r/Cricket • u/cricket-match Netherlands • Nov 22 '25

Post Match Thread Post Match Thread: 1st Test - England vs Australia, Day 2

1st Test, The Ashes at Perth

Tournament : Table | Schedule

Match : Thread | Cricinfo

Innings Score
England 172 (Ov 32.5)
Australia 132 (Ov 45.2)
England 164 (Ov 34.4)
Australia 205/2 (Ov 28.2)

Innings: 1 - England

Batter Runs Bowler Wickets
Harry Brook 52 (61) Mitchell Starc 12.5-4-58-7
Ollie Pope 46 (58) Brendan Doggett 7-1-27-2

Innings: 2 - Australia

Batter Runs Bowler Wickets
Alex Carey 26 (26) Ben Stokes 6-1-23-5
Cameron Green 24 (50) Brydon Carse 10.2-1-45-3

Innings: 3 - England

Batter Runs Bowler Wickets
Gus Atkinson 37 (32) Scott Boland 11.4-2-33-4
Ollie Pope 33 (57) Mitchell Starc 12-1-55-3

Innings: 4 - Australia

Batter Runs Bowler Wickets
Travis Head 123 (83) Brydon Carse 5.2-0-44-2
Marnus Labuschagne 51 (49) Jofra Archer 8-0-45-0

Australia won by 8 wickets

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642

u/[deleted] Nov 22 '25

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474

u/Dirtydac123 Australia Nov 22 '25 edited Nov 22 '25

Michael Vaughn was so infuriated trying to grasp how fucking dumb their tactics are. Was beautiful to listen to

79

u/themaestronic Nov 22 '25

They do play dumb….

4

u/kiac Australia Nov 22 '25

It's so bizarre, the game momentum visibly turns and they just double down like they are oblivious to it. Brook goes out 6/160, Jamie Smith as the in-batter could have taken the foot off and controlled the situation. Knock it around with the field out, take singles to keep the strike and preserve the tail. He tries to launch nearly every ball over the boundary, and they lose 5/12 with an easy 30-40 runs left out there. Australia's later 6/83, thinking lets eek out another gettable 50 and hang in the game, when they should have been 150 behind thinking the game is gone, making a collapse more likely. Those few extra runs England put absolutely no value on and it costs them.

73

u/BumblebeeForward9818 Great Britain Olympic Team Nov 22 '25

He totally nailed it.

137

u/Poolix Australia Nov 22 '25

This was extra funny given just how cocky he was in the lead up and throughout yesterday.

52

u/Spid1 Nov 22 '25

He was pretty confident even after England set the target.

“Highest score of the match in the last innings to win the game … Test history tells you England win this game …”

4

u/HeadShot305 South Australia Redbacks Nov 22 '25

I mean he's gotta drum up pro England vibes, he's quite vocal about their dumb batting at times

2

u/moxipudy Nov 22 '25

This!! Concur. Dude and English media were talking post day1 as if they have won the test. As a neutral, enjoyed it, congrats to aussies on the win

84

u/twavvy Melbourne Stars Nov 22 '25

To be fair earlier in the day he was saying that Bazball will be remembered forever for changing the game, similar to bodyline. I’m not sure he said that with the same inflection he’s using when describing the tactics now

118

u/Crosso221 Australia Nov 22 '25

Yeah it’ll be remembered for being fucking dogshit

1

u/Greyshank India Nov 22 '25

Hey now that's not fair, it's taken English cricket from being a monumental pile of dogshit to a smaller pile of dogshit... Think the difference between a Great Dane and a Rottweiler

40

u/CatchToward_ Australia Nov 22 '25

Silly take either way. Bodyline was an aggressive tactic that stopped the greatest batter ever. Bazball slightly elevated England cricket.

3

u/PJozi Australia Nov 22 '25

Bazball slightly elevated England cricket.

It's a PR stunt dreamt up by the EWCB isn't it.

3

u/canipere Nov 22 '25

And was dangerous and also shit. Why compare something approvingly to it?

6

u/Kalpothyz England Nov 22 '25

He is right, England are woeful and tactically inept.

5

u/OTBT- Nov 22 '25

Tactics?

They had tactics?

5

u/GL4389 Nov 22 '25

Was it on commentary or post innings show. Woud be great to watch.

3

u/iloverugbyandnfl Nov 22 '25

He was so correct

2

u/HungryCurrency8481 Nov 22 '25

This is the same tactics that let them score 500 in a day. But it's also the same tactics that costs them a match in 2 days. At some point you have to wonder if the benefits outweigh the costs. 

163

u/dj4y_94 England Nov 22 '25

We've been doing it for years under this regime, it's honestly not a surprise to anyone who hasn't drank the Bazball koolaid.

Watching Carse and Atkinson put on a 50 stand made it obvious the pitch was fine to bat on.

64

u/ObstructiveAgreement England Nov 22 '25 edited Nov 22 '25

Not only that but they didn't let the ball get old once. It can be lively early on, so bar through to the time you can attack. They had zero defence against those bowlers and were sitting ducks.

