'Might as well go home now': Ian Botham rips 'horrendous' England
England great Ian Botham says the tourists "might as well go home now" if they don't change their approach for the rest of the series.
England have not won the Ashes in Australia after losing the first Test since the 1950s but Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have shown they can turn a series around in recent years.
Against South Africa in 2022, they won the series 2-1 after losing the opener at Lord's.
They were 2-0 down to Australia on home soil in the 2023 Ashes after losing the first two Tests but dominated the rest of the drawn series, even if the urn eluded them again.
However, Botham is unconvinced about England's chances unless the team's mindset changes.
"It was horrendous, there's no other word for it," Botham told PA News Agency.
"England need to fire up and fire up quickly. I'm fed up of hearing, 'This is the way we play'. If I hear it once more, I think I'll throw something at the television.
"If that's the way you play, you might as well go home now because it's going to be 5-0.
"They probably won't like me saying that but they need to get their heads around it. I want more pride when I see people pulling that sweater on."
While England have ample time to sift through the rubble of defeat in Perth, the tourists are unlikely to come up with a new game plan to replace 'Bazball' for the Brisbane Test.
For all the criticism raining down on England after the two-day mayhem in Perth, they had the game in the palm of their hand.
It took five English wickets falling in 40 minutes of madness for England to turn Bazball from a weapon into a stick to be beaten with.
Still, the question hangs over this series: will Bazball even work in Australia?
Many pundits are unconvinced and argue that the extra pace and bounce of the wickets, as well as the hosts' discipline, will expose England's high-wire act over five Tests.
"(Perth) may yet come to be regarded as the moment Test cricket either redefined itself for the entertainment age or the precise point at which Bazball finally crashed into the unforgiving wall of Australian reality," former Australian Test captain Greg Chappell wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald.
Others argue Travis Head's match-winning hundred in 69 balls was Bazball personified, just not under an English flag.
Brisbane's day-night Test may make a return to English pragmatism even more unlikely — all 13 pink-ball Tests in Australia have produced results and none of the last four have made it to a fifth day.
Another rapid result at the Gabba would surprise no one as both teams look to land an early knockout blow rather than stay the distance.
England's task is unlikely to get any easier.
Australia's regular captain, Pat Cummins, practised with the pink ball in a nets session during New South Wales training in Sydney on Tuesday and is eyeing a return from a back injury at the Gabba.
But even if England drop the Test to fall 2-0 behind, McCullum and Stokes may still back their players to get back in the saddle and charge to a comeback series win for the ages.
If it all goes awry, though, the three-year Bazball era could face an uncomfortable reckoning after less than two weeks of cricket in Australia.
'It was horrendous'
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