The One where England finally win at the MCG, Ashes 2025

Send us Fan MailHello and welcome all to The Cricket Slouch.In the very first episode of 2026, Sandeep and Shounak cover the triumphant return of Bazball in a surprise 2-day win over Australia at the hallowed MCG.Whether Australia played poorly or England played less poorly is a matter of debate and discussed well by our panel of two. They analyse how a seamer-friendly pitch in Melbourne affected gameplay, leading to mistakes over mastery. The discussion explores modern batting mindsets where attack seemed to trump patience. England and Australia both struggled due to seam movement and wobble seam deliveries compounded the difficulty, leading to unremarkable innings by many with lacklustre batting techniques and poor shot selection and some dubious approaches to batting.Prospects for the Sydney test were discussed before prayers were said for Damien Martyn, who's currently in hospital.Enjoy the chatter!