Hits and misses: Revisiting my Ashes predictions after Bazball bubble well and truly bursts

Ever since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes took over as coach and captain of the English Test side, the duo put a huge emphasis on England winning the Ashes both home and away in the following series.

Instead, the duo got a brutal reality check, with the so called saviours of Test cricket who are too focused on entertaining people drawing the home series 2 all in 2023 and losing 4-1 away in the 2025/26 Ashes.

Prior to the series, I gave my personal thoughts on each English touring member and how they would go.

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Ben Duckett: The left handed opener has had his worst series as a Test cricketer since Ravi Ashwin dismissed for fun in 2016. Refusing to leave the ball and continuously driving on the up on bouncier pitches, Duckett leaves Australia averaging 20.2 in the series, and a drunken night out in Queensland. In all fairness, an improvement from pouring a drink over a teammates head in the 2017 Ashes. Given I expected Duckett to be a dangerous man with the bat, a bad call from my end.

Zak Crawley: I gave Crawley absolutely no chance to do anything noteworthy this tour, and yet he still found a way to score two half centuries this series. Averaging a whopping 27.3 in the series, Crawley continues to be a bang average cricketer for England, which will ensure they continue to underperform in every World Test Championship cycle. And as I gestured to Crawley in the 22nd over of the Aussie run chase in Sydney after he failed to stop a boundary, time to stick to golf Zak.

Ollie Pope: The good thing is Pope averaged more than Duckett this series. The bad is that he averaged under 21 with the bat this series. A flat track Surrey hack who has failed to remotely live up to the Ian Bell hype, Ollie Pope’s Test career should be well and truly over. But this is England. They gave Alex Hales and Jason Roy Test caps so anything is possible.

Joe Root: England’s star player finally broke his no Test hundred in Australia drought. However, despite scoring two centuries, Root failed to score more than 450 runs in the series, struggling to pass 20 in seven of his other eight innings in the series. Congrats on finally winning a Test in Australia Joe. Took you 18 Tests to do something that Kane Williamson did in his second Test in Australia.

Harry Brook: Vice captain of the English Test team, Brook started his Ashes campaign with a swashbuckling half century on a bowling friendly wicket. But as he has shown since his triple century against Pakistan in October 2024, Brook continues to think he can get away with poor shot selection which has cost him several big scores. But can we expect discipline from someone who got into a stoush with a bouncer outside a nightclub after being deemed too drunk the night before an ODI game in Wellington? Doubt it.

If England are a serious side, they treat Brook with harsher fines than the overreaction CA handed upon to David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft. My bad. England aren’t a serious side. Just a fine will do instead of stripping leadership responsibilities.

Ben Stokes: The so called best allrounder in Test cricket post Jacques Kallis who would be lucky to tie Ravindra Jadeja’s and Shakib Al Hassan’s shoelaces, Stokes showed more effectiveness with the ball, averaging 25.13 in the series. With the bat, it was a series to forget, averaging 18.4 in the series.

To put it in context against the Australian squad, only Pat Cummins, Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon and Jhye Richardson averaged less with the bat than Stokes. My prediction of Stokes having more whinges than Test series remained correct. But is there anything surprising to that? There are photos of Stokes supporting the Warriors in the NRL as a kid during his childhood spent in New Zealand, so whinging about umpire calls is in his blood (all love to my Wahs fans).

Jamie Smith: A backstop who is known more for his batting, Smith had a horror tour, averaging barely over 20 with the bat trying to hack everything to the leg side while dropping some crucial catches. There’s a reason why he’s not the first choice keeper at his county, and he never should have been given the gloves over Ben Foakes.

Brydon Carse: Peak England is giving your hit the deck bowler the new ball. Averaging 30.31 with the ball at an economy of 4.81 while taking 22 wickets, Carse’s ability to dish up a buffet of rubbish helped Australia multiple times. By the end of the series, Carse showed his true colours of being an aggressive knobhead, trying to intimidate Ahsan Raza (who survived a terrorist attack copping multiple gunshot wounds), after a DRS call went against England for a caught behind in the final Test.

