England suffered a major setback in the first session on the fourth day of the Sydney Test. England captain Ben Stokes had to leave the field due to injury. Stokes’ injury has increased England’s problems.

When the game started on Wednesday, Stokes was seen in pain after bowling the fourth ball of his second over. He left the field due to pain. This was the fourth ball of the 28th over of his spell. At that time Australia’s score was 523 runs at the loss of 7 wickets. Stokes’ over was completed by Jacob Bethel. In Stokes’s absence, Harry Brook took over the captaincy.

On Ben Stokes’ injury, the England Cricket Board said that Stokes is complaining of pain in his right muscle. His right adductor is being examined. Update will be given soon.

Ben Stokes’s career has been badly affected by injuries. This is the fourth time Stokes has been injured in the last 18 months and this is the fourth consecutive series in which he has been injured. He also got injured during The Hundred in August and could not play in the home series against Sri Lanka. He could not even play the first test against Pakistan. In December 2024, the England team went on a tour of New Zealand. He suffered an injury in his right hamstring in the third and last Test match of this series. Last year, he was out of the fifth Test of the series against India due to a right shoulder injury. It remains to be seen whether he is able to bat or bowl for England in the second innings or not.

Australia’s first innings ended at 567 runs on the fourth day of the Sydney Test. Steve Smith was out after scoring 138 runs. Beau Webster remained unbeaten after scoring 71 runs. Australia has a lead of 183 runs over England on the basis of first innings. England’s first innings was limited to 384 runs.

Australia Batting Fails In The Melbourne Test: The fourth Test of the Ashes series between Australia and England started from Friday i.e. December 26, 2025 in Melbourne. After losing the toss, the Australian team, which came to bat first, was reduced to 152 runs in the first innings. Australia, which had taken an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the series, had shown the fear of fast bowling to England before the start of the Melbourne Test, but itself got trapped in this maze. England, which won the toss and decided to bowl, did not give any Australian batsman a chance to settle on the crease.

Australia’s batting failed in Melbourne test

While the century-winning head and carry of the previous match did not work, the bat of Steve Smith, who returned in this Test, also remained quiet. Smith could score only 9 runs. If Michael Neser, who came to bat at number eight, had not played an inning of 35 runs, Australia’s situation would have been worse. Neser was the top scorer in Australia’s first innings. He hit 7 fours in his innings. For Australia, Travis Head scored 12, Jake Weatherald 10, Usman Khawaja 29, Alex Carey 20 and Cameron Green scored 17 runs.

Josh Tong did lethal bowling in Melbourne test

Josh Tong was the most successful bowler from England. Tong took 5 wickets for 45 runs in 11.2 overs. Tong took the wickets of Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Michael Neser and Scott Boland. Gus Atkinson took 2 wickets for 28 runs in 14 overs. Atkinson took the important wickets of Head and Usman Khawaja. Captain Ben Stokes and Brayden Carse also got 1 wicket each. England, which has lost the Ashes series by losing the first three tests, has a chance to win this test. If England manages to take a big lead over Australia in the first innings, then pressure can be put on Australia in the second innings.

In the first three matches of the ongoing 5-match Ashes series between England and Australia, the English team lost the series 3-0. Now the demand for change in the leadership of the team has intensified. Former English spinner Monty Panesar has said that the team needs a new thinking. He has suggested former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri as a possible successor to Brendon McCullum and Panesar said that Ravi Shastri knows how to win series in Australia.

Demand raised to make Ravi Shastri the coach

England Lost The Ashes 2025-26: Former England spinner Monty Panesar has talked about Ravi Shastri becoming the new head coach of England. He emphasized on Shastri’s proven track record against Australia and said that Shastri has the necessary tactical knowledge to win a high-pressure series in Australia.

Panesar said, ‘You have to think who knows the right way to defeat Australia? How will you take advantage of Australia’s mental, physical and strategic weaknesses? I think Ravi Shastri should become the next head coach of England. McCullum’s ‘baseball’ tactics, which had won praise for his attacking style, have come under intense scrutiny following England’s poor results both at home and away. Since the beginning of the year 2024, the English team has won 12 tests but also lost 13. This has raised concerns over the sustainability of McCullum’s methods and how effective this method is against top teams like Australia.

Ravi Shastri has won two series in Australia

Under the guidance of Ravi Shastri, India has won two test series in Australia. He won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2018-19 and 2020-21. Both times the scoreline of the series was 2-1. This remarkable success in Australia has led some former English players, including Panesar, to view Shastri as a coach who can exploit the weaknesses of the Australian team.

