Former England captain Nasser Hussain has criticized England’s performance in the Ashes series against Australia, stating that the latest campaign has proved “no different” from previous heavy defeats in Australia, despite a significant change in approach.
Australia have retained the Ashes with a dominant 82-run victory over England in the third Test in Adelaide on Sunday. The hosts clinched the series win midway through the final day of the Adelaide contest, with Scott Boland claiming the decisive wicket as England were bowled out for 352 in their second innings. Australia has taken a 3-0 lead in the five-match Ashes series.
Following England’s 4-0 loss four years ago, this marks the first away series defeat of the Bazball era, which began with the appointments of Brendon McCullum as head coach and Ben Stokes as captain in 2022.
On the Ashes Daily podcast on Sky Sports Cricket after the third Test, Hussain expressed his initial support for England’s attempt to think differently after repeated failures in Australia. He noted that the team had planned ahead, made bold selections, and focused on pace and aggressive batting to challenge Australian bowlers.
“I quite like the fact they have done things differently over the last four years since the last Ashes drubbing. I do like the fact they have thought differently; they have planned ahead. If you carry on doing what you have always done, you will get the same results, so they saw we need to do something different. I quite like that, they’ve thought ahead,” said Hussain.
The former skipper pointed out that England’s rethink was grounded in history, as most touring sides have lost convincingly in Australia. He added that Joe Root, despite playing 17 Test matches in the country, has yet to record a win there.
“But actually, if you’ve come here and looked at them in the last three-four weeks you’d have thought ‘is it really that different from any other England side?’ They’ve not batted well, they’ve not bowled well, they’ve not caught well. Under key moments and pressure situations, they’ve buckled.
“Every other England side apart from the (Andrew) Strauss side [in 2010-11] has come here and lost and lost convincingly. Joe Root has now played 17 Test matches in Australia; he hasn’t won one,” he said.
However, the former skipper expressed disappointment that the outcome has remained unchanged, noting he had hoped this series might be different, particularly against the current Australian side, but the overall result thus far suggests otherwise.
“So that’s why there was this rethink… even after the massive rethink and left-field selections and ‘we must have pace’ and ‘we must have batters that put bowlers under pressure’, actually we’ve ended up getting exactly what we’ve had on virtually every other Ashes tour, and that’s what disappoints me because I thought this time, with this opposition, it might have been slightly different. It has been no different,” he concluded.