Test cricket, the dictum has it, is a batsman’s game. Captaincy, administration and even commentary are all dominated by batsmen.

Yet these dynamics obscure how bowlers are the game’s driving force. Bowlers set the terms of the engagement; batting, essentially, is reactive.

In the 2025-26 Ashes, few batsmen have reacted very well. No Ashes Tests had been decided within two days for 104 years; now, there have been two two-day Tests in the same series.

Batsmen’s struggles have been even stranger because of the litany of absences from both teams’ first-choice attacks: Josh Hazlewood has missed the entire series; Pat Cummins and Mark Wood have only played a Test apiece; Jofra Archer and Nathan Lyon were also absent in Melbourne. England have lost 26 wickets at a combined average of 21.2 to Scott Boland and Michael Neser: two bowlers of consummate skill, yes, but men with a combined age of 71 who operate under 135km/h.

But the rush to castigate batsmen for the paltry totals obscures a simple truth. Test batting has seldom been more difficult than in these Ashes. This is why.

To understand the batting strife in this Ashes, you have to first understand the wobble seam. This delivery is the most influential development in fast bowling since at least the popularisation of reverse swing in the early 1990s.

Mitchell Starc has enjoyed great returns during the Ashes series.Credit: Getty Images

Perhaps even this description undersells the wobble seam’s impact. While reverse swing can only be deployed when the ball is relatively old, wobble seam can be used at any stage of an innings. During the two-day Tests in Perth and Melbourne, fast bowlers had little reason to deviate from the wobble seam.

The wobble seam is bowled with the fingers wide of the seam and held loosely, rather than in a conventional upright position. This delivery wobbles in the air. After pitching, the delivery moves in one of three directions: away from the batsman, into the batsman, or it remains along its previous path, without deviating.

Bowlers themselves are not even sure about how the ball........

© The Sydney Morning Herald