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Michael Vaughan criticises England’s batting errors in the 2025-26 Ashes as Australia, led by Travis Head and Mitchell Starc, bag a 1-0 series lead.
Ben Stokes’ England is now 0-1 down in the five-Test series (Picture credits: AP)
Former cricketer Michael Vaughan has said that England made massive batting blunders at the start of the 2023 Ashes to go down 0-2 and they did the same in the first Test of the 2025-26 Ashes and are now 0-1 down after the opening game of the five-match series.
Star Australia batter Travis Head’s heroics were set up by a fiery post-lunch burst from the marauding pace duo of Scott Boland and Mitchell Starc, which triggered a dramatic England collapse.
When Starc dismissed skipper Ben Stokes (2), the visitors slumped to 88/6 and the former completed a 10-wicket match haul for just the third time in his career, building on his first-innings best of 7/58.
“England made huge mistakes with the Bat in 2023 at the start of the Ashes series … they went 2-0 down … they have made the same mistakes here … it’s bloody disappointing,” Vaughan tweeted on Saturday afternoon.
England made huge mistakes with the Bat in 2023 at the start of Ashes series … they went 2-0 down … they have made exactly the same mistakes here … it’s bloody disappointing …— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) November 22, 2025
England were rescued by a crucial 50-run partnership between Gus Atkinson (37) and Brydon Carse (20) before being rolled for a paltry 164 at tea.
Australia resumed on a precarious 123/9 and managed only nine more runs before Nathan Lyon fell to Carse for four, handing England a 40-run lead.
Stokes was the star of the show, claiming 5/23 off just 36 deliveries to give England a golden chance to win a Test Down Under for the first time since the 2010-11 series.
In the first two Tests of the 2023 Ashes in Birmingham and Lord’s, Australia registered two wins and even though England won the third and the fifth, while drawing the fourth, Australia could still retain the urn.
In that series, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Starc were the two stars for the visitors, while Zak Crawley and Stuart Broad did their best for England as well.
November 22, 2025, 17:14 IST
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