The Ashes | 2025-26 | 5 tests | Nov 21 to Jan 08 | Discussion Thread

[vvvslaxman]

If you are bored you can watch this lol

 

 

[vvvslaxman]

Can anyone talk like this with Gambhir like Agarkar is doing? 

Edited December 23, 2025 by vvvslaxman

[goose]

duckett filmed slurring his words on night out drinking!

 

 

 

[goose]

11 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Can anyone talk like this with Gambhir like Agarkar is doing? 

 

nasser went in reasonably hard considering they were colleagues on sky !

[vvvslaxman]

This is hilarious dig by Dizzy. Starts at 25.00 lol

 

 

[Gollum]

Cummins, Lyon ruled out of remaining Ashes.

[vvvslaxman]

Mark Taylor singing Lady gaga's bad romance hahaha 

 

Edited December 23, 2025 by vvvslaxman

[AKane]

23 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Cummins, Lyon ruled out of remaining Ashes.

Australia may commit sacrilege - they may select an under 30 pace bowler.... Jhye Richardson, 29 years old. What is the world coming to?

[G_B_]

3 hours ago, Gollum said:

Cummins, Lyon ruled out of remaining Ashes.

 

I think this might be it for both of them. Injuries are becoming more frequent. Very hard to recover at this age.

 

Looking at the profile of Australian team I think in next WTC final only 4-5 players will remain. SA look in a much better position. With kolpak rule no longer applicable, SA have gained so many players.

 

Likes of Boland are very home condition specific...

[Lord]

10 hours ago, Gollum said:

Cummins, Lyon ruled out of remaining Ashes.

 

Resting for dead rubbers. 

 

Edited December 24, 2025 by Lord

[Lord]

2 hours ago, AKane said:

Australia may commit sacrilege - they may select an under 30 pace bowler.... Jhye Richardson, 29 years old. What is the world coming to?

 

Should have played ahead of Doggett anyway

[putrevus]

5 hours ago, goose said:

duckett filmed slurring his words on night out drinking!

 

 

 

Why is this big deal, Duckett is allowed to go and get drunk when there is no match next day. 

 

Win or lose players are allowed to live their lives. 

Edited December 23, 2025 by putrevus

[AKane]

1 hour ago, putrevus said:

Why is this big deal, Duckett is allowed to go and get drunk when there is no match next day. 

 

Win or lose players are allowed to live their lives. 

If you party too much during a working vacation at nights esp with alcohol, it affects your performance.

 

For example the Buffalo Bills lost 4 straight Super Bowls in American football in the 90's while beating those same opponents in the regular season. Except for the first, the other 3 were not even competitive. I always wondered why the drop in performance and maybe the following is right or not but one of their Super Bowl opponent did say it.

 

"There’s a reason they (Bills) lost four Super Bowls. They partied harder than any other team.”

 

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/darren-woodson-bills-lost-super-bowls-due-excessive--nfl.html

 

Edited December 24, 2025 by AKane

[Gollum]

7 hours ago, G_B_ said:

 

I think this might be it for both of them. Injuries are becoming more frequent. Very hard to recover at this age.

 

Looking at the profile of Australian team I think in next WTC final only 4-5 players will remain. SA look in a much better position. With kolpak rule no longer applicable, SA have gained so many players.

 

Likes of Boland are very home condition specific...

I think Cummins will bounce back. Just 32 and his workload has been managed beautifully by the Aussie board and selectors. Even here, he would have played at least 1 more test had the series not been sealed in Adelaide. 

[Gollum]

17 hours ago, Serpico said:

I don't think this is moral policing, people can have different lifestyle/fitness expectations from athletes compared to civilians, especially during most important tournaments. I remember aussie team was criticized in 2019 for "celebrating too hard" after retaining the ashes and then losing the 5th test and drawing the series. Lots of fans called them soft for not waiting until series win

I think bar culture is the norm for SENAW teams, for team bonding and stuff like that. Their rugby teams are also notorious for that. 

 

Ultimately when you win, these things are given a positive spin like how drinking brought the team closer or freed up a player's mind. There is a lot of lore about how Sobers, Viv etc. used to drink till dawn and then went on to score amazing 100s the same day. And when you lose, media wants to find all the dirt on you.

 

Adelaide was still a close match for their usual standards, and the main blame lies on them not playing test cricket the way it is meant to be played, instead resorting to gimmicks...and this stupidity has been in their system ever since Baz took over. 

 

Edited December 24, 2025 by Gollum

[Suhaan]

Ben Duckett doesn’t say anything meaningful in that tweet’s video, he’s drunk, slurring, and asking for help to get back to his hotel

 

Yes,ECB will certainly look into it, whether this reflects broader issues in the squad’s off-field conduct

 

[Tillu]

16 hours ago, Serpico said:

if you think English team's current drinking culture is bad, wait until Ravi gets hold of them

 

Bazball will be replaced with Shazball and it will remind everyone of the bold and fearless batting of Ravi Shastri in the 90s.

[putrevus]

4 hours ago, AKane said:

If you party too much during a working vacation at nights esp with alcohol, it affects your performance.

 

For example the Buffalo Bills lost 4 straight Super Bowls in American football in the 90's while beating those same opponents in the regular season. Except for the first, the other 3 were not even competitive. I always wondered why the drop in performance and maybe the following is right or not but one of their Super Bowl opponent did say it.

 

"There’s a reason they (Bills) lost four Super Bowls. They partied harder than any other team.”

 

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/darren-woodson-bills-lost-super-bowls-due-excessive--nfl.html

 

He was not doing that before match day. It was during the break. I don’t think it had any impact on his performance.

 

Bills were partying night before Super Bowl that is different, Darren Woodson should be last person commenting on partying , his cowboys were most notorious about partying.

 

people tend to forget Bills went to four straight super bowls and if all they did was party before big games then they would not have reached four straight Super Bowls.

 

They lost first one due to kicker missing wide right the winning field goal. In other Super Bowls they faced far superior teams.

 

Winning covers lot of mistakes and losing magnifies every little indiscretion.

 

Edited December 24, 2025 by putrevus

[nevada]

7 hours ago, putrevus said:

Why is this big deal, Duckett is allowed to go and get drunk when there is no match next day. 

 

Win or lose players are allowed to live their lives. 

The English are cleverly diverting the issue from the humiliation of Ashes drubbing to this blown out of proportion drinking thing. 

[rkt.india]

52 minutes ago, Suhaan said:

Ben Duckett doesn’t say anything meaningful in that tweet’s video, he’s drunk, slurring, and asking for help to get back to his hotel

 

Yes,ECB will certainly look into it, whether this reflects broader issues in the squad’s off-field conduct

 

So Duckett had a bucket of daaru.