Will McCullum leave the post of head coach?

Meanwhile, amid the ongoing speculation, Brendon McCullum himself has expressed uncertainty about his future as the head coach of England. When asked about continuing his role for the English summer of 2026, McCullum said that the matter is not really in his hands. McCullum told the press, ‘I don’t know. It’s not really up to me, I’ll just keep trying to do my job, try to learn from the things we didn’t do well here and try to make some improvements. These questions are not for me, but for someone else.

Mitchell Starc has dominated the Ashes series. Australian fast bowlers have taken 22 wickets in the first 3 matches of the ongoing series against England. Due to Starc’s brilliant performance, Australia has taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series. He has taken more than 5 wickets twice. He took 7 wickets in the first innings of the first Test played in Perth. Starc took 6 wickets in the first innings of the second Test played in Brisbane. Due to this performance, he has broken the 30 year old record of former Pakistani bowler Waqar Younis.

Mitchell Starc is the only bowler to do this in 2025

Mitchell Starc took 3 wickets in the second innings of the third Test played in Adelaide. With this, he has taken 51 Test wickets in the year 2025, he is the only bowler to do so. There is still one more Test (Boxing Day Test) left for Australia this year. This means that Starc has a chance to increase this number, but before that he has already broken many big records. In terms of most Test wickets in the ongoing year (2025), Indian bowler Mohammad Siraj is at second place, who has 43 wickets to his name.

Stark created history

Mitchell Starc has taken 50 wickets this year with a strike rate of 28.7. He has made the record of best strike rate in the calendar year, this record was in the name of former Pakistan bowler Waqar Younis for 30 years. In the 148-year-old Test history, Starc has become the bowler with the best strike rate in a calendar year.

Waqar Younis made this record in 1993, when he took 55 wickets with a strike rate of 29.5. Waqar Younis and Mitchell Starc are the only ones who have taken 50 or more wickets in a calendar year with a strike rate of less than 30.

Now in this matter, only England’s George Lohman is ahead of Starc, who took 38 wickets with a strike rate of 18 in 1886. Although he was not able to take 50 wickets that year, Starc has the best strike rate among the bowlers who have taken 50 wickets in a calendar year.

Jasprit Bumrah also came close

Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah also came close to this record of Waqar Younis. Bumrah took 71 Test wickets in 2024, his strike rate was 30.1. In 2024 itself, Gus Atkinson of England had taken 52 wickets, his strike rate was 35.6.

England has not won any Ashes series since 2015. Australia has dominated the Ashes for the last 10 years and in the current series of 2025 too, Australia has taken an unassailable 3-0 lead. The England team is being heavily criticized, meanwhile the managing director of the England team, Rob Key, has made a surprising revelation. He says that during the Ashes series, there has been news of excessive consumption of alcohol by the players during the holidays in a resort.

Rob can now investigate the alcohol addiction of the players of the England team. Till now, England has suffered a crushing defeat in all three matches of the Ashes series.

Between the second and third Test, the England team went on a holiday to a resort in a city named Noosa. Preparations for this break in the middle of a long tour were made in advance, so that the players could be given rest. Team managing director Rob Key did not accompany the team to Noosa. He says that he has no objection to the players celebrating holidays, but he will be very sad if he finds any evidence of excessive alcohol consumption.

Rob Key said, “If people are saying that our players have consumed too much alcohol. Obviously we will investigate it. Excessive drinking is something that I would not expect at all for an international cricket team. It would certainly be a big mistake to ignore it. From what I have heard so far, the players have behaved very well.”

England players have been in the news before due to reports of drinking alcohol during a series. Before the Ashes series, Harry Brook and Jacob Batchelor were seen drinking alcohol before an ODI match was played against New Zealand. On this, Rob Key said that both the players were let off with a warning for that incident.

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The Ashes Series 2025-26: The England cricket team has not been able to win a single test match in Australia for the last 15 years. England last won a Test match on Australian soil in 2010-11. After this, 17 test matches have been played between England and Australia so far, in which the English team has failed to win even a single test match. Out of these 17 matches, the 15th defeat was in the day-night test played in Brisbane. However, the reason given by the team’s head coach Brendon McCullum for this defeat has surprised everyone. McCullum says that the team had prepared more than necessary for this match.

Ashes series 2025-26 account

The ongoing 2025-26 Ashes series between Australia and England started from Perth. In the first match of this series, Australia gave a crushing defeat to England in just 2 days. 12 days later, the second match was played in Brisbane with day-night i.e. pink ball. However, this match continued till the fourth day but the result remained the same as Perth Test. In this match, England had to face a shameful defeat by 8 wickets. At the same time, England suffered its 15th defeat out of 17 consecutive Tests on Australian soil, while 2 Test matches between the two teams have been drawn.

McCullum’s surprising statement after the defeat in Brisbane Test

After the defeat in the first two matches of the Ashes series 2025-26, England’s hopes of comeback are looking difficult and head coach McCullum is under question on this. As bad as England’s performance was in the Brisbane Test, coach Brendon McCullum gave an even more surprising statement. Speaking to the broadcaster after the defeat to the English team, McCullum said, “We probably Will drink beer at night. I think we had prepared more than necessary before coming into this match. We trained very hard for five consecutive days and sometimes when you are preparing for a competition, like we are, sometimes the most important thing is to feel fresh.”

“Leading into this Test match, I actually think we over prepared to be honest.”

– Brendon McCullum talks about England’s approach heading into Brisbane and whether it’ll change for Adelaide #Ashes pic.twitter.com/YII0f9slli

— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) December 7, 2025

England left the practice match after a 12-day break

As far as England’s preparations are concerned, the first match of the series started on 21 November and ended on 22 November. After this, the second match started from 4th December i.e. during this time the English team got a break of 12 days. Even though McCullum talked about 5 consecutive training sessions, during this time England also had a chance to play a day-night practice match but the pair of Stokes and McCullum had decided to rest instead of taking part in it.

The Ashes Series 2025-26: The second match of the ongoing 5-match 2025-26 Ashes series between Australia and England was played as a day-night test in Brisbane. Australia has taken a strong 2-0 lead in the series by defeating England by eight wickets in this match. After achieving a decisive victory in the Brisbane Test, Australia remains on top in the current rankings of the World Test Championship (WTC). At the same time, England’s problems have increased in this ranking.

Brisbane Test account

In the Brisbane Test, England won the toss and decided to bat first. England did not have a good start in the first innings and lost 2 wickets for just 5 runs. After this, thanks to the brilliant century of England’s legendary batsman Joe Root (138 runs) and half-century of Jack Crawley (76 runs), England was able to score 334 runs in its first innings. In reply, Australia managed to take a huge lead of 177 runs in the first innings with all its batsmen scoring double digit runs.

The England team was seen struggling in the second innings and lost six wickets for just 128 runs, but captain Ben Stokes (50 runs) and Will Jacques (41 runs) played a fighting innings. These two batsmen did not lose any wicket in the first session of the fourth day and made an important partnership of 96 runs for the seventh wicket, due to which Australia got the target of only 65 runs to win. Chasing this small target, Australia achieved it in just 10 overs, despite losing two wickets in the form of Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne. Steve Smith won this match brilliantly by hitting a six off Gus Atkinson.

Australia on top in WTC rankings

After a spectacular win in the day-night Test, Australia remains on top of the 2025-27 WTC standings with 100% percentage points (PCT), having won all five of its matches. At the same time, England has suffered a big loss due to the defeat in Brisbane Test and it has slipped from sixth position to seventh position. If we talk about Team India, it remains at 5th position in the current ranking of Test Championship (WTC).

Mitchell Starc created history by scoring a half-century against England in Brisbane. Australia is in a strong position in the second Test of the Ashes series being played at the Gabba Stadium in Brisbane, the reason for this is also Starc. Starc took 6 wickets in England’s first innings, due to which the team was reduced to 334 runs.

Mitchell Starc did not even allow opener Ben Duckett and third-placed Ollie Pope to open their account in England’s first innings, after which he sent Harry Brook (31), Will Jacques (19), Gus Atkinson and Braydon Carse to the pavilion. Starc also performed brilliantly with the bat, till the time of writing the news he is unbeaten on 56 runs.

Mitchell Starc is only the second player to do so

Mitchell Starc is the third highest wicket taker in the ICC World Test Championship, both the players above him are Australians. Nathan Lyon is at first place with 219 wickets and Pat Cummins is at second place with 215 wickets. Mitchell Starc has taken 207 wickets.

Mitchell Starc is the second player to score 200 wickets and 1000 runs in the World Test Championship. Along with him, Pat Cummins is also included in this list, who has 215 wickets and 1020 runs in his name.

