A high-on-confidence England fell flat in the first two Tests on Australian soil. Regaining the Ashes seems like a far-fetched dream as Ben Stokes' men are down 2-0 ahead of Adelaide Test. While the Stokes-led side has been facing criticism from a large number of former cricketers, Australia women’s team captain Alyssa Healy has criticised Harry Brook for not shouldering responsibility with Stokes.
"I actually think Ben Stokes shoulders too much of the accountability for everything. I have full praise for him. He stands there at the end of every Test match that they lose and says, 'I'll take accountability for this, this, [and] this. I did this wrong, I did that wrong.'," Healy said on the Willow Talk podcast.
Brook's only fifty came in the first innings of the Perth Test. In the second innings, he fell for a three-ball duck. He followed it up with scores of 31 and 15 in the pink-ball Test at The Gabba.
Healy continued to laud Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum for backing the players but expects Brook to do away with reckless shots.
"How about taking a little bit of load off your captain? 'Hi, my name's Harry Brook, I played a shocking shot twice in this Test match (Brisbane) and I put our team under the pump unnecessarily twice'. I've never heard him come out and say that. There's your captain standing there sticking up for him, saying, 'I did this wrong, I did that wrong.' For me, that screams trouble, and that's creating a bubble environment that he and Brendon [McCullum] are trying to empower their players to be good enough to be out there and compete," the wicketkeeper-batter added.
Brook was named vice-captain of the side ahead of Ollie Pope. Going ahead in the Ashes 2025-26, England need better contributions from their batters. So far, the Bazball approach has not yielded them results. Instead, the allout attack approach has played into hosts’ hands.
One pacer each ruled out from both camps
In the Adelaide Test, England will be without the services of Mark Wood who has been ruled out of the tour due to a recurring knee injury. In the Australian camp, Pat Cummins is fit to play but Josh Hazlewood has been ruled out of the series.