Let’s Invite them Over Again
Pete Lalor on England’s Ashes obsession.
Has England’s obsession with the Ashes become something we need talk about?
England and the West Indies are playing at Lord’s this week. It was Jimmy Anderson’s last Test and Gus Atkinson’s first. The baton hand over appearing to be perfectly timed with the 26-year-old taking 7 wickets in his first outing and the only cricketer old enough to run for the American presidency picking up one.
At some point in the commentary, with the Windies three down on the first morning, Andrew Strauss and Nasser Hussain found themselves noodling on and on about the type of English bowler you want to take to Australia.
Hussain, who is one of the world’s best cricket commentators (he’s among some quality peers in that Sky box with Mel Jones, Ian Bishop and Michael Atherton, to name a few, alongside) eventually pulled up the chat by suggesting they “focus on the present” which was, coincidentally, unfolding in front of them.
Atkinson was feasting on fresh meat that day. Three of the opposition players had experience of playing a Test match at Lord’s, which is a uniquely challenging venue.
The 2025-26 Ashes contest appears to be keeping England up at night and the side has had a radical makeover. Anderson, who is about to turn 42, has been told to pack his bags, but granted a farewell appearance. Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali are not in the XI.
The team strategists, essentially Rob Key, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, have decided, understandably, that it is time for a reboot.
In his presser ahead of the Test it became apparent the Windies are not the only thing on Stokes mind:
“When you have a lot of time off you've got a lot of time to think about how you can take the team forward," he said. "I've been captain now for two years so, for me, it's about progressing this team. And we've been a team, especially in the first two years, very focused on the here and now on what we need to do.
“I want to be able to implement stuff to push this team as far as they can go, not only as a team collective but also as individuals. And you look at where we've got to go in 18 months' time, to Australia: we want to win that urn back.
"We've got an incredibly talented and exciting group of young fast bowlers coming through at the moment, so giving them the experience of playing international cricket, getting Test matches under their belt, will put us in a much stronger position to hopefully go out and win the Ashes."
Stokes denied they were getting ahead of themselves.
“We’re not focusing on that over what we need to do here,” Stokes told reporters at Lord’s on Tuesday.
“We’ve got a lot of Test cricket to play before Australia. But we had to make some decisions around what we think is best for the team going into that series.”
But there was more.
“I’m not going to lie. I want us to be able to take a squad out there that I know is going to go at Australia,” the 33-year-old said.
“I’ll be nearly four years as captain when we go out there, I want to know we’ve done everything right over this 18-month period to go out there with a strong enough squad to not just compete with Australia but to beat them.
“It’s probably the first time you’ve heard me speak like that about something so far away. It goes back to progression as a side. I want this team to progress over the 18 months, so I’m focusing on that because I want to go to Australia and win the Ashes back.
“We want to win that urn back.”
Australia and England have both had a tendency to reset after an Ashes with an eye on the next contest. It’s part of the natural cycle of cricket in either hemisphere and not unwise.
Down in Australia, however, all eyes are, naturally, on the Indian summer. Having been pantsed by the visitors in the past two home series (not to mention the away series) this is a an important marker for the San Francisco Unicorn’s Pat Cummins and his side.
India are coming in December. It’s a five Test series. It’s going to be red hot. There’s Rohit and Virat and Jasprit and that new breed brand of Indian cricketer who seems to be so adept at adaption to Australian conditions.
Naturally Australia is focused on that contest. This is an outfit which has a tendency to live firmly in the moment and receives some criticism for that.
India smashed England at home 4-1 this year. The English have played some very good Test cricket in the past couple of years, but it has brought them little success in terms of winning a series. They failed to regain the Ashes, failed in India, drew in New Zealand, but did clinch a one game “series” against Ireland.
The focus on regaining the Ashes by the English seems fair enough until you look at the future tour’s program and realise they actually have a return series against India ahead of the Ashes about which barely a word has been uttered.
An ECB documentary on the last Ashes was released last week and comments from Stokes after the draw in Manchester were met with raised eyebrows down here.
“Everything we’ve done up until now isn’t going to stop because we haven’t managed to win the urn back,” Stokes told the team.
“The reward for our work isn’t what we get but what we become.
“And what we have managed to do is we’ve managed to become a sports team that will live forever in the memory of people who were lucky enough to witness us play cricket.
“I know it’s going to be a bit flat, I know it’s going to hurt that we go into the next game (at The Oval) not being able to get the urn back.
“But what we have done is something a lot bigger than any Ashes trophy could ever signify for this team – be the team that everybody will always remember.”
Harry Brook had made a similar revelation earlier in the series, claiming England didn’t so much care that they lost the early matches because they were “going to be a team to be remembered. We're bringing different crowds to watch the game, more people are getting into Test cricket.”
Stokes got upset that his comments were greeted with derision in Australia.
“Said this to the team who had watched it rain for 2 days when we had our foot on your throats, just tried to cheer up the disappointment tbh, but anyways rent free and all that," he wrote on social media.
It was heartening to see some self awareness from the captain of a cult that had until this moment shown little, but it probably wasn’t the smartest move from Stokes to be provoked and react.
Get the feeling he holds a grudge against Cummins’ mob?
Anyways, no matter who is living rent free in who’s head, it feels like oldest rivalry is not going away anytime soon.
Was Stokes aiming for irony in his comments, or did he just get there by chance.
Great stuff. I wondered how much self-awareness there was in that Stokes tweet. With all the focus on the series between the big three, the move to a two-tier Test system seems almost inevitable.