England, Australia and Ashes cricket
Digest more
BBC Sports editor Dan Roan has been speaking to England supporters in Perth, some of whom have traveled thousands of miles for one, two-day Test. "Disappointed, angry," said one fan. "Yesterday they showed no care.
England’s disappearing act in Perth was branded “an affront to Test cricket,’’ so poor it made one correspondent feel ill.
The opening Ashes Test in Perth wrapped up inside two days after a flurry of rapid scoring and aggressive play, leaving Cricket Australia staring at an estimated loss of more than $3 million in ticket revenue.
Optus Stadium test smashes TV cricket record as millions watch Perth give Australia a 1-0 Ashes lead
The West Test reached a television audience of 5.8 million people across Australia, as the Perth pitch proved too hot for England to handle.
CA had earmarked the Ashes to help balance the budget but if short Tests become the theme it may prove difficult | ESPN.com
How do you even begin to measure the ineptitude of England’s batting here? Perhaps it is the fact that they bowled Australia out for 132 and yet still contrived to lose by eight wickets in two days. Or that Alastair Cook faced more balls in making his Brisbane double century in 2010 than the entire team did across two innings of this pulverising in Perth.
Former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott took centre stage and lambasted the England side for their horrid performance against Australia in the first Ashes 2025-26 Test at the Perth Stadium that ended in two days.
The ground is hosting its first Ashes Test but will replicate the pace and bounce that made the WACA, across the Swan River, so feared
England punished for batting collapses as they crash to two-day defeat in first Ashes Test; media get out flamethrowers, calling tourists gutless and feeble; should England now field senior players in pink-ball warm-up ahead of second Test vs Australia in Brisbane from December 4?