The Ashes: Stuart Broad frustrated by dire England bowling and wants more from ‘generational’ batter Harry Brook | Cricket News

Stuart Broad was critical of England’s “worst” bowling display for a number of years and wants more from “generational talent” Harry Brook with the bat after the tourists plummeted 2-0 down in the Ashes series following successive eight-wicket defeats.

England’s bowling attack – one that roughed up Australia on day one of the Perth Test a fortnight ago – were regularly short and wide for the first part of their hosts’ first innings in Brisbane, with Broad lamenting a lack of “problem solving” and “communication”.

Vice-captain Brook, meanwhile, played a loose drive off pink-ball maestro Mitchell Starc on the opening evening at The Gabba, just as England entered the twilight period, and since hitting fifty early in the first Test has made scores of 31, nought and 15.

Speaking on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, Broad also said the away side’s inability to trouble Australia’s tailenders with the ball at the start of the third day and then their subsequent loose drive-induced, six-wicket collapse later that night made for one of the “most deflating” days he has witnessed, calling it a “tough watch.”

‘England made it easy for Australia batters in first innings’

Focusing on England’s first-innings bowling after the four-day defeat, Broad said: “There is absolutely no question it was the worst bowling under [captain] Ben Stokes and [head coach] Brendon McCullum, while I can’t think of a worse one since maybe 2008.

“The greatest thing about being a Test bowler is that if you are getting things wrong the rest of the group can go, ‘you are having a stinker’. Your bad day can be covered by others.

“I have not seen a whole group bowl short and wide on a pitch where there is a bit of nip and uneven bounce. They made it easy for the Australia batters.

“What I didn’t like was the lack of communication and problem solving. I get the sense they were looking to Stokes to tell them what to do every single time. That’s not what Test match bowling is. You have have a plan yourself.

“I don’t get the sense England’s attack are the sort of thinking bowlers who say, ‘Ben, I am doing this and will shut the game down for the team’.

“I also wonder if selection was wrong. Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer and Gus Atkinson are back-of-a-length bowlers and all the Australians say getting up on length is needed at The Gabba.

“So I wonder if Josh Tongue, with a pink ball hitting a fuller length and bringing the stumps into play as a natural wicket-taker should have been involved. The three guys other than Stokes – Carse, Archer and Atkinson – looked quite similar.”

‘Brook needs to recognise game situations’

Brook averages 55.05 after 32 Tests but 24.50 across the first two matches of this series after a few soft dismissals, including being caught driving on the up during England’s second-day meltdown in Perth in the Ashes opener.

Broad said of the batter: “His first-innings dismissal [in Brisbane] lacked awareness and he is not a young player anymore. You look at all the England greats and they have talent but they play situations remarkably well.

“It didn’t take Kevin Pietesen long to play the situation and draw the 2005 Ashes Test for England at The Oval and win the series in his fifth Test. I have not yet seen Brook recognise scenarios as well as he should do after 32 Test matches.

“He is doing alright but he is a generational talent and should be doing better than alright. And in Australia I would argue he is not doing alright.

“He showed talent in the first innings in Perth and since then we haven’t seen anything. Every player goes through question marks and this is the first time Brook has had them.

“The Aussies are all over him and the ex-pros I am working with are asking, ‘can this boy play or does he have a soft underbelly?’

“You don’t want those questions. He needs to really sharpen up in this break before [the third Test in Adelaide from December 17].”

‘England did not give Smith best opportunity to perform in pink-ball Test’

Broad was also frustrated by the fact that wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith’s first pink-ball game came in an Ashes Test match and feels England did not give the 25-year-old the best platform to perform in the day-nighter.

Smith scored nought and four in Brisbane and dropped Travis Head on three early in Australia’s opening knock.

Broad added: “I don’t think anyone’s first experience of a pink ball should be in an Ashes Test. I don’t care where that experience comes.

“You can’t be facing Starc under lights with that being your first experience of the pink ball. Whatever nets you do, you can’t replicate what it looks like coming off the surface.

“I have sympathy for Smith. In this game, he looked like a player who had never held a bat before and never put wicketkeeping gloves on before – because he hasn’t against a pink ball.

“When he drops Head it’s not necessarily a surprise as he has not had that experience of this ball coming towards him, the different visuals.

“We have come to Australia with a fine player in Smith who we think could do the Adam Gilchrist role but we are not giving him the opportunity to showcase his skills if playing his first pink-ball cricket is against Starc at The Gabba.”

Ashes series in Australia 2025-26

All times UK and Ireland

First Test (Perth): Australia beat England by eight wicketsSecond Test (Brisbane): Australia beat England by eight wicketsThird Test: Wednesday December 17 – Sunday December 21 (11.30pm) – Adelaide OvalFourth Test: Thursday December 25 – Monday December 29 (11.30pm) – Melbourne Cricket GroundFifth Test: Sunday January 4 – Thursday January 8 (11.30pm) – Sydney Cricket Ground