All posts tagged: Perth

Ashes: Usman Khawaja calls Perth pitch ‘piece of s**t’, compares it to India experience | Cricket News

Ashes: Usman Khawaja calls Perth pitch ‘piece of s**t’, compares it to India experience | Cricket News

Published by Webster

Usman Khawaja, under fire after his antics during the Ashes 1st Test at Perth, has now come out and said that the pitch used to play was a ‘piece of shit’ and that a similar incident had happened in India. Khawaja, suffered from back spasms at the start of the first Test and could not bat as an opener. He came in at four, and made two runs before losing his wicket to Bryson Carse. Khawaja didn’t bat in the second innings after Australia asked Head to open for them in the chase. “Nineteen wickets on the first day and about 20 people got hit, that’s a great wicket – that seems real fair,” Khawaja said tongue in cheek at a lunch for the Usman Khawaja Foundation. “The same thing happened last year in the Indian Test, it’s just that day one wicket, the ball just does not react. Steve Smith’s by far the best cricketer I’ve ever played with, and he’s missing the middle of his bat by a long way – he does …

Coach Brendon McCullum would be the first to go if England cannot bounce back from Perth defeat, warns Ian Healy | Cricket News

Coach Brendon McCullum would be the first to go if England cannot bounce back from Perth defeat, warns Ian Healy | Cricket News

Published by Webster

Former Australian cricketer, an Ashes legend and pundit, Ian Healy observed that England head coach Brendon McCullum’s head would be the first on the chopping block if the visitors fail to bounce back from the Perth jolt. “The coach would go first before the captain [Ben Stokes] because he’s a world-class player,” he told SEN Radio. “He will be performing – even if they are going down that badly. I think the coach has got to go because they’ve just outright flat batted any advice from others that know the history of the game and what you should try in certain conditions and moments,” he added. He opined that England should use common sense and shun their full-throttle aggression approach. “They’ve taken it upon themselves to do it this way and if it doesn’t work, they will be in trouble. If you want to play this way, you’d want to get better at it. You’re up against the conditions, a good Australian bowling attack and history. You have to have a bit of ticker and …

Gabba could be as deadly as Perth, observes Shield bowlers, pundits | Cricket News

Gabba could be as deadly as Perth, observes Shield bowlers, pundits | Cricket News

Published by Webster

If the first Ashes Test in Perth ended inside two days, a similar theme could recur in the second Test in Brisbane that starts on December 4, warns Shield players and former cricketers. The recent Shield Game at the venue, also held under lights, lasted just three days, with wickets falling in clumps being a repeated feature Hosts Queensland won the game by seven wickets after bowling out Victoria for 143 in the second innings and chasing the target of 32 runs with seven wickets in hand. Xavier Bartlett, who took five wickets in that game, observed: “Just on twilight the pink ball talks a little bit more and the game goes through massive ebbs and flows.” “You see wickets falling in clumps. You’ve got to stay in it and make the most of that middle session. If the Test wicket is like the one we just played on it will be a really good cricket wicket. We got a result in three days but when you bat well you get rewarded and if you …

Ashes: Why Mark Wood wanted to drive from Perth to Brisbane after 1st Test loss | Cricket News

Ashes: Why Mark Wood wanted to drive from Perth to Brisbane after 1st Test loss | Cricket News

Published by Webster

England pacer Mark Wood considered driving all the way from Perth to Brisbane, a distance that could easily have been 4000km, after England lost the first Ashes Test at the Optus Stadium within two days. Wood, who is a nervous flyer, suddenly found himself with three extra days after the early end of the 1st Test. The Englishman explored the option of making the drive but was talked out of it as quickly as the thought appeared. “If I could drive across the country, I would,” said the 35-year-old, speaking to former teammate Stuart Broad on the For The Love Of Cricket podcast. “I did speak to a local who said if you go across the country, that’s a big danger. So you’d have to drive around the coast. But I did look at it,” said Wood. Wood spoke about the loss suffered by England in the first Test and said that while the result didn’t go his country’s way, they did a few things right and the result shouldn’t take away from their overall …

‘Panic is not the answer’: Greg Chappell offers advice to England after 8-wicket loss to Australia in 2025-26 Ashes Test at Perth | Cricket News

‘Panic is not the answer’: Greg Chappell offers advice to England after 8-wicket loss to Australia in 2025-26 Ashes Test at Perth | Cricket News

Published by Webster

Former Australian captain Greg Chappell has urged England not to panic and remain calm, following a thumping eight-wicket loss in the 2025-26 Ashes series opener at Perth on Saturday. The 77-year-old said that the visitors needed to sit down and discuss what had gone wrong, with Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum taking charge of plotting a comeback in the series. Chappell reiterated that Stokes and his men needed to shut out the outside noise and prevent themselves from making wrong calls before the next match. “Panic is not the answer. Cold, calm discussion must take place, grounded in the unvarnished truth of the situation. McCullum and Stokes hold the leadership keys because they alone know the full extent of the structural damage, the vulnerabilities, and crucially, which areas of the edifice remain sound. The structure is sound enough to escape. But England must not listen to the shouts; they must learn the lessons. Only then can they hope to get back on the course, lest the race be over before the end of the first …

