Ashes 2025: Glenn McGrath on Bazball and England’s failings

For Australia to fight back and win the first Ashes Test as decisively as they did, you wonder what scars will be left on the England team.

What are they going to do for the rest of the series?

I do not think anyone expected what happened on Saturday. When you look at the number of overs taken to complete the game, it was Test cricket on fast forward.

England were well on top at lunch on the second day, 105 ahead with nine wickets in hand. The pitch was still doing plenty. It looked so tough for Australia to get back into the match.

From that point, England’s shot selection was their big undoing. Scott Boland put in probably his worst performance in an Australia shirt in the first innings, then turned it around in the second to be the catalyst for the comeback.

England’s batters were out trying to hit balls outside off stump, on the up, through the covers.

Trying to score off those deliveries, with those shots, is the one thing you just do not do as a batter in Australia.

It showed that England had not done their homework, are not able to adapt or are unwilling to adapt.

There is a lot of talk about England’s method, their aggressive style. I witnessed it up close during the 2023 Ashes in the UK. Under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, they can be pretty stubborn when it comes to sticking with that method.

It is fine on slow, low pitches. On the fast, bouncy pitches of Australia it is a method fraught with danger. If England do not reassess, they will struggle for the whole series.

As a bowler, I would have always felt in the game against this England team.

I relied on my accuracy, backing myself to hit the same spot on or outside off stump, with a bit of bounce and nip.

Even if this England team was going well, I’d be licking my lips at the prospect of bowling to them, knowing one mistake could bring three or four.

There are times when England can be a high-quality team. They have good players. Good players have skill, but great players have the mental toughness and attitude to be adaptable enough for the conditions.

They would been shellshocked at the way things unfolded at Perth Stadium, devastated at the way they were beaten. Now we will see what they are made of. Even as a true blue Australian, part of me wants to see them change, just to show they can improve.

It was almost the same with their bowling. England’s attack was very good on the first evening, then lost the plot when they were attacked on the second night.

In Test cricket, all disciplines require a Plan B. Quite often it feels like England have one method, then nowhere to go if that does not work.

In fairness to England’s bowlers, they were hit by one of the great Ashes innings by Travis Head.

His 69-ball hundred was the second fastest by an Australian man in Ashes cricket, 12 balls behind Adam Gilchrist at the Waca 19 years ago – a game I played in.

My old mate Gilly said Head’s innings was the better of the two. I agree. Given the difficulty of the pitch and the context of the match situation, Head’s knock will go down as a moment of Ashes history.

It was a bold and brave move for Australia to promote Head up the order for the second innings.

Usman Khawaja has copped it for being unable to open in either innings. He had back spasms after playing golf the day before the Test, but I do not believe the two were linked.

When Khawaja missed out on day one, Australia promoted Marnus Labuschagne and got bogged down.

In moving Head, who has the confidence of opening in white-ball cricket, Australia were able to take the attack to England.

Now there is the question of what Australia will do for the second Test. I’d like to see them stick with the method of aggression at the top of the order.

That could mean Head remains, meaning someone like Beau Webster comes into the middle order, or Head could go back to number five and Mitchell Marsh or Josh Inglis could go to the top. It would be tough on Khawaja, but sometimes you have to do what the opposition would find most uncomfortable.

After the first Test was dominated by the bowlers, some are wondering if the rest of the series will be short, low-scoring Tests.

Perth Stadium is pretty much the fastest, bounciest pitch in the world, so the batters should get a little bit of respite from now on.

It is not all about the pitch. Credit has to be given to the bowlers for getting the ball in the right place so often. Overall, batters on both sides will need to look at how they got themselves out.

Now we move on to Brisbane, and the vastly different day-night conditions for the second Test.

In 2006-07, I was part of the Australia team that overwhelmed England to win 5-0. Ashes series in this country have a habit of getting away from England quickly.

At the moment, England are only 1-0 down. There would be no coming back from 2-0, which is why Brisbane is such a massive game.

They must adapt, or the Ashes will be gone once more.

Glenn McGrath was speaking to BBC Sport’s chief cricket reporter Stephan Shemilt