Why Australian cricket will only get stronger as Ben Stokes’ England struggle to stay alive

England have not won a Test on these shores since their 2010-11 series victory. This looks set to continue, but Australia’s interim skipper Steve Smith feels a comeback is necessary.

“Whether they play really aggressively or take their foot off the pedal a little bit, they’ll come back hard, we’ll just have to wait and see,” Smith said.

England’s pace bowling arsenal included so much of it that Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse, Gus Atkinson and Mark Wood all had the pace they thought would trouble the Australians.

This was also true in the first innings in Perth, which defeated Australia by 132 points. They haven’t fired a shot since.

Wood’s knee injury crushed them with a single batting weapon, but of those left only Archer’s first-innings effort lasted less than four runs in Brisbane.

Of the 24 wickets they took, eight came from all-rounder Stokes.

“The first possession in this game, it was me and Brydon taking that pressure off,” admitted Stokes.

“The batsmen can bat you from the area you want to field, but me and Brydon know we couldn’t back up the first spell of Jofra and Gus and provide the consistency that Australia have provided this whole Test.

“There was a beautiful crunch throughout the cage; Scott Boland and Neser were incredible at hitting.

“When you have something like that that can help you and you consistently fail to do it… we let the game get away from us.”

Despite neither Matthew Potts nor Josh Tongue playing this week, those lining up for the England Lions were also unable to fire as Australia A ran up the score with 8-588. Matched by the national team’s 511, England bowlers conceded 1099 runs in the two innings in Brisbane.

Usman Khawaja had been paired with seven other openers since David Warner’s test in early 2024 before he was unable to take part in the home test due to a back injury.

But Australia may have found a winner in Jake Weatherald.

The late bloomer looked superb as he went on 72 in the first innings, attacking everything short and off his own stump while also being unafraid to lift the ball audaciously over the slip cordon.

Weatherald then played a minor prop role in his second over, remaining unbeaten on 16 as Smith hit 23 off just nine balls.

Undoubtedly, this is a narrative Australian cricket pundits have seen before. Sam Konstas, Cameron Bancroft, Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch and even Smith have scored early half-centuries in their Test openers.

Matthew Renshaw compiled 184 in his fourth Test at the start of 2017, but only managed 10 more overs.

But Weatherald’s chance came after he honed his craft over a decade and his 906 runs last Shield season at an average of 50.33 laid the foundation for his rise.

“I just see, react and try to get into good positions. I didn’t actively go out there and play any different than I normally would,” Weatherald said.

“I was really pleased with the way I left. People of course think I scored quickly but as an opener, I’m really proud of myself for how well I left and I feel like I can adapt to different scenarios.”

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