What went wrong for England and can it be put right?

England surrendered the Ashes in just 12 days. Richard Edwards questions how it got this bad and whether anything can be salvaged from an already lost tour

England surrendered the Ashes in embarrassing fashion in Melbourne (PA Wire)

The late Martin Johnson once wrote that there were only three things wrong with England’s Ashes tourists in 1986/87 - they couldn’t bat, they couldn’t bowl and they couldn’t field.

The mind boggles at what he would make of the 2020/21 vintage.

Smashed in Brisbane, beaten to a pulp in Adelaide and then pulverised in Melbourne in just over two days. This tour is achieving the unlikely feat of making England’s past two trips here look like qualified triumphs.