A disastrous spell of bowling early on day two of the second Ashes Test saw England lose their grip following their evening recovery yesterday. It highlighted the gamble they played in crafting their lethal bowling attack, writes Katya Witney.
Joe Root and Jofra Archer’s recovery job yesterday evening meant England started day two with their highest total in Brisbane since 2010. A 300+ score after choosing to bat first doesn’t put the game to bed, but based on Perth and that England were 5-2, it was a score you’d wager they would have taken.
As much as bowlers are hampered by a lack of runs on the board, the ‘bat first in the best conditions and close out the game’ maxim only works when backed up by those bowlers. Here, England didn’t close out the game with the bat, far from it, but, with cracks opening up and the pink ball and floodlights factors, they scored enough. Just. Only, less than two hours later, their lead had been eaten away to 200, and Australia had 130 on the scoreboard in 21 overs.
Let’s start with the obvious: Brydon Carse, whose first-session figures of 1-45 off five overs would have sent England fans back home who set their alarms for a 6:30am check-in rolling over in their beds. Carse sent down a spray of deliveries, 56 per cent of which landed halfway down the pitch, prompting Mark Waugh, when presented with his pitch map, to label it to “third-grade standard,” with apologies to third-graders watching.
Until Carse came on in the 10th over, Archer had largely managed to keep Travis Head quiet. Drawing from the carnage he unleashed in Perth, Archer kept up decent pace, kept his lines tight, consistently hit an awkward spot back of a length, with the odd well-angled short ball thrown in. At the point Archer finished his opening spell, Head was on four off 27 balls. Carse, noticeably slower than Archer on the day, gave Head width banged in with no real venom first up, was carved for four, then upper-cut for six and flayed through point. The result – 14 runs off his first over.
A loosener, maybe. After all, Carse was arguably England’s best bowler in the first innings at Perth. There, he had good rhythm, on a pitch which offered more bounce and a ball that moved more. Nevertheless, he was still expensive, conceding 45 runs off just over 10 overs, although with three wickets. On the second evening, he went at more than eights against Head.
It would be unfair to focus on Carse in isolation. Head holed out to him early, and he took two wickets in four balls under lights, having worked over Cameron Green and had a catch dropped in the same over. Stokes, for all the donkey work he did later, was also guilty, and Atkinson was too short with the new ball. Five of the eight catching chances created by England’s bowlers were dropped in the field. Beyond that, there seemed to be either a fundamental lack of planning or bad execution of a bad plan.
Australia finish day two on top, leading by 44 after England put down five catches at the Gabba 🇦🇺#AUSvENG #Ashes2025 pic.twitter.com/deaWJ9fjJI
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) December 5, 2025
There’s an assumption from some that England are suited to pink ball cricket. The pink ball under lights theoretically suits English bowlers used to more movement. But, they’ve lost all three day-night Tests they’ve played in Australia, and won just two of the seven they’ve played in total. Talk of a declaration last night, as well as Stokes’ decision to bat at the toss was based on maximising the time they were bowling in prime conditions when the sun went down. But, you do also have to navigate long periods of the game in the day. This morning, the ball didn’t swing, and England went searching. Cracks opened up later in the day offering more inconsistent bounce, but there was little on offer early. They seemed at a loss to know what to do in a completely normal game-situation, because day-night games are supposed to be different. That speaks to either chronic over-thinking or under-planning.
It also exposed the gamble they made when crafting their Ashes attack. The focus on building a pure pace attack for this series has been explicit for the last 18 months. That plan was solid: England have taken 80mph medium-pacers to Australia to get battered one too many times. But it was still a gamble. In prioritising pace, they have express quicks and those who operate in the mid-to-late 80s. What they don’t have, however, is consistency. It’s a trade-off, and ultimately, one that gives them a better chance than previously, but still not necessarily a good chance. The first innings at Perth showed, on their day, this attack has the ability to blow Australia away. The second innings and the first one in Brisbane, showed they won’t do that more times than they will.
Carse in particular is central to that gamble. He was picked for the Pakistan series last winter as another hunch, to fill a specific role to bowl with an older ball and take wickets. If he goes at four and over, fine, but he’ll blow away the tail and take wickets in clumps, was how the argument went. In Pakistan, and New Zealand, he did that. He routed New Zealand in Christchurch and took 18 wickets at 17.61 in that series. Against India over the summer, however, there were warning signs. He took the new ball in the absence of a specialist, and was ineffective in Birmingham. After a burst at Lord’s, he bowled 28 wicketless overs in Manchester. That doesn’t make Carse a bad bowler, but it does make him an inconsistent one.
Secondary here is that England went into the first Test with five quicks. Fearing the heat in Brisbane and worried about their batting depth, they chose to forgo one of those quicks for Will Jacks. England’s underuse of him, even as the quicks struggled, makes the decision puzzling. In effect, by not bowling him or fearing bowling him, England have sacrificed bowling depth for a slightly elongated batting lineup. In a five-quick attack, one not having a good day doesn’t matter. In a quartet without a spinner, there’s nowhere to hide for one, let alone a couple.
Carse and Stokes pulled it back later in the day, while Archer was left frustrated by catches dropped off his bowling. England are seven overs away from a new ball with four wickets left to take. There’s a chance they’ll get away with losing their grip. There’s a bigger chance they won’t. England have picked an attack with the potential to win them games in Australia, but one that could struggle to win them a series.
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