Australia may have drawn last year’s Ashes series to retain the urn, but a new documentary has revealed some deep divisions that surfaced among the Australian ranks during the six-week campaign.
This was especially evident in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, where the Australian team smashed every inch before the rain arrived and stole a pivotal draw in the series.
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England’s famous Bazball was in full swing in that match, with the home side smashing 592 at first par for Australia’s 317, and that one-sided contest led to considerable tension between the touring teams.
This was particularly the case between skipper Pat Cummins and vice-captain Steve Smith, while skippers such as Marnus Labuschagne and Josh Hazlewood were also caught up in sharp differences of opinion.
All this was revealed in the latest installment of Amazon Prime Video’s third series of cricket documentaries. testFor the first time, we’ve revealed intimate details from the infamous series.
After winning the first two Tests to take Australia’s stranglehold on the five-Test contest, England responded with a narrow three-wicket win in the third clash at Headingley, an opportunity the Australians felt wasted.
After the loss, Cummins was accused of being a “poor captain”, and the defeat clearly caused divisions among the playing group over tactics heading into the fourth Test in Manchester.
“Headingley was a chaotic Test match and the chaos suited England.” Journalist Gideon Haigh said in the documentary:
“Australia has lost its battle plan in those situations.”
Coach Andrew McDonald echoed this sentiment, saying on the eve of the fourth Test: “I think we’re being driven by the pace they want.
“It was really crazy.
“They’re flying in directions we haven’t been in before, so the new information will probably stimulate people in the direction of, ‘What do we do now, what do we do now?'”
It is here that Cummins flags that all is not well in the Australian rankings.
“I think ‘Smudge’ (Smith) has something to do with the fielders too.” the captain said to his former captain.
“It’s like everyone agrees on that little bit, even if they don’t completely agree.
“We may talk about different plans, but we all agree and crack on whatever little part of it we commit to.”
After the Aussies were bowled out early on the second day, England went berserk, dishing out the fast-scoring Bazball they were known for under coach Brendon McCullum and England captain Ben Stokes.
Led by opener Zak Crawley’s 189, Jonny Bairstow’s unbeaten 99 and half-centuries assisted by Joe Root, Moeen Ali, Harry Brook and Stokes, the faltering Australian team had no answer.
“There was this tsunami and there was no safe place to bowl,” Haigh said.
“Everything was happening so fast, the scoring was so fast and it was getting away from us,” Smith added.
“We were probably a little off in our planning and execution. If you put those two things together, it’s going to hurt.”
Back in the dressing room, Smith was trying to get his thoughts across as the team struggled to make any breakthrough with the ball.
“Can we go like One Day Field?” he suggested. “Slip, backward point, third-man deep, a little closer to a traditional one-day field.”
McDonald responded: “We need to find a breakthrough. There’s no doubt about it. But you can’t make the scoreboard work, it’s a good balance.”
Cummins appeared next and said with a wry smile: “It can get busy on site. “We never run out of ideas.”
Josh Hazlewood, who bowled 27 overs in England’s first innings and finished with 5/126, expressed frustration at the constant tactical discussions between the team.
“There are a few ideas floating around,” he said. “They pretty much go directly to (Cummins), and I think it can be thinned out sometimes.
“The rest of you can have a bowl if you want.
“It’s not easy.”
This led former England captain and current commentator Nasser Hussain to make a damning statement about the leadership at the Old Trafford stadium.
“Historically, if you look down at the Australian side, you often see who the captain is: (Mark) Taylor, (Alan) Border, (Ricky) Ponting, (Steve) Waugh,” Hussein said.
“I looked down today and there were a lot of cricketers waving their arms.”
The following exchanges in the doco showed more tension and disagreement as Cummins tried to take the lead and the others attempted to voice their thoughts about the increasingly hopeless situation.
“Marnus (Labuschagne) always has an idea and Smithy is always waving his arms at first slip,” Cummins said.
“I offer advice all the time,” Smith added. “It’s just up to the captain whether to use it or not, and ultimately it’s up to the captain to make the decision.”
“I think we could have tried more creatively,” Labuschagne suggested.
“I tried different methods at different times and even if they didn’t work, I don’t think the situation is any worse than before.
“(We could have) changed it, set a very ambiguous field, or done something completely different.
“It’s difficult. I can tell you my thoughts on what I would have done, but… I’ve said enough.”
With Australia almost on the verge of defeat, the English weather intervened and allowed the tourists to draw and still advance to the fifth Test with a 2-1 lead.
It also meant that the Ashes remained with just one match remaining, regardless of the final result.
Talk still continued at full speed among the squad about the hammering that had just been handed to them and how they could better approach the finale, with the chance of a first series win in England since 2001 still on offer.
Speaking ahead of the team meeting before the fifth Test at The Oval in London, Cummins said: “It felt like it was time to come together, say what we had to say, and all focus on the final test.”
McDonald then began the meeting by saying: “I want to have an open discussion. Are we committed to what we set out to achieve? Do we need to turn to this endgame? Or what does that look like for us?”
The team’s sports psychologist, Brent Membery, offered some key points about whether the team is “calm and connected.”
Cummins responded, “When I think of calm, I think of clear thinking.”
“And I don’t think I was at my best in the last game.
“That’s definitely something we have to try to improve on for this game.”
Wicketkeeper Alex Carey asked the captain what he thought about the numerous messages being sent to him on the pitch.
“I think it gets busy (on the field) sometimes,” Cummins said.
“If it’s not something big enough that we need to change it, I’d like to give the plan its due opportunity.
“Trust me the bowlers are really well planned.
“And what I need most from everyone is that whatever path we take, whatever decision we make, we agree and just move on.
“Always trust your teammates.”
In the end, England won the final Test by 49 runs, drawing the series 2-2.
Leading the way, Brook said England’s victory would deliver a “moral victory” after their fourth Test loss, in comments widely ridiculed by the Australian team and numerous Australian fans.
Despite the obvious tensions along the way, the Australian team did enough to retain the famous urn and the next series is scheduled for the summer of 2025 in Australia.
– The Test Season 3 was released on Prime Video on May 24.