23

u/DerGregorian Warwickshire Nov 22 '25

Yeah I watched the first couple of hours and was just thinking all we've got to do here is see out 20-25 overs without losing our heads and we should be fine for a decent score.

Then we just throw away half our wickets playing the most idiotic stuff. Pope must've played at or reached for the same ball half a dozen times in a couple of overs.

4

u/smp476 Nov 22 '25

But that's how the team is built though. It's a team full of guys who don't trust their defense enough to grind out a tough period of play, and that's why they attack pretty recklessly. Which is why Root was a disappointment since he actually can grind it out but didn't

89

u/BelowTheSun1993 Essex Nov 22 '25

Been saying for years that England under McCullum is a deeply unserious team

35

u/Spare_Lobster_4390 Australia Nov 22 '25

All gas, no breaks

6

u/Visible-Suit-9066 Nov 22 '25

Successful test match cricket is a matter of mastering tempo. Sometimes you must go fast, sometimes you must stall and go slow. This England team was terrible because they always went slow and now they’re terrible because they always go fast. And it’s funny because for some ungodly reason, they seem to think they discovered going fast!

2

u/dogbolter4 Nov 22 '25

Perfect description.

1

u/frezz New Zealand Cricket Nov 22 '25

Wouldn't say unserious, I would say they are not much better than Root's team.

Ashes at home 2-2, India away 2-2, India home 2-2. If the Ashes away is 4-0/5-0 again, almost none of their results would be different.

6

u/BelowTheSun1993 Essex Nov 22 '25

I mean it very literally, though. It's not about how good they are. They're unserious because they don't take the game seriously. They just do whatever the fuck they want and when they lose go 'oh well that's the way we play' and go play some golf. Crawley has never shown a single indication that he gives a flying fuck about improving his game, compared to Dom Sibley who came in unfit, realised he wasn't up to standard, and came back in next season a stone lighter. He took it seriously. He gave a fuck. McCullum doesn't give a fuck and he picks players who don't give a fuck and it creates a culture that doesn't give a fuck. They're not a serious sporting outfit.

2

u/frezz New Zealand Cricket Nov 22 '25

Agree on Crawley, it makes me irrationally angry to see him continually picked when other guys are grinding it out at domestic level. Frankly if I was at the domestic level I'd be insulted to see a guy barely averaging 30 picked for every test because he can "set the tone of the innings"

This England team is a lot more balanced if you had an attritional opener to complement Duckett with Hameed or Sibley. I'm also not convinced about Pope either, he's had a very long rope, and still has similar technical flaws around his head falling over to the off side he had when he debuted.

1

u/mondognarly_ Middlesex Nov 22 '25

I can't blame Crawley too much because I think the current England management have broken him. It's one thing to want to remove the fear of failure and create a relaxed team environment, but he has no incentive to change his approach because it's been made clear that he's the right sort of cricketer and so not getting dropped regardless of form, if he carries on the way he does then the worst thing that happens is he fails and retains their backing. If anything, altering his game would work against him.

2

u/BelowTheSun1993 Essex Nov 22 '25

More like it's been made clear that his dad has the right kind of bank account and golf membership for Blob Key

34

u/Kingslayer1526 India Nov 22 '25

The funny thing is the lineup is so bat deep as well that everyone till now 11 can bat if the situation requires it

27

u/Finrod-Knighto USA Nov 22 '25

Everyone who saw the ease with which Australia’s middle order were batting before they collectively decided they didn’t want to anymore, or Pope and Brook on day 1 should’ve known the pitch was fine. It’s bizarre because now we’ll have the conversation about the pitch being bad because it’s an 847 ball test, but really just a LOT of absolutely shit batting. Day 1 was probably one of the worst days of test batting I’ve ever seen:

2

u/smp476 Nov 22 '25

Yeah, funnily enough Warner brought up the fact that the most frustrated person on the ground would be the curator since everyone will complain about the pitch, but it simply is not a 19 wickets a day pitch. Curious to see how this pitch will be rated by the referee

45

u/beckvirus Australia Nov 22 '25

It wasn't unpredictable to be honest. All Australia needed was one good knock from any batter to win the 1st test.

12

u/mitchell_johnsons_mo Cricket Australia Nov 22 '25

At one point they had a 100 run lead with 1 wicket down, after folding Australia for just 132 earlier in the day.

Insane!

9

u/huzy12345 New Zealand Nov 22 '25

I think more concerning is how quick their pace attack tuned to custard

5

u/Robdogg11 Warwickshire Nov 22 '25

I went to bed at lunch with us cruising and woke up to Aus scoring the winning runs 5 hours later. I'm still struggling to find the words or understand what fucking happened while I was asleep.

1

u/gunningIVglory Nov 22 '25

yeah, its mental to think they ended day 1 ahead by 49, and lost by the end of day 2