England’s most successful Ashes series Down Under for 15 years has somehow come to be seen as its most calamitous. England won a Test match, and competed for large periods in three of the other four. Yet many England fans are left wondering what might have been. Defeat in this manner is much more devastating than the repeated, predictable failures of earlier tours.

After England’s loss at Adelaide confirmed the Ashes would stay in Australia, Phil Tufnell turned to me and said ‘I really believed we had a chance this time. Were we deluded Dan?’

Before the Ashes, there were high hopes that a young, dynamic England side playing certainly imperfectly, but with confidence and braggadocio up against an aging Australia (with only one player below the age of 30) coping with injuries to two of their key bowlers, Josh Hazlewood (he played no part in the series) and their captain Pat Cummins (he played only one Test), could go all the way. Australia’s batting had been brittle for some time, with no settled top order, experienced players out of form (Marnus Labuschagne, Uswan Khawaja and Cameron Green) and their leading wicket taker, Nathan Lyon, largely ineffective on home pitches that have refused to assist spinners for a few years now.

By contrast, England had been building to this series with a top seven set in stone, and were bolstered by the apparent return to fitness of two of the fastest bowlers in the world, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood. With Brydon Carse expected to flourish on Australian pitches and England captained by Ben Stokes, Australia surely was there for the taking.

On the first day of the series that prophesy looked a decent one. By lunch on day two, with England 105 ahead and only one wicket down in their second innings, they looked well placed to win at Perth for just the second time in history. What followed was a series defining disaster that unfolded in around four hours. It contained themes that would haunt England for the rest of the tour.

In just ten minutes and across six balls, England’s experienced middle order of Pope, Root and Brook all got out, rashly driving at balls that weren’t there for the shot. This was ‘Bazball’ at its most reckless and foreshadowed a series pockmarked by startlingly brainless dismissals. The intent to attack when every cricketing instinct demanded consolidation of a winning position was in keeping with the trite mantra of ‘run towards the danger’ that is so beloved of this squad. But the result was that by the end of the day, England’s bowlers were themselves victims of a quite brilliant smash and grab from Australia’s Travis Head.

Head blitzed England’s bewildered attack, bringing up his hundred in 69 balls. His domination didn’t stop there: Head amassed 629 runs across the series at a faster strike rate (87) than anyone to have compiled that many in an Ashes series. Curiously, the normally pro-active Stokes had no........

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