was it the shot of a modern batting genius or just an act of self-destruction that typified England’s blighted Ashes campaign?” Newman wrote.
“Certainly the sight of Harry Brook charging Mitchell Starc, one of the best bowlers in the world and the star of Australia’s series-winning attack, first ball with England 8-3 in reply to Australia’s 152 all out was surreal. Then again, this was a bonkers Boxing Day.
“It does not bear thinking about the reaction had Brook edged that first ball and been dismissed attempting to smash Starc out of the vast MCG with England in dire straits. But, by the end of the first day of the fourth Test on which 20 wickets fell and ended with Australia sending in Scott Boland as nightwatchman to open the batting at the start of their second innings, there did appear more of a method to Brook’s apparent madness.”
