Ashes 2025-26: How 30 minutes cost England in first Test in Perth

The guilty trio are Ollie Pope, Joe Root and Harry Brock – all three pushing loose motors.

Ben Duckett hit Scott Boland to slip to start the collapse and another five wickets followed later but those three wickets in six balls were the decisive blow for Australia.

Pope got a quick catch from Boland, Brook a third ball with a thick edge off the Victorian while the inside root edge of his eighth ball again hit the stumps to give Mitchell Starc a ninth scalp.

Analysts CricViz have an ‘expected leave’ model for every delivery tracked in Test cricket and historical data suggests that Pope’s delivery would have been left out 72% of times on average, Brook’s 68 and Root’s also 72.

But that’s not the England way.

“I’m very disappointed,” former England captain Michael Vaughan said.

“From that position of dominance, losing nine wickets and three big hits – the same mistakes two years later…

“What you’re looking for is: Are you getting better, are you getting better?

“This England team, at the worst possible time when they had the best team for the conditions in Perth, made exactly the same mistakes they made in 2023.

“This is unforgivable.”