Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole in 1910 stands as a stark example of how overconfidence in a flawed strategy can lead to disaster in unforgiving environments.

Scott, a British naval officer, set out to reach the pole first. His plans unravelled due to a series of misjudgments and poor planning around the Antarctic’s extreme conditions.

Scott’s tragic failure was rooted in a rigid, hierarchical leadership style that prioritised British Naval tradition over polar pragmatism.

His insistence on “man-hauling”, a method he considered more “noble” and “purer” than using dogs, resulted in a catastrophic caloric deficit and physical exhaustion from which his team never recovered.

The tactical inflexibility extended to his transport strategy, where reliance on ill-suited Siberian ponies and fallible motor sledges proved fatal in an unforgiving climate.

Much like England’s Ashes tour, where the team arrived with an aggressive approach tailored to home successes, Scott’s mission relied on methods that worked in theory or in benign settings.

Harry Brook did himself no favours with his decision-making in Adelaide.Credit: Getty Images

While not equating lives lost to sporting defeats, this Ashes campaign might fairly be seen as among the most ill-conceived British expeditions since Scott’s doomed venture. It was equivalent to preparing for an English Channel swim by doing a few laps of a heated pool.

Having watched England against India in the northern summer, I expected this to be a closely fought series. I was excited by the return of Jofra Archer and couldn’t wait to see Harry Brook and Jamie Smith, both incandescent batting talents.

Brook has disappointed. Early in his career, he played devastating innings reminiscent of a young Sachin Tendulkar. His minimal movement at the crease allowed him to use the delivery’s angle to his advantage. There were few deliveries he could not attack.

Ill advisedly, he has adopted the back-and-across trigger movement........

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