Gus Atkinson: I had Atkinson as the biggest threat for Australia with the ball. Personally, his figures of averaging nearly 50 with the ball were harsh given the amount of plays and misses he created.

By the end of the fourth Test, a hamstring injury cut his tour of Australia short. In what has been an injury ravaged year for Atkinson, he will be a key member of the English attack once he is 100% fit.

Jofra Archer: With the English media once again hyping Archer as the messiah to end England’s series losing streak in Australia, he managed to pick up nine wickets in six innings, finishing his series with more sledges aimed at Steve Smith than dismissing Smith.

He truly does only bowl quick when there is nothing on the line. ECB needs to stop having Archer play Test cricket for England. He does not have the fitness to bowl long spells or go through a whole series injured.

Shoaib Bashir: In all fairness, I felt bad for Bashir. He was backed heavily since his Test debut against India in early 2024, despite some poor performances on the fact that he would be the one who would trouble Australia with the extra bounce on offer in Australia. Bashir ended up not playing a Test at all, despite the Adelaide and Sydney surfaces offering a decent amount of assistance for the spinners.

While most of the English squad were getting loose in Noosa, Bashir was one of three players to go on a 7:45am run with the English S&C coach. As underwhelming as his numbers at Test and FC level are, Bashir’s professionalism is something most of the English squad should follow.

That being said, it will be a miracle if Bashir is not overtaken by young finger spinner Farhan Ahmed (brother of England international Rehan Ahmed) in the 2029 Ashes if his performances continue to be underwhelming at county level.

Jacob Bethell: Fair play to the youngster for taking his chance. Bethell showed some class in England’s successful chase in Melbourne before he made a statement in Sydney with a top notch hundred on days four and five. While I think he should be batting at either five or six, Bethell has earnt the right to be in the English Test team for their upcoming home summer against New Zealand and Pakistan.

Mark Wood: The way McCullum, Stokes and the ECB in general have treated Wood is nothing short of disgraceful. Taking an ageing express fast bowler who is known to be injury prone on an Ashes tour is a gamble itself.

To take someone on an Ashes tour that didn’t play any professional cricket from February 2025 onwards due to surgery and then play them in the first Test of an Ashes series was peak medical mismanagement. Now 36, you would say that Wood’s Test career is all but over and you would not blame him if he follows the franchise cricket route.

Josh Tongue: He was by far the best English bowler on tour. While he has the ability to bowl full tilt, Tongue was more focused on pitching the ball up and swinging it both ways. And boy was he not rewarded for that.

Makes you wonder why England did not start the first Test with him opening the bowling instead of having him serve drinks. If all goes to plan, England will have Tongue and Atkinson opening the bowling in their next few series, which is a tasty proposition. Definitely someone to watch out for over the next few Ashes series.

Matthew Potts: Thrown into the deep end for the final Test, Potts was a man devoid of any confidence as Travis Head smashed him all around Sydney. His confidence was so low in the second innings, Stokes did not even have him bowl a single over.

Far too early to end his Test career based on one bad innings. Potts should definitely be around the English Test squad and have a fair share of Tests to bowl with before a call is made.

Will Jacks: Picked as the second spinner despite playing more FC matches than wickets taken, Jacks had the bits and pieces role of a player who could bat or bowl, but not be outstanding in either role.

Add in his poor fielding at times and it was a tour to forget. While Jacks did show some ticker at times with the bat, he is a better white ball than red ball prospect.

Personal verdict

I predicted 4 or 5-0 to Australia depending on weather and whether one of the English bowlers would have a freakish spell. While weather did not play a significant part in any Test, a poor pitch in Melbourne leveled the playing field leading to England getting a victory.

For a side that is hailed as the messiahs of Test cricket, they lost the series in less days than the 2021/22 squad did, and they were hammered for days on end.

England have definitely improved under McCullum. But for a side who is so obsessed with the Ashes that all they do is talk about it even if there’s more than 12 months before the start date of an Ashes series, they have massively underperformed both home and away.

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