Ashes 2025-26: England win in Sydney to give Australia a 4-1 win

This was meant to be the dazzling glory of Project Bazzball, a series England had been working towards for 18 months and which McCullum said could “define” his team.

In the end, they were identified as another English team beaten in Australia. This was the fourth consecutive Ashes tour in which England lost at least four Tests.

In this century alone, England have recorded 27 defeats in this country from 35 matches. Three of their five Test victories in that period came in the glorious triumph of 2010-11 – the only series England have won here in the last 40 years.

The players England supported for this tour have withered. Ollie Pope played three Tests before being dropped, the previously successful opening partnership between Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett collapsed, and wicket-keeper Jimmy Smith was a shadow of his best.

Spinner Shoaib Bashir, allocated for this tour over a year ago, has not played a Test.

As is always the case in Ashes tours, England have been plagued by injuries. Mark Wood may never play for England again after returning home with a knee problem and Jofra Archer’s remarkable tour ended with a side strain suffered in the third Test. Sydney’s Joss Atkinson has been ruled out with a hamstring issue.

Pace bowler Josh Tongue emerged with his reputation enhanced, while Jacob Bethell’s century in the final Test was a late silver lining. If only England had supported Bethel months ago.

Joe Root provided the finest moment of the tour in England by finally scoring a Test hundred in Australia, but this was another Ashes tour in which Root and Stokes – two of England’s greats – were at the wrong end of the roads. Root might get another chance in four years, and Stokes certainly won’t.

Stokes supported McCollum, whom Key also publicly supported. While this administration is not alone in presiding over failed England Ashes tours, much of the scrutiny comes from issues and problems that could have been avoided.

England selected a team that left them few options when things went wrong and prepared their players in conditions a far cry from what they faced in Tests.

As well as being ill-prepared for the challenges they faced on the pitch, the visitors appeared surprised by the hostile attention they received from the Australian media, especially at the start of the tour.

In Perth, England players were followed to golf courses and even an aquarium. In Brisbane, they were photographed riding scooters without helmets, an offense punishable by a fine under Queensland law. As they were preparing to fly out of Brisbane Airport, a member of the English security staff got into an altercation with a television cameraman.

The Brisbane trip came at the end of England’s notorious holiday in Noosa, where Key investigated the amount of time some players spent drinking. Images of England players on the beach and in pubs will be as poignant as anything that happened on the pitch.