Jackson Barrett: Even BazBall and England’s biggest critics couldn’t have seen it unravelling as badly as this

England were always going to live by the sword or die by the sword. Under their BazBall tsars, the wins have been large and the losses have been larger. It’s a volatile space to live in. But even the greatest cynics of this English regime couldn’t have imagined it unravelling as bad as this. Three Tests, 11 days, an Ashes series lost. England will have to wear scorching backlash in the same measure as the confidence they arrived in Australia with. What has become most damning in the aftermath of their Adelaide defeat is the lack of attention to detail. On the surface their preparation looked poor. They came under fire for playing only one practice match — against themselves at Lilac Hill — then for spending time playing golf and riding e-scooters rather than training or hitting Canberra for a chance to face the pink ball. Now their latest defeat has uncovered deep-seated systemic issues. Former Australian coach Darren Lehmann, who is now in charge of Northamptonshire, revealed he had never had any contact from an England selector. Ex-England batter Paul Collingwood — one of the few people involved with their national team who has won an Ashes series here — stayed at home due to undisclosed personal reasons. He had been looking after England’s fielding, which dissolved into an unmitigated disaster. Now what happens next? England would surely like to drop No.3 Ollie Pope and flailing opener Ben Duckett, but they only have one reserve batter on tour. That’s Jacob Bethell, the 22-year-old who has played four Tests and has just one professional century to his name, in a one-day international. Beyond that, England would have to call on stocks from outside the squad. All of those candidates are playing Twenty20 cricket. James Rew, who impressed for England Lions while in Australia is now playing ILT20 in the United Arab Emirates and spinning all-rounder Rehan Ahmed is with the Hobart Hurricanes. By stark contrast, Australia has a wealth of options to fill their injury-induced gaps. Debate will now rage over which of the spinners comes in to replace Nathan Lyon after he limped off with a hamstring injury. WA’s Corey Rocchiccioli is the most like-for-like bowler in the country and has first-class numbers across the past four seasons worthy of a Test debut. The other leading options, Victorian Todd Murphy and Tasmanian left-armer Matt Kuhnemann are both already capped and highly-rated by national selectors, while four-Test leggie Mitch Swepson is the leading wicket-taker among spinners in the Sheffield Shield this season. Australia has never used more than 13 players when they’ve swept a five-match Ashes series. They used 13 in 1920/21, 12 in 2006/07 because Damien Martyn retired halfway through and just 11 in 2013-14. This time 14 men have already played for Australia and that will become 15 when Lyon is replaced and could stretch beyond that if Beau Webster is recalled at any point. It shows while Australia’s top-end talent is getting towards the end, the depth is still enviable. And as Lehmann’s comments suggest, England’s cult-like regime in the national team has built a moat around the Test team and the county system. Now they have to try and salvage something from the wreckage of the series by pulling players out of franchise leagues.