Mitchell Starc touched this figure in 71 innings of 51 Tests, he has 1003* runs in his name. His average is 18.92 and strike rate is 50.78. Starc has played 2 half-century innings in WTC. Starc has taken 207 wickets in WTC, his economy was 3.46. In this he has taken five wicket haul 7 times.

Australia is in a strong position

Australia had defeated England in the first match of the Ashes series 2025-2026, Australia is in a strong position in the second test also. England’s first innings was reduced to 334 runs, while Joe Root alone scored 138 runs. He remained unbeaten. Jack Weatherald (72), Marnus Labuschagne (65), Steve Smith (61), Alex Carey (63) and Mitchell Starc (56) have scored half-centuries for Australia. Till the time of writing the news, Australia has a lead of 144 runs.

The second test of the England vs Australia Ashes series is being played at the Gabba Stadium in Brisbane. This is the Pink Ball Test, in which Australian batsman Marnus Labuschagne created history. He has become the first batsman in the world to complete 1000 runs in the day-night test.

When the play started on the second day of the second Test of the Ashes series, England’s score was 325 runs for 9 wickets. Brendan Doggett took the last wicket of the English innings on the 14th ball of the day. Australia also gained lead over England on the very second day. The team got a good start from Travis Head and Jack Weatherald, after which Marnus Labuschagne led the innings well and completed his half-century.

Marnus Labuschagne created history

Travis Head and Jack Weatherald made a partnership of 77 runs for the first wicket, Head was out after scoring 33 runs in 43 balls. After this, there was a partnership of 69 runs for the second wicket between Jack and Marnus Labuschagne, Jack was out after scoring 72 runs on the ball of Archer.

After this, Marnus Labuschagne completed his half-century, he made a partnership of 50 runs with Steve Smith. Labuschagne scored 65 runs in 78 balls with the help of 1 six and 9 fours. In this innings, he became the first batsman in the world to complete 1000 runs in the Day Night Test (Pink Ball Test), Steve Smith is at second place in this list.

Batsman who scored most runs in day night test

• Marnus Labuschagne- 1023
• Steve Smith- 850
• David Warner- 753
• Travis Head- 752
• Joe Root- 639

Mitchell Starc took 6 wickets

The one who put England on the back foot on the very first day was Mitchell Starc, who took 6 wickets in the first innings. He dismissed 6 batsmen for 75 runs in 20 overs. He did not even allow openers Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope to open the account. England’s most experienced batsman Joe Root played a brilliant innings and took England to a respectable score, Root scored 138 runs and remained unbeaten.

Australia has strengthened its hold on the second Ashes Test. In this match being played at Gabba, Australia has scored 378 runs at the loss of 6 wickets by the end of the second day’s play. Australia is currently ahead by 44 runs in the first innings, because England’s first innings was reduced to 334 runs. On the second day, captain Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Jack Weatherald scored half-centuries for the Kangaroo team.

England increased their score to 325/9 on the second day. The English team had added only 9 runs to the scoreboard, then Archer was out after scoring 38 runs. England’s first innings was limited to 334 runs. Joe Root returned unbeaten after scoring 138 runs.

Second test in the hands of Australia

In the absence of Usman Khawaja, Travis Head started the Australian innings along with Jack Weatherald. There was an opening partnership of 77 runs between the two. Head was out after scoring 33 runs, but Weatherald scored 72 runs playing at a strike rate of 92. Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith took the lead, but when Labuschagne was out after scoring 65 runs, Australia lost the third wicket at the score of 196.

The England team seemed to be in a comeback mood, but then Smith and Green made a partnership of 95 runs. At one time, Australia had scored 291 runs at the loss of 3 wickets, but meanwhile, Brydon Carse brought England back into the match by taking the wickets of Cameron Green and Steve Smith in the same over. Ben Stokes gave the sixth blow to Australia by clean bowling Josh English.

Now Alex Carey and Michael Neser are becoming a problem for England. Their partnership of 49 runs for the seventh wicket seems to be very heavy for England.

Stokes and Kars got beaten up a lot.

On the second day, England’s bowlers were also beaten badly. Later Stokes bowled well, but at one time his economy rate was touching around 7. Stokes has taken 2 wickets so far, but has given away 93 runs in 17 overs. On the other hand, Brayden Kars has given away 113 runs in 17 overs and has also taken 3 wickets.