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Here’s a little overview for you.
- Sunday December 21: Lose the Ashes after 11 days of cricket
- Monday December 22: Head coach Brendon McCullum admits future eludes him
- Tuesday December 23: Video footage emerges showing Ben Duckett drunk
- Wednesday December 24: Fast bowler Jofra Archer ruled out for remainder of series
- Thursday December 25: Light relief with pre-test training on Christmas hats
- Friday December 26: Skittle Australia for 152, but then go for 110 yourself
- Saturday December 27: Skittle Australia for 132, then chase 175 to finally win
England’s week was more eventful than Craig David’s in ‘7 Days’, but, like that musician, they were then able to relax on Sunday after beating Australia two days after a ridiculous Boxing Day Test to win the title. first victory in the country in almost 15 years.
Ben Stokes’ side dealt with pre-match chaos and then much more madness throughout the match on a fruity MCG pitch to win by four wickets. The frustration was that the series had already slipped through their fingers.
The England captain said he ‘couldn’t be more proud’ after the team won in Melbourne following a difficult week
England made a litany of errors in Australia, including build-up, shot selection and the selection itself, but skipper Stokes probably got things straight in the build-up to the rapid-fire Melbourne Test, the most telling being the way he managed to galvanize his team.
He has pledged his support for Duckett after this unwanted and unverified clip surfaced apparently showing his teammate drunk in Noosa.. Stokes knew first-hand how Duckett must have felt after the Bristol incident in 2017.
With England accused of having a drinking culture, Stokes asked for “empathy” towards players amid a grueling schedule, having also had to ask questions about his own future as a leader earlier in the week after his men lost 3-0.
Having backed his players, his players then backed him, doing enough to survive Australia in a Boxing Day Test that unfolded at breakneck speed and dashed the hosts’ hopes of a 5-0 whitewash. Glenn McGrath’s prediction will now not come true.
I was very happy for Stokes. It was a tough preparation for him, not only because the team was down 3-0, but also because of the stories off the field, and I was very impressed with how he handled that. He actually wrapped his arms around the team and said, “I’m giving them my full support no matter what.” There are always things to play for even when you have lost a series and your team has shown that it is determined to play for him.
Carse promotion and Brook appearance add to Melbourne ‘chaos’
It would have been easy for England to withdraw after a Opening day of 20 wickets which left them 46 points behind, but they came back the next morning to raze Australia for the second time in the match, aided by some ill-advised shots and that useful surface.
Getting 175 on this ground was never going to be easy, but England did it with typical aggression and, on this occasion, wisecracking and there was relatively little nervousness. In fact, probably the most eye-catching moment was when Brydon Carse came out to bat at number 3.
The experiment didn’t explicitly work – Carse made six from eight balls – but given England won the match, it wasn’t an epic failure either and may have worked in the sense that it gave Jacob Bethell a little more time to prepare before heading to number 4 and making 40.
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Melbourne Cricket Ground grounds curator Mathew Page admitted he was in a “state of shock” after the Boxing Day Ashes Test between Australia and England lasted just two days.
There was “method to chaos”, as Stokes puts it, adding: “The top orders of both teams were struggling to score runs consistently and feel fluent, so we went for someone who had talent with the bat and a very good eye for hitting the ball.
“It didn’t really happen, but the 15 to 20 minutes [Carse] “The spending there made it a little easier for Bethell to build the innings he did.”
Brydon Carse was deployed at No.3 during England’s second innings, with captain Ben Stokes saying there was a ‘method to chaos’
It was perhaps fitting that the winning runs came from Harry Brook – albeit off his behind rather than off his bat – considering that the vice-captain’s method of chaos in the first innings was crucial to England securing victory in this low-scoring match.
Brook played many stupid shots throughout the series, and we can probably add his wild shot after charging Mitchell Starc’s first ball at the MCG, but his two outrageous sixes and as many fours in a 34-ball 41 – England’s highest innings of the match – proved vital. Without this appearance, they could well be down 4-0.
Brook’s shot showed there was a time and place for Bazball: it makes sense to target quick runs on a pitch where there’s likely to be a ball with your name on it soon enough.
It’s just a shame England couldn’t maintain that spirit on previous pitches when calm, not chaos, was needed. They got royally drunk in Perth and Brisbane.
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Nasser and Athers praised Harry Brook’s approach during England’s first innings at the MCG
Duckett and Bethell key to England’s victory
It was also fitting that Duckett and Bethell had been England’s top scorers in recent innings, the former having struggled to earn runs on the field and his apparent behavior off it entering the conversation, and the latter spending too much time off the field after bursting onto the Test scene in New Zealand last winter.
Duckett looked all at sea – and not in the Noosa Holiday way – in the first innings as he headed to mid on, but creamed 36 from 24 balls in the second, including a daring ramp six, to get the chase off to a torrid start.
Bethell, meanwhile, bounced back from a knock on Ashes debut a day earlier with a 46-ball innings of style and substance. Some of his cover driving was supreme. There was also a reverse scoop.
Jacob Bethell helped England to victory with a knock of 40 off 46 balls on day two
It may be difficult to read too much into a score of 40 – a bit like when a Premier League striker scores a hat-trick against inferior opposition in the FA Cup – but that doesn’t mean anything either and Bethell strikes with an air of authority that the man he replaced in the XI, Ollie Pope, often struggles to locate.
England’s management of Bethell, which led to a glaring lack of first-class cricket for the player in 2025 before he was spurred into action in front of 90,000 people at the MCG, was described as “ridiculous” by Atherton but there is surely no question of putting it on the back burner now. He looks set for a long run in the team, whether at number 3 or lower.
The win may not be one to truly savor with the team’s Ashes dreams turned to dust at this point, but it at least gave the fans something to finally smile about.
After a chaotic series and a particularly chaotic week, England delivered a timely Christmas present.
England fans celebrate long-awaited Ashes victory in Melbourne
Ashes series in Australia 2025-26
Australia leads five-match series 3-1
