• Oxford Green Energy

    Yellows Forum is DELIGHTED to announce a partnership with Oxford Green Energy, who become our sustainability partner.

    See here for more information, including a YF member discount.

The Ashes - 2nd - Test- 04/12/2025 - Brisbane - DAY/NIGHT

Who will win the 2nd test?

  • Total voters
    28
  • Poll closed .
Needs to be a root and branch review after this shambles. This will be a 6/7 wicket defeat and I think significantly increases the chances of a series whitewash.

Pathetic down under, yet again.
 
unification said:
The 5-0 looks very much on.

This Dad’s Army of an Australia team are superior to England.

At no level it is good enough. No preparation, no cricketing intelligence, no playing the match situation.

I blame The Hundred.
Click to expand...
One day cricket (and especially the very short versions of it) does have a lot to answer for. But the Australians and Indians play an awful lot of it, and they seem to be able to discipline themselves enough to play test cricket.

The problem is that England are individually talented enough to get good results against the weaker test teams. Which gives the false impression that they are a good team. But when they come up against stronger teams they fold like a cheap deckchair, because the 'process' gives them enough to bully weaker teams but not enough to compete with the stronger.
 
ZeroTheHero said:
One day cricket (and especially the very short versions of it) does have a lot to answer for. But the Australians and Indians play an awful lot of it, and they seem to be able to discipline themselves enough to play test cricket.

The problem is that England are individually talented enough to get good results against the weaker test teams. Which gives the false impression that they are a good team. But when they come up against stronger teams they fold like a cheap deckchair, because the 'process' gives them enough to bully weaker teams but not enough to compete with the stronger.
Click to expand...
It’s a culture that comes from the top. Baz needs to clear off but so do those above him. That’s never going to happen unfortunately
 
Time for sweeping changes. Get rid of Rob Key and bring in someone who actually knows hot to achieve something. I’d sound out the likes of Vaughan or maybe Broad?

Get shot of Baz and bring someone in like Gillespie.

Relieve Stokes of the captaincy. He’s a great player and that might be harsh but he’s tainted by the current regime now. Bring in someone as captain completely outside of the current clique.

Obviously that won’t happen, if Stokes steps down it’ll go to bloody Brook with f*****g pope as his vice captain, and the merry little club will carry on as normal ☹️
 
C**p interview from Trescothick - "nothing wrong with our preparation". Do you not realise that several of our players are playing their first ever pink ball game in an Ashes Test? That is wrong preparation and if you can't see it you should not be a coach. Appreciate he probably has to toe the party line but it makes them all seem like brainless idiots.
 
yellowbow said:
What’s rules around the squad?

It won’t happen of course but could we swap out some of the team with players from the lions Squad or do we have to stick with the squad we first chose like in the football World Cup?

I’d put some younger blood in, players the fans can really get behind. They can’t do any worse than what we’ve seen in these first two matches.
Click to expand...
Have you seen the latest lions squad score? England Lions 166 all out; Australia A 554-7.

Or did you mean the Rugby Lions? They couldn't do any worse.
 
yellowbow said:
Time for sweeping changes. Get rid of Rob Key and bring in someone who actually knows hot to achieve something. I’d sound out the likes of Vaughan or maybe Broad?

Get shot of Baz and bring someone in like Gillespie.

Relieve Stokes of the captaincy. He’s a great player and that might be harsh but he’s tainted by the current regime now. Bring in someone as captain completely outside of the current clique.

Obviously that won’t happen, if Stokes steps down it’ll go to bloody Brook with f*****g pope as his vice captain, and the merry little club will carry on as normal ☹️
Click to expand...
old boys club
 
There is no pressure on any batters place, there are literally zero options to come in and take any of the top 6 places.
However I think the bowling has been a big big issue this test - bowled all over the place.
 
yellowbow said:
Time for sweeping changes. Get rid of Rob Key and bring in someone who actually knows hot to achieve something. I’d sound out the likes of Vaughan or maybe Broad?

Get shot of Baz and bring someone in like Gillespie.

