England's captain Ben Stokes reacts in the field on day two of the first Ashes cricket test match between Australia and England in Perth, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025.(AP Photo/Gary Day)Former England batter Michael Atherton issued a warning to the England team, saying that they have to bounce back in the 2nd ashes series at Brisbane, adding that if they lost at the Gabba, the series could well be over. England batters had capitulated a couple of weeks ago at Perth for the first Test, leading to Australia winning the match by 8 runs and taking a 1-0 lead in the series.
“The omens are not necessarily in their favour but they have to bounce back, If you go 2-0 down here in Australia, that’s the Ashes as good as done because England don’t generally win that many Test down under and they certainly don’t win three on the bounce. So, it’s a massive game and England will have to bounce back and play rather better than they did in Perth. And if they do, there are still vulnerabilities in this Australian team to exploit,” Atherton said on Sky cricket.
“If you go 2-0 down, that’s the Ashes DONE