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Full Noise by SN
England stars react as Ashes Bazball fallout rumbles on
Glenn Moore, AAP • March 25th, 2026 8:00 am
Ben Duckett is to withdraw from the IPL in a bid to save his England career after a poor Ashes | Photo: Dean Lewins/AAP
There's nothing like an Ashes thrashing to prompt discontent in English cricket and the fall-out from the debacle in the last series has continued to rumble on.
A trio of former captains have said coach Brendon McCullum and his boss Rob Key are lucky to keep their jobs after an internal two-month-long review into the 4-1 loss reported this week, while current players have also responded.
Ben Duckett, whose disappointing tour was capped by video of him appearing drunk and disorientated at Noosa, has decided to pull out of his Indian Premier League contract to focus on hanging on to his international place.
The left-handed opener, whose Ashes top score was 42 and was unused during England's World Cup campaign, said, "I've learnt a lot in the last year. Going from how I was being spoken about during the India series (last year), to how I am spoken about now. That's a ridiculously big dip.
"I'm desperate to play all three formats for England for as long as I can," Duckett told the Daily Telegraph.
Brendan McCullum and Ben Stokes have pledged to change as they seek to revive England's fortunes | Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP
The decision to withdraw from playing for the Delhi Capitals will cost Duckett $NZ455,000 and is likely to lead to an IPL ban until 2029.
Duckett admitted his regret at what happened in Noosa.
"I am sorry for that incident," he added. "It was not professional and shouldn't have happened. There is no hiding away from it."
Meanwhile, Jonny Bairstow, who was discarded after winning his 100th cap in March 2024, cast doubt on promises that the management would reconnect with the domestic county game and pick on form rather than hunches.
"You have to ask, 'why have they disconnected in the first place?' The proof is in the pudding, so we will wait and see," he said.
Jonny Bairstow appears sceptical that Brendon McCullum will connect with England's domestic cricket | Photo: AP
Michael Atherton said in The Times he "would have moved heaven and earth to see if Andy Flower (who oversaw the 2010/11 series win in Australia) could have been persuaded to return".
The review, he added, exposed "blindingly obvious" errors and McCullum and Key were "very fortunate" to remain after a "disastrous Ashes campaign, characterised by sloppiness on and off the field".
"I think they're very, very lucky," said Michael Vaughan, who led England to victory in the 2005 Ashes. ""There's not many management groups that deliver something so poor away from home in an Ashes series and get the chance to carry on."
Vaughan, talking on the BBC's Test Match Special podcast, added that McCullum, instead of not returning to England until late May, should build bridges with fans and the county players and coaches.
In a typically trenchant column in the Daily Telegraph Boycott, who last played for England in 1982, said the county chairmen "should assert themselves and sack the England and Wales Cricket Board's chief executive Richard Gould for treating us, England cricket lovers, like idiots."
Boycott added, "the incompetence of Key and McCullum sabotaged our chances of defeating Australia in Australia when they were at their most vulnerable and there for the taking."
England, said the Yorkshireman, had become a "complacent boys club" whose dogmatic coach was unlikely to change his approach.
