16 Test defeats for Joe Root in Australia, the most for any player in a country away from home. Root has now been part of 64 Test defeats, third in the overall list.
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18 Number of Ashes series in which Australia have won at least four Tests. England have had only four such series and only one - in 1978-79 - since World War II. Australia have won four or more Tests in their last four Ashes series at home.
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In many ways , Sydney best demonstrated the failings of Englandās cricket beliefs. Root and Bethell played extremely good, very traditional Test innings to put them in an excellent position ( Root) and give them a chance to win the game ( Bethell) . It was the Bazzballers around them who completely and wilfully undid and wasted the value of both of those innings. And did so with the philosophical approval of the Coach. They destroyed themselves and disrespected their own team mates .
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Thatās a glaring failure and inexcusable.
In the heat of battle you can wilt and fail. You were not good enough. etc etc.
But at least in the part you can control before battle, you should do as much as you can to be as prepared as you can be.
England drank and drowned in a bath tub full of their own Kool-Aid.
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Boycott is very happy to lay the boots in to any side that loses and is prone to being overly negative, so this is pretty much standard from him.
However, he was one of the few people English commentators to warn about how this Ashes series could go, and he was pretty much spot on.
He said England couldnāt play like the Harlem Globetrotters in Australia. That playing entertaining cricket rather than tough cricket wouldnāt work.
He also said that Australia only had two batsmen to be worried about.
I meanā¦grain of salt, because thatās his natural disposition anyway, but he was right.
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This is one that Fox Sports have done.
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Regular visitors to this thread may recall that many years ago l recounted my story about Shane Warne. I have posted it twice in this thread and donāt feel inclined to post it again. If you are new to Blitz and this thread you will need to do a search, either that or PM me. I do however have one other cricket story that may be of interest to some here. It follows.
The RingāIn.
Recently l had a cricket club reunion lunch. Some of these guys l hadnāt seen for about 35 years. The stories told at the luncheon got me thinking of a time when l was called on to coach my school cricket team, as l was the only member of staff then currently playing the game. I was called in at short notice as the incumbent coach Mal āSleepyā Davey, had resigned at short notice and gone to teach at St. Bedeās in Mentone, where he had once been a student. Sleepy was something of a local cricket legend. He got his nickname when as a young man he had slept in one Saturday morning and missed out playing in Victorian Colts trial match. He was never given another chance.
He had coached the school cricket team for years, and under his leadership they had qualified for the all-tech school finals series, just prior to his resignation. So, my first match as coach was the first semi, against South Melbourne. All finals matches were played on the excellent turf wicket at Oakleigh Tech, where the keen principal, simply known as Mad Jack, had his horticulture students tend to the wicket, day and night. So good was this wicket that Victorian Sheffield Shield trial games were also held there. Mad Jack told me that district cricket club Prahran had asked him if they could use the pitch as their home ground, but he said they couldnāt afford the upkeep.
Enough of the preamble. Came the day of the first final we assembled at the school bus, which l was to drive to Oakleigh. As the team was getting on the bus, one player, Robbie approached me and asked if his mate could come along and play with the team. The mateās name was Dennis Hickey, a pace bowler, who opened for district club Melbourne and was being groomed for the Sheffield Shield. He was one of the fastest bowlers in the state and he was still only 18. At one stage he was touted as being the fastest bowler in Australia, before injuries struck him down. Hickey was a student at Mordialloc High, just down the road from us, and their teachers were off, the one day. I agreed, and Dennis joined us. l had to find a way to integrate Hickey into the team without giving away his identity to any opposition. I struck upon a novel idea. We had selected a student from my class, Danny OāBrien, so Dennis Hickey, became Denny, and replaced Danny, who was transferred to score book duties. The team were told to call out Denny, and they followed the plan without any slips or problems. Necessarily they were all sworn to secrecy.
