Sir Alastair Cook pinpoints ‘massive disconnect’ as major reason why England have failed to win the Ashes: ‘They’ve taken their eye off the ball’
Sir Alastair Cook has pinpointed England’s ‘massive disconnect’ with the County Championship as a major reason why Ben Stokes’ side have failed to win back the Ashes.
Australia took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series last weekend in Adelaide after just 11 days of cricket.
Pressure is now mounting on Brendon McCullum and ECB managing director Rob Key, with Sir Geoffrey Boycott calling for the England coach to be sacked following the side’s failure to win Down Under.
Cook believes that the grass sometimes isn’t always greener on the other side. But after a chaotic day of Test cricket at the MCG on Boxing Day, the former England skipper delivered his assessment of England’s woes Down Under, urging the tourists to take a leaf out of Australia’s book and place greater importance on selecting players performing well in domestic red-ball cricket.
Pressed on whether McCullum’s job was in jeopardy, he told TNT Sports: ‘It depends on what happens in these next games, if they lose 5-0 and really heavily, then I think naturally there will be discussions about it.
‘They started off with a bang, Key, McCullum and Stokes. McCullum won his first eight out of 10 games in charge in his first year, since then, it’s gone downhill.’
Sir Alastair Cook has criticised England coach Brendon McCullum (left) and ECB director Rob Key (right) for failing regarding the County Championship as ‘irrelevant’
‘Some of that interview where he’s [McCullum’s] saying we’ve been really thorough, we’ve been this and that. I actually don’t think they have during this tour. I think they’ve been quite haphazard,’ Cook added.
‘Just gone on a whim. If they had won, they would have got credit for thinking differently because what we’ve done in the past with England – lots of warm-up games – hasn’t worked. This has been a real reminder that you’ve got to – I don’t want to say – the traditional values of Test cricket and traditional values of selection are still important.
‘But these guys have totally and utterly said that County Cricket is irrelevant. There’s a massive disconnect at the moment from this England side to County Cricket.
‘I do think that needs to be addressed. Because if you’re banging out runs in County Cricket or wickets, there must be a path into the Test team. And at the minute, I think there isn’t. So I think that needs to be looked at. Until the end of this series and until the hierarchy sits down and goes: “What do we want?”’
Players including Dom Sibley and Haseeb Hameed have both averaged over 60 runs in the County Championship during 2025, but were overlooked during the Ashes.
It is largely in contrast to the weight that Australian selectors place on picking players who have performed in the Sheffield Shield, with Jake Weatherald coming in as Australia’s new opener after impressing for Tasmania during the 2024-25 season with an average of 50.33 runs.
Cook, who scored 12,472 runs across 161 Tests for England, believes that while McCullum and Key haven’t got everything spot on, he praised their commitment to wanting to galvanise English cricket.
‘They’ve done a good job. I like Rob Key, I like McCullum, I like how they think but I do think they’ve taken their eye off the ball for the bigger series. They were talking about India, they drew against India – they just got thumped by South Africa – so that Indian side wasn’t a great side either. So the reality has just hit this England Test team and they’ve got to decide how they’re going to play with what players afterwards.
Cook (pictured) believes that ‘there’s a massive disconnect at the moment from this England side to County Cricket’
Ben Stokes (pictured) called on his side last week to salvage some pride from the series and win the next two Tests
‘You have to have someone better to come in if you’re going to change it. They are good people and they are doing it for a good cause.
‘When Rob Key took over, he had an easy job with Sky. He has put his neck on the line to try and make a difference to English cricket. I love that attitude. I love people who do that. It’s just they might have been a bit too funky.’
Former England spinner Graeme Swann echoed Cook’s sentiments.
‘One very interesting thing that I loved that he said there… Baz McCullum has never come out and said about this Bazball thing that you have to score a five-for or you have to do this or that. That is the media construing this and throwing that out. He’s always said that he wants to play positive cricket in any situation. That’s got lost a little bit.
‘Now we’re 3-0 down and there’s: “Noosa this, Noosa that.”
‘I think they’ve done incredibly well. Yes, this tour hasn’t gone to plan and people will say that people’s jobs are on the line.
‘But if you can’t change things for the better… then you don’t change them, in my opinion.’
Josh Tongue was the star man on day one at the MCG on Friday, with the Nottinghamshire fast bowler becoming the first English player to take a five-for at the MCG since Dean Headley in 1998.
After England had bowled Australia out for 152 and set a solid platform to attack from in the second innings, their batters once again collapsed.
Zak Crawley (5), Ben Duckett (2), Jacob Bethell (1) and Joe Root (0) were all dismissed for a combined eight runs.
Harry Brook steadied the ship alongside Ben Stokes, before Gus Atkinson arrived later in the afternoon, to help England surpass 100 runs and put themselves within 42 runs of the hosts.
Hometown hero Scott Boland, who took three wickets during England’s innings, sent the MCG into meltdown when he walked out as Australia’s night watchman to face the last and final over of the day before stumps.
He would swipe Gus Atkinson for four with the final ball of the day to increase Australia’s lead to 46 runs at stumps.
