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England's Jamie Smith, left, and Will Jacks walk from the field after play ended on day four of the third Ashes cricket test between England and Australia in Adelaide, Australia, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/James Elsby)
The Ashes this year has seen England posting only one total in excess of 300 in the three Tests played with the third Test at Adelaide Oval in progress. With the Ben Stokes led England team ending the fourth day at a second innings score of 207 for 6 and still needing 228 runs to taste their first win of the series, it seems a big task for the side. The Adelaide Test has also seen England batsmen taking their time rather than batting with the Bazball approach, a high risk approach under coach Brendon McCullum. England’s scoring rate in the first innings at Adelaide was less than 3.30 in both the innings so far and with the team trailing 0-2 in the series, former England captain Michael Atherton has termed England’s batting in Adelaide Test as the team ‘blinking with the bat’
“I think they’ve blinked with the bat. But I think they’ve kind of been forced into that just by the fact that what they have been doing hasn’t been working on the bouncy pitches in Perth and Brisbane, and by the relentlessness of the Australian attack. And the captain’s message before the game was ‘I want to see fight, I want to see dog, I want to see mongrel’, which tells me that he wants a bit of old-school grit and grind,” Atherton said on ‘Ashes Daily’, Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.
Prior to the Adelaide Test, England captain Ben Stokes had urged his team to battle it out in every situation. England had lost the first Test at Perth by eight wickets and the Perth Test was also the shortest in Australia in 93 years and second shortest of all time in the country with just 847 balls bowled in the match. The Ben Stokes led England side then suffered another eight-wicket loss in the second Test at Brisbane. “It’s just trying to fight in every situation that you find yourself in, and understanding the situation and what you feel is required for your team. Just look at your opposition every single time and show a bit of dog. That’s a fight to me. As long as you go out there and everyone is in that mindset around the situation, and what is needed, you’re giving yourself the best possible chance if you’ve got a bit of dog in you,” Stokes had said prior to the Adelaide Test.
In the ongoing Test, England posted a first innings’s total of 286 runs in reply to Australia’s first innings’ total of 371 runs. During England’s first innings, Stokes played a 198-ball knock of 83 runs. On Saturday, England lost six wickets for 207 runs after Australia posted a second innings’ total of 349 runs. Opener Zack Crawley played a 151-ball knock of 85 runs before he was stumped by Alex Carey off the bowling of Nathan Lyon. Atherton shared how he wanted to see the England side batting aggressively with a bit of pragmatism and common sense. “I said this prior to this game that I want to see them continue to play aggressively, stay true to themselves, with all the caveats about a bit of pragmatism and common sense from time to time. Stokes on that second day got very stuck, but you could see what he was trying to do as captain, trying to say ‘over my dead body am I getting out’. But he then found exactly the right tempo the next day, and I thought Crawley’s tempo was perfect today.” Atherton said.
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