“2/10 at Sydney”: How England Bowling Unravelled as Ashes Misery Deepened

Sydney is used to rain. More days are lost to weather at the SCG than any other Test venue in the world. Drizzle eventually arrived late on day two of the fifth Ashes Test, but by then the damage had already been done. For England, this was not a slow soaking from the clouds – it was a torrential downpour of self-inflicted pain.

Joe Root had given them something rare in this series: hope. His superb 160 anchored England to 384, a total that at least hinted at competitiveness. For a fleeting moment, England looked like a side capable of asking Australia uncomfortable questions.

Instead, by the close of play, the questions were all being asked of England’s bowling – and none of the answers were convincing.

Australia strolled to 166-2 in just 34.1 overs, barely breaking sweat. Former England spinner Phil Tufnell summed it up brutally, handing England’s bowling performance a “two out of ten”. It felt generous.

England’s Bowling at Sydney: Familiar Problems, Same Old Story

By the time the Ashes reached Sydney, England’s bowling issues were no longer a surprise. They were a pattern. A worrying, repeating pattern.

This attack was supposed to represent a fresh start. New names, new energy, new ideas. Instead, it has delivered the same old problems: loose lines, erratic lengths, and an alarming inability to apply sustained pressure.

We have seen this movie before over the past six weeks. In Perth and Brisbane, England’s generosity allowed Australia to reach 100 inside 17 overs – twice. Both innings went straight into the Ashes record books for all the wrong reasons.

Sydney was marginally slower, with Australia bringing up 100 in 20.3 overs. Marginally slower, yes – but no less damaging.

At the heart of it all was England’s complete failure to bowl a consistent length.

Why England’s Bowlers Couldn’t Hit the Top of Off Stump

The opening exchanges told the story. Brydon Carse and Matthew Potts set the tone with six overs that felt like an open invitation. Seven boundaries arrived almost immediately, most of them ruthless cuts and pulls that exposed England’s predictable short-of-a-length bowling.

The numbers were damning. In the first six overs, Potts and Carse bowled nearly half their deliveries shorter than eight metres. Australia, bowling on the same pitch a day earlier, managed just 19% in that zone.

This was not about pitch conditions. It was about execution.

Potts, playing his first Test of the series, finished the day wicketless, conceding 58 from seven overs. Carse, whose economy rate has been an issue throughout the Ashes, was again taken apart, even though Jake Weatherald was dropped off his bowling.

England did briefly regain control when Ben Stokes trapped Weatherald lbw in the 13th over. Josh Tongue also offered some discipline. But the damage had already been done, and Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne simply picked up where the openers left off.

Their second-wicket stand of 105 runs came in just 113 balls – calm, controlled, and utterly untroubled.

Australia, across this series, are scoring a boundary every 13.4 balls. In this innings alone, it was one every 7.2 deliveries. That is not dominance. That is destruction.

“It’s Not Planning, It’s Ability” – A Brutal Verdict

Head drives through extra cover for four to bring up his fifty

Phil Tufnell did not hide his frustration.

“It can’t be planning,” he said. “I think now it is coming down to ability. I don’t know whether they have got it.”

His most cutting line landed hardest of all.

“I don’t understand why professional bowlers can’t run up and try to hit the top of off stump six out of six. You’re the best we’ve got.”

That sense of disbelief was echoed by many watching. England never built pressure. Never dried up runs. Never made Australia feel boxed in. The bowlers were “all over the place”, as Tufnell put it, and it showed.

Why Isn’t Ben Stokes Opening the Bowling at Sydney?

The tactical questions only deepened England’s problems.

This was the first time in Brydon Carse’s 63-match first-class career that he had taken the first over of an innings. He does not do it for Durham. Yet England have handed him the new ball in every innings since the third Test.

The knock-on effect? Josh Tongue – England’s most effective seamer in this series – has repeatedly been denied the new ball.

Tongue averages 27 in his first spells with the new ball across his career. Carse averages 82. Those numbers are not marginal differences. They are glaring.

Then there is Ben Stokes himself.

England’s captain has only opened the bowling twice in his Test career. But in this Ashes, with Australia fielding two left-handed openers, Stokes has statistically been England’s most effective option against southpaws.

Michael Vaughan could not hide his irritation.

“That is why I get so frustrated with this leadership group,” he said. “It’s almost like we don’t care about what has been before.”

Stokes’ fitness is a valid concern. He did not bowl at all on one day in Adelaide just weeks ago. Expecting him to be a full-time opening bowler may be unrealistic. But the reluctance to even try feels like a missed opportunity.

England’s Bowling Future: Where Do They Go From Here?

Perhaps the most troubling aspect of Sydney was what it suggested about the future.

The days of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes are gone. Mark Wood, ruled out after one Test, hopes to return, but his body remains a constant question mark.

In conditions that were supposed to suit England’s pace attack, this was the performance they produced.

Jofra Archer remains the great hope, assuming his fitness allows. Beyond him, the options thin out quickly. Carse is struggling. Gus Atkinson has not lived up to the promise of his first 10 Tests. The domestic circuit offers few obvious answers.

Australia, meanwhile, look settled, ruthless, and well-drilled. They know exactly what they want to do – and how to do it.

England? They look unsure. Of their plans. Of their personnel. And, increasingly, of their own abilities.

At Sydney, the scoreboard told one story. England’s bowling told a far more worrying one.