Relieve Stokes of the captaincy. He’s a great player and that might be harsh but he’s tainted by the current regime now. Bring in someone as captain completely outside of the current clique.

Obviously that won’t happen, if Stokes steps down it’ll go to bloody Brook with f*****g pope as his vice captain, and the merry little club will carry on as normal ☹️
Click to expand...

I'd give it until after Adelaide - but if we don't miraculously turn it around and win that one, 100% yes to the above.

And it's not harsh on Stokes at all. He's one of our greatest players, sure. But he's also absolutely one of the key architects of this laid back, anything goes culture that has been instilled in the England team and has clearly been shown not to work against the best teams. A lot of very distinguished cricketers predicted this disaster months ago, and he ignored and insulted them. If he's got any honour in him, he really ought to be falling on his sword if we lose at Adelaide after failing so badly
 
Thing is, I don’t really want a ‘root and branch’ review and reform. We do that after every Ashes pummelling. And ultimately some of the structural issues preventing us from having better preparation won’t be going anywhere (packed schedules, prevalence of white ball cricket, some of the challenges our convoluted domestic structure creates).

The reality is that the Bazball era has vastly taken the team forward. Stokes and McCullum are absolutely responsible for this carefree, flakey, completely brainless batting in this series (and against India too. And also the reason we didn’t win the Lords test in the last Ashes). BUT that approach is also what dragged us out of the mire of the Root captaincy where we were a hopeless, joyless, clueless mess.

What I really thought we MIGHT develop after failing to win both the home Ashes and India series (as well as blowing some good positions on away tours) is a bit more of a ruthless streak. The problem with this squad isn’t ability. It’s the first time we’ve toured Australia since 2010 when it’s felt like we have a comparable - if not better - team on a head-to-head basis. But EVERYTHING about the set up for this Ashes shows that we’ve stubbornly refused to learn anything. Stokes calling respected pundits ‘has-beens’. Brook’s selfish, headless chicken batting (plus his and the whole team’s subsequent refusal to condemn it in any way). We seem to want to win the Ashes on vibes, smiles, and having a slog and calling it a ‘brand of cricket’ rather than an un-evolved, senselessly idiotic refusal to learn or do better.

Look at Smith, Starc, Boland, Carey & Head over these two games. They’ve not been playing for vibes. They’ve been playing to grind us into the muck. Look at how Lyon reacted to not even getting picked. They are so markedly up for it. Nothing about how we’ve played so far (other than a few flashes like Root’s century, and a few individual bowling displays) makes it seems like we’re here for a fight at all. The volume of dismissals over the four innings we’ve had where players are swishing MILES outside off stump is unforgivable.

And the end result is we’re once again hoping for a Stokes miracle. It might come. Even with one of his miracle knocks you feel the best case scenario is us somehow scrambling a lead of 150ish (and even that feels MILES away) and having to rely on our exhausted bowlers producing a ‘back-up-to-Stokes’-miracle’ performance to skittle them under lights. Impossible - no. But wildly, fancifully unlikely. And if it doesn’t happen it’s 2-0, and staring down the barrel of the ashes being done, in Australia, by Christmas. AGAIN. And for a team of this ability, against an Australia team which should be REELING considering how unsettled their own team is, that is really disappointing.

I don’t really need a root and branch review. For the most part I think we’ve actually put together a competitive squad, have a good captain and coach combo. What I do want (particularly if we are battered to nil in another away Ashes) is a bit of bloody humility. Stop talking about style of play and just accept some fault, then clearly define how you intend to do better. I’m so sick of this ‘that’s the way we play’ and ‘well we just need to go harder next time. Anyways, off to the golf course’ mentality…
 
McXal said:
Thing is, I don’t really want a ‘root and branch’ review and reform. We do that after every Ashes pummelling. And ultimately some of the structural issues preventing us from having better preparation won’t be going anywhere (packed schedules, prevalence of white ball cricket, some of the challenges our convoluted domestic structure creates).