The match was 40 overs and it went smoothly for us. Denny bowled from one end, l umpired from his end. I canāt recall how many overs he bowled, but he ended up with figures of 5/25. He was simply too fast for the bat. South Melbourne had a combative player who opened the batting for the South Melbourne Second XI or perhaps it was St. Kilda. Perhaps the reason he was surly was because he knew who Denny really was. Hickey kept finding the edge of his bat, but the edges flew so quickly, the slips cordon couldnāt hold on to them, they were being dragged backwards by the speed of the ball. Anyway, I gave their opener a wry smile when he middled the ball for the first time and was well caught at backward point, about 25 m. from the wicket. We had little trouble making the required runs to earn a spot in the next round of finals, against Collingwood Tech.
The next day back at school, l was congratulated on the victory and called upon to give a brief report to the entire staff at morning assembly. I heaped praise on our bowling, and told the staff that Danny OāBrien was to be praised and the staff should congratulate him on the excellence of his bowling. Shortly after the principal came up to me and said he had not known about the game, but if he had known of it he would have called in on his way back from some meeting. Bullet dodged. By then l am sure news of the deception had spread around the school even if only partially, a case of the students knowing something the staff didnāt. There was never any blowback on the use of the ring in, so the secret was kept.
The next match was held a week later. We couldnāt pick Denny again, the risk of the principal suddenly appearing out of nowhere and blowing the identity of the ring-in was just too great. Collingwood were captained by Grant Jordan, who was also in line for Sheffield Shield consideration. Although primarily known as a gun bat, he destroyed our top order with swing bowling, where he moved the ball appreciably. Only one of our players stuck around to make any runs, but in the end we lost by about 50 runs. I was reminded of this episode by Danny about 4 years ago when we had our own reunion. He told me this story had recently gotten a run on SEN, where he had heard it being discussed. He had then rung in to confirm the details. Regular Blitz listeners of SEN may have even heard this story. I have not caught up with Sleepy to ask his opinion of the ring in, but like to think he would have approved of the rouse. I believe Dennis Hickey moved to South Australia to further his cricket career, but l donāt believe he ever cracked into the Sheffield Shield team.
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Speaking of Boycott, this little one minute clip is so him lol. Calls the current Indian coach ārubbishā, proceeds to be dismissed first ball and gee didnāt he lay the boots in lmao
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This one cracks me up as well. Brilliantly told by Bumble!
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Itās also a big advantage to the opposition when you know they are always going to try and win no matter the circumstances, as opposed to settling for a draw and moving onto the next game.
This is from McCullum yesterday-
āBut to throw out everything thatās worked and throw out what weāve been able to achieve over the last little while, in pursuit of something thatās completely unknown, doesnāt make any sense.ā
Iāve not paid close attention , but what have England actually achieved? They didnāt win the Ashes back at home, they havenāt made a WTC ( not that I particularly rate the whole thing) , they completely squandered the home series against India recently and theyāve just been belted 4-1 by a not overly great Australia. So what exactly are they measuring achievements against? An undeserved moral superiority ?
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I have also enjoyed their videos and analysis, for the same reasons others have outlined.
It would be better if it was in English. Shame thereās no subtitles.
Lmao!! Far out he must be an odd cat 
3 years pre-McCullum.
33 Tests.
12W-14L-7D.
3 and a halfish years under McCullum.
42 Tests.
23-17-2.
So thereās definitely been improvement.
For comparison, Australia since June 2022.
38 Tests.
27-7-4.
Edit: This involves counting on my part, which Iām not always great at.
Allan Border is the only Australian in the top 50 of that list.
So the key difference is they now either win or lose, and draws are less likely
as they say in golf: āNever up, never in.ā
Interestingly, or not I guess, if the Ashes results were reversed then those overall figures are a Lot closer between the two countries.
But of course the Ashes results were what they were.
Surely it is just exaggerating the scale. They beat minnows and have occasional spectacular success against heavyweights. But they lose their queen and get checkmated when playing against roughly equals (or arguably superiors.
It was ever thus for any sport (or chess).
That an amazing stat isnāt it given how many tests a lot of our players have played. Really surprised me how few wins Lara ended up with.
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