Why Brendon McCullum is confident going into Brisbane Test after Perth loss

Why Brendon McCullum is confident going into Brisbane Test after Perth loss

Published by Webster

Stay calm, stay together… keep the faith. England head coach Brendon McCullum has asked for his players to keep their heads up and trust in the plans they have in store for the Brisbane Test, after the opening Ashes Test match in Perth ended in a loss for the English. The Perth Test was set to be a hotly contested match on the back of England coming to Australian shores with a battery of pace options. And when that group of bowlers took down Australia in the first innings for 123, it seemed like England’s superior run rate in the first innings, and their bowling, might win them the first Test. But then Travis Head put up a fine ton in testing conditions, scoring at a fast clip and taking the game away from England. The Perth Test may have ended in two days, but both of those days showed just how close this series could get and how a change in approach could be pivotal in a loss turning into a win. “The last …

How Travis Head’s blistering knock spoiled a fan from Germany’s plans who travelled to Perth to watch Ashes cricket with his father | Cricket News

How Travis Head’s blistering knock spoiled a fan from Germany’s plans who travelled to Perth to watch Ashes cricket with his father | Cricket News

Published by Webster

Travis Head’s 83-ball 123 will stand as one of the iconic centuries, not just in the Ashes but overall in Test cricket too. It was not just the strike rate the cicumstances under which the knock was delivered. On a pitch that was seaming around and in a position that Head (Opening) has not played too often in his Test career. But against all the odds, Head for once came into the white-ball mode against the red-ball, unleashing the carnage, bazballing the bazballers to help Australia take a 1-0 lead. His innings might have left a smile on the faces of many Aussie supporters; a couple of them were with a bittersweet emotion at the end of it. One of them was a certain fan called Alex Earle, who is based in Germany, who traveled all the way to Perth to watch Day 3’s action with his father, Bruce, who is a first-grade cricketer based in Sydney had to alter plans for Sunday. The duo got into the pub minutes away from the Optus Stadium …

Ashes 2025-26: WATCH as Jamie Smith was given out in controversial DRS decision on Day 2 of first Australia versus England Test at Perth | Cricket News

Ashes 2025-26: WATCH as Jamie Smith was given out in controversial DRS decision on Day 2 of first Australia versus England Test at Perth | Cricket News

Published by Webster

The first controversy in the 2025-26 Ashes was witnessed on Saturday when England wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith was given out after a delayed DRS decision by the third umpire in Perth. The incident took place in the 28th over of the second innings when he tried to glance a down the leg side short delivery from Brendan Doggett. Smith got cramped for room in the process and instead pulled the ball into wicketkeeper Alex Carey’s hands, who went up after taking the catch, as did Travis Head, who was stationed at short leg. On-field umpire Nitin Menon gave it not out, and on Head’s insistence, stand-in captain Steve Smith decided to use the review. Smith started to walk back to the pavilion after Real Time Snickometer (RTS) picked up a murmur in the first replay. However, it appeared that the spike had come after the ball had passed the bat, which made him turn around and get back to the middle. “As the ball passes, there is nothing there. The ball already passes the bat,” third …

Ashes: R Ashwin points at ‘double standards’ after 19 wickets fall on Day 1 of Perth Test | Cricket News

Ashes: R Ashwin points at ‘double standards’ after 19 wickets fall on Day 1 of Perth Test | Cricket News

Published by Webster

Former India cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin has pointed out the clear double standards in Test cricket after the first day of the Perth Test of the Ashes series saw 19 wickets fall with England being bundled out for 172 in just 33 overs. Australia were then left reeling at 123/9 in 39 overs. After that 19-wicket carnage, Ashwin took a jibe on social media. “Only 19 wickets fell at Perth today, but an excellent days cricket. Oh no! What if the same happens tomorrow in Guwahati?” Ashwin posted on X with a GIF that read: “Double Standards.” Ashwin’s post was a reference to the criticism that Indian pitches get when there are a heap of wickets falling on one day in a Test match. Since 19 wickets tumbled in 72 overs on Friday, the Test match is almost half over with four days remaining. The first day of the first Test of the Ashes in Perth saw pace bowlers dominating batters on what was a sunny day with over 51,000 spectators at Perth Stadium. Only 19 …

‘They don’t listen to the players’: Mitchell Starc takes jab at Cricket Australia over staging first Ashes Test at Perth | Cricket News

‘They don’t listen to the players’: Mitchell Starc takes jab at Cricket Australia over staging first Ashes Test at Perth | Cricket News

Published by Webster

Australian pace spearhead Mitchell Starc said that the players would have liked the 2025-26 Ashes series to begin in Brisbane over Perth. The 35-year-old also said that he missed playing at the old WACA ground, where bowlers got help from the Fremantle Doctor breeze blowing across the ground. Starc said that the wind at the Perth Stadium did not blow from one direction and admitted that there had been five different pitches at the venue so far. “We’ll find out in a week, won’t we? They don’t listen to the players; we would have liked to start in Brisbane, too. I miss the WACA. The Fremantle Doctor (the cooling afternoon breeze) comes in. It’s swirly wind here, not one direction. You can have three directions each over.” “We’ve had five different wickets here in a sense – we’ve had a pretty slow, flat wicket against the West Indies, we had the first Test here where it cracked up and played a bit like the Waca used to. Last year, we saw lots of wickets on …