Former England captain unimpressed by Bazball Ashes: 'No different from any other tour'

Former England captain Nasser Hussain has delivered a blunt assessment of England’s Ashes campaign in Australia, insisting that despite a complete change in mindset under the Bazball era, the outcome has been “no different” from previous tours.

Speaking on the Ashes Daily podcast on Sky Sports Cricket after Australia sealed the series with an 82-run win in the third Test in Adelaide, Hussain said he initially supported England’s decision to rethink their approach following years of failure Down Under.



“I quite like the fact they have done things differently over the last four years since the last Ashes drubbing,” Hussain said. “I do like the fact they have thought differently; they have planned ahead. If you carry on doing what you have always done, you will get the same results, so they saw we need to do something different. I quite like that, they've thought ahead.”

Australia wrapped up the series midway through the final day in Adelaide, bowling England out for 352 in their second innings to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. It marks England’s first away Ashes defeat of the Bazball era, following the appointments of Brendon McCullum as head coach and Ben Stokes as captain in 2022.

However, Hussain said that when judged purely on performances, this England side has looked all too familiar. “But actually, if you've come here and looked at them in the last three-four weeks you'd have thought, ‘is it really that different from any other England side?’” he said.

“They've not batted well, they've not bowled well, they've not caught well. Under key moments and pressure situations, they've buckled,” Hussain added.

Pointing to history, Hussain explained why England felt forced to reinvent themselves in the first place. “Every other England side apart from the (Andrew) Strauss side [in 2010-11] has come here and lost and lost convincingly,” he said. “Joe Root has now played 17 Test matches in Australia; he hasn't won one.”

Despite understanding the logic behind the overhaul in strategy, Hussain admitted frustration that the end result has remained unchanged. “So that's why there was this rethink,” he said. “Even after the massive rethink and left-field selections and ‘we must have pace’ and ‘we must have batters that put bowlers under pressure’, actually we've ended up getting exactly what we've had on virtually every other Ashes tour.”

He concluded with a note of disappointment, adding, “That’s what disappoints me because I thought this time, with this opposition, it might have been slightly different. It has been no different.”


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