The reality is that the Bazball era has vastly taken the team forward. Stokes and McCullum are absolutely responsible for this carefree, flakey, completely brainless batting in this series (and against India too. And also the reason we didn’t win the Lords test in the last Ashes). BUT that approach is also what dragged us out of the mire of the Root captaincy where we were a hopeless, joyless, clueless mess.

What I really thought we MIGHT develop after failing to win both the home Ashes and India series (as well as blowing some good positions on away tours) is a bit more of a ruthless streak. The problem with this squad isn’t ability. It’s the first time we’ve toured Australia since 2010 when it’s felt like we have a comparable - if not better - team on a head-to-head basis. But EVERYTHING about the set up for this Ashes shows that we’ve stubbornly refused to learn anything. Stokes calling respected pundits ‘has-beens’. Brook’s selfish, headless chicken batting (plus his and the whole team’s subsequent refusal to condemn it in any way). We seem to want to win the Ashes on vibes, smiles, and having a slog and calling it a ‘brand of cricket’ rather than an un-evolved, senselessly idiotic refusal to learn or do better.

Look at Smith, Starc, Boland, Carey & Head over these two games. They’ve not been playing for vibes. They’ve been playing to grind us into the muck. Look at how Lyon reacted to not even getting picked. They are so markedly up for it. Nothing about how we’ve played so far (other than a few flashes like Root’s century, and a few individual bowling displays) makes it seems like we’re here for a fight at all. The volume of dismissals over the four innings we’ve had where players are swishing MILES outside off stump is unforgivable.

And the end result is we’re once again hoping for a Stokes miracle. It might come. Even with one of his miracle knocks you feel the best case scenario is us somehow scrambling a lead of 150ish (and even that feels MILES away) and having to rely on our exhausted bowlers producing a ‘back-up-to-Stokes’-miracle’ performance to skittle them under lights. Impossible - no. But wildly, fancifully unlikely. And if it doesn’t happen it’s 2-0, and staring down the barrel of the ashes being done, in Australia, by Christmas. AGAIN. And for a team of this ability, against an Australia team which should be REELING considering how unsettled their own team is, that is really disappointing.

I don’t really need a root and branch review. For the most part I think we’ve actually put together a competitive squad, have a good captain and coach combo. What I do want (particularly if we are battered to nil in another away Ashes) is a bit of bloody humility. Stop talking about style of play and just accept some fault, then clearly define how you intend to do better. I’m so sick of this ‘that’s the way we play’ and ‘well we just need to go harder next time. Anyways, off to the golf course’ mentality…
Click to expand...

Is there much more to bazball than that mentality though? If you take that away how does it differ to what came before under Root? The freedom was supposed to take the shackles off and improve the team, it did/has but it has found its limits, home drawn series to the better teams and wide losses away to those teams.
The problem is we now have a limited pool of players who like playing that way and seemingly not much of an alternative pool to choose from.
 
TheDukeOfBanburyshire said:
Needs to be a root and branch review after this shambles. This will be a 6/7 wicket defeat and I think significantly increases the chances of a series whitewash.

Pathetic down under, yet again.
Click to expand...
Joe’s done ok so far.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar Threads

Northstandboy
  • Poll Poll
5th Test The Ashes - 5th - Test- 03/01/2026 - Sydney Cricket Ground
2 3
Replies
67
Views
2K
holdsteady
holdsteady
Northstandboy
  • Poll Poll
4th Test The Ashes - 4th - Test- 25/12/2025 - Melbourne Cricket Ground
2 3
Replies
67
Views
2K
ZeroTheHero
ZeroTheHero
Northstandboy
  • Sticky
  • Poll Poll
The Ashes - 3rd - Test- 16/12/2025 - Adelaide Oval
4 5 6
Replies
155
Views
6K
Foley
Foley
Northstandboy
  • Locked
  • Poll Poll
The Ashes - 1st Test- 21/11/2025 - Perth
5 6 7
Replies
191
Views
5K
Northstandboy
Northstandboy
Foley
  • Poll Poll
Ashes News 🏏 The Ashes 25/26
3 4 5
Replies
140
Views
6K
Northstandboy
Northstandboy
Back
Top Bottom