Australia dismissed England twice in the space of 68 overs in Perth, but coach Andrew McDonald says they can’t trust the same plans to work all summer
Andrew McDonald insists Australia can’t yet lay claim to having the wood over England’s batters, despite the tourists’ disastrous start to the Ashes in Perth.
England’s batting has been heavily lambasted following the two-day loss in Perth, with the 405 balls they faced for two completed innings their fewest since 1904.
Ben Stokes’ side have largely doubled down on their aggressive approach, indicating it need not change ahead of the second NRMA Insurance Test in Brisbane next Thursday.
Australia could have Pat Cummins back for that match but seamer Josh Hazlewood is not expected to return in time from a hamstring injury.
England have now gone 16 straight Tests without a win in Australia, with defeat in the series opener coming quicker than any of those previous losses.
Regardless, Australia’s coach said he was not naive enough to think the same plans would be guaranteed to work again next week, or throughout the rest of the series.
“I don’t think we’ve got the wood on them,” McDonald said.
“The next Test match starts afresh from day one in Brisbane.
“What I will say about the English batting is we weren’t surprised at the way they went about it.
“It was probably predictable in the way that they wanted to put pressure on us, their scoring areas and the way they went about it.
“I thought our plans going in were excellent. I think a lot of our plan A’s worked. Which is great. Will they have to change over time? I think they will.”
McDonald concedes one area where Australia got it marginally wrong in Perth was with their day-one tactics, with Scott Boland encouraged to go fuller than normal.
Boland had one of his toughest days as a Test cricket on the opening day, taking 0-62 while conceding more than a run a ball.
A theory had emerged from England before the series that the tourists’ batters had worked Boland out, after the Victorian was also heavily punished in the 2023 Ashes series.
But the seamer rebounded on day two, turning the match with a three-over burst after lunch in which he took 3-7 and put Australia back in the contest.
“The plans that we had to the English batters was to get it full on day one in Perth. And did we over pitch a little bit? That was probably the reflection,” McDonald said.
“So he was a little bit full. Got driven down the ground. I didn’t think he bowled badly. I think potentially they played him well.
“Then we were able to sit back into that sort of seven-or-eight-metre-length, which he is exceptional at and he found a channel.
“There was a little bit more movement in our second innings … and Scotty was able to obviously show that accuracy that he has over a period of time.”
2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes
First Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Second Test: December 4-8, The Gabba, Brisbane (D/N), 3pm AEDT
Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT
Australia squad (first Test only): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood
