So the Ashes have been retained by the high jumping Aussies in only 11 days of actual cricket, the second fastest capitulation in history, but does that mean/should that mean the end of Bazball? England’s Head Coach Brendan “Baz” McCullum has a contract until the end of the next Australian visit to the UK in 2027 but despite his wish to keep his job he knows full well that that’s not a cast-iron guarantee for him to go the distance.

England were bowled out for 352, even without the injured Lyon for a lot of the second innings, to make it the fourth successive Ashes tour in thich they’ve lost the first three Tests. Now with the 2025 series conceded and over as a competitive contest there’s been plenty of discussion in the past few days as to why and how we’ve fared so badly and what can be achieved in the two Tests to come. It’s not as if they’ve learned much so far from their mistakes, so what are they really going to glean in the next month at the MCG, SCG and playtime in between? Aussies will be hoping for a 5-0 humiliation and England fans will still be cheering our boys on with the wonderful https://barmyarmy.com/ with full voice and trumpet as always even amid the obvious huge disappointment.

McCullum finally admits he’s made mistakes but he’s not the only one, and his boss, Rob Key along with the rest of the management team will rightly be facing much scrutiny. Lots of former England players turned TV and Radio pundits (or the “has-beens” as Stokes wrongly, and disrespectfully, branded them) had warned about the schedule and lack of competitive cricket before and in between the Tests. Ok, so the ECB had to fulfil a long-held commitment to a white ball series in NZ prior but that in itself would just not have happened in the build up to an Ashes series in earlier times with far less priority then on the now multi-formatted commercial vested interest. Preparation and scheduling weren’t the only issues though. Our part-time spinner Jacks batted with as much, if not more defiance than most of his team mates, which seemed to be the sole purpose of his inclusion, but racked up simply awful bowling figures. Where were some of the main batters when they were really needed? Protection of this current line-up needs to stop.

This isn’t hindsight trading from me or any other interested parties on what has been an extremely sad series to witness after all the high hopes from an enthralling, albeit drawn, home series against India showing all the best aspects of Bazball with real fight and purpose. What no one expected was the tame way in which we went down to an Australian side with problems of their own, not least missing key players from the outset and during, but with those stepping in all galvanised by a sense of Ashes duty against the enemy, something very sadly lacking in our general application despite small pockets of occasional resistance.

So we move on, hopefully with lessons learned by all in the England camp but with the jury still very much out on that one too. How we play the two remaining Tests may yet still define the way ahead and they have the opportunity to recover some pride and show us how much it means at least. No point throwing the baby out with the bath water but a check of the temperature and a bit of quality control meanwhile wouldn’t go amiss.

It’s only a game, and in the wake of recent events at Bondi especially we must continue to keep many things in perspective, but we’ll keep believing ‘cos it’s in our DNA for better or for worse, although changes are very much needed even more than before.

Come on England.