England's Jamie Smith, left, and Will Jacks walk onto the field on the final day of the third Ashes cricket test between England and Australia in Adelaide, Australia, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
Former England player Michael Vaughan said that England had come to Australia with an approach which was destined to combust under pressure. He also talked about the lack of improvement in the team and their refusal to learn lessons after getting caught out by good teams ahead of the Ashes.
England’s dream of reclaiming the Ashes went up in smoke on Sunday when the Aussies defeated them in the 3rd Test at Adelaide and took a 3-0 lead in the 5-match series. With 2 matches remaining, England will have to buck up or face further embarrassment of a 5-0 whitewash.
England thought they were coming to Australia with a new method that could win, but have been proven completely wrong. They had already been caught out a couple of times by good teams, but failed to improve. You look at the way Ben Stokes batted in the first innings in Adelaide, and Zak Crawley in the second. You think if they had batted like that in Perth in the second innings, the game would have been safe. That defeat in Perth killed the tour. It is a very long way back from a two-day loss,” Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph.
Vaughan also pointed out that Australia weren’t at full strength with regular captain Pat Cummins and josh Hazlewood missing the first 2 Tests. Cummins returned for the 3rd but Hazlewood was ruled out for the whole series. Vaughan also said that even with all the talent in the world, this England team lacked proper application.
“In the end, with defeat inside 11 days, it’s the worst I can remember in Australia. Some teams we’ve sent here had no chance. This time, Australia have had all the bad luck. Josh Hazlewood missed the lot, Pat Cummins missed two, Nathan Lyon and Usman Khawaja have had injuries, and Steve Smith illness. That’s the real frustration. This England team can play, they have talent, but the application comes only occasionally. England have had a cockiness about them for three years and the entire cricketing world has wanted to shut them up as a result. This tour has been humbling for them and the ‘RonBall’ T-shirts that the Aussies wore on the Adelaide Oval pitch after winning were the perfect example of that,” he wrote.
“Aussies are laughing. They can’t believe how fragile this team have been given the quality in the side. There are world-beaters in there. They have watched from afar and there has been some admiration for the way England have played. But there was always a sense of “try this here” because what England have tried is the opposite of what Australia do. They are a good, hard cricket team. They are sensible, and very rarely feel the need to think outside the box. The players earn the right. A lot of Aussies are also disappointed, because they thought this would be the close series they have craved for a long time. It’s actually been too easy for them, and that’s a massive problem,” he added.