To Sydney, and to stick or twist. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t see there being someone else who I could take this team [with],\u201d said Ben Stokes<\/a> of his relationship with Brendon McCullum<\/a>. \u201cFrom where we are now, to even bigger heights.\u201d<\/p>\n Stokes chooses stick. <\/p>\n A debate has broken out in English cricket about the need for change. Every four years, England comes to Australia, loses, throws the Chris Silverwood out with the bath water, and then come back four years later, and loses again. <\/p>\n \u201cIf you do what we did four years ago,\u201d Stokes says, making his case. \u201cWe\u2019ll just end up back in the same situation.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s a logical argument. To change, in this instance, is to stay the same. Bucking the trend of yesteryear and forging onwards with the same power trio of Stokes, McCullum and Rob Key that got us here. Yes, they made mistakes that have contributed to the loss, but they will be able to learn from them. <\/p>\n The problem is when a series that has been earmarked as a referendum on your era fails, to change the narrative that you are still the right men for the job requires you to be able to point to a wider array of work. But there isn\u2019t much to go on. <\/p>\n \u201cWe want to get this team back in the direction we were in two years ago,\u201d Stokes said ahead of Sydney. \u201cBoth in results and in the way in which we were playing so consistently in terms of getting on the right side of results. That\u2019s gone downhill.\u201d<\/p>\n But has it? Two years ago, England hosted Australia at home, and then went to India away. They drew two-all at home, and lost four-one away. This year, they have hosted India at home, and travelled to Australia away. They drew two-all at home, and are one defeat away from a four-one loss away. The results are identical. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n The win in Melbourne was too little, too late for the overall series and may prove the same for the hierarchy (Getty Images)<\/p>\n Since winning the first 10 of their 11 matches as captain and coach, Stokes and McCullum\u2019s time in charge has seen 34 matches played, with 16 wins and 16 losses. The last three years have seen England losing as much as they win. <\/p>\n The golden touch that they once had, where debutants arrived and shone immediately has faded. All of Josh Tongue, Rehan Ahmed, Will Jacks, Tom Hartley and Gus Atkinson took five-wicket hauls on debut, but since then they have handed a bizarre debut to the 20-year-old Josh Hull, picked and discarded Sam Cook after one match and done the same with Liam Dawson. <\/p>\n Shoaib Bashir<\/a>, Zak Crawley<\/a> and Ollie Pope were backed as the three project players of this era. Bashir and Crawley, in particular, were selected with this series in mind. And so far, Bashir has been deemed unselectable, Pope has been dropped mid-series and Crawley, for whom the theory goes is tailor-made for these conditions, has averaged 32, compared to his career average of 32. <\/p>\n The show of faith in Bashir and Pope has also had negative knock-on effects. In backing Bashir wholeheartedly, only to blink at the end, England arrived in Australia without a back-up spinner. The result was it was left to the part-timer Will Jacks to bowl almost 40 overs in Adelaide and go toe-to-toe with the greatest finger spinner of this generation in Nathan Lyon. Jacks conceded over 200 runs across the match at five-runs an over. It was not his fault. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n England have acknowledged mishandling Jacob Bethell (Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2253666319.jpeg\")
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![\"Brendon](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2254319301.jpeg\")
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