Ashes 2025-26: 'If I were a fan, I'd be asking the ECB for a refund' - Former captain slams England's lack of preparation

Former England captain Ian Botham did not mince words while criticising England's performance in the second Test of the ongoing Ashes and their preparation in general. England went 2-0 down after losing the second Test of the ongoing Ashes by eight wickets in Brisbane.

He even went to the extent of claiming that he would have demanded the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for a refund had he been a fan paying money to come see England play at the venues. Botham opined that the main team should have played the two-day preparatory game against the Prime Minister's XI ahead of the pink-ball clash at the Gabba.

“If I was an England supporter and had paid the money to come here, I’d be asking the ECB for a refund. Because this team, for me, is not prepared. They missed a trick. They could’ve sent the team that was going to play in this Test to Canberra and had some experience with the pink ball. What do we do? ‘No, we don’t need to’. Well, I suggest you do need to. You dropped five catches the other day [Day 2]. England could’ve been ahead,” shared Botham while speaking on Triple M.

It is interesting to note that contrary to Botham's take, head coach Brendon McCullum was of the opinion that England had "trained too much" . He was referring to the "five intense training sessions"  in the buildup to the second Test.

The tourists were coming into the second Test on the back of an eight-wicket thumping in the series-opening clash in Perth. This time around, they were out-batted by Australia in both innings and not one. Mitchell Starc secured the Player of the Match award for his eight-wicket match haul as well as a 141-ball 77-run knock in the first innings.

The third Test is scheduled to be played at the Adelaide Oval from December 17. While both teams have enough time on their hands to take some time off and prepare for the match, all eyes will be on Ben Stokes' unit and the manner in which they train in what seems like a do-or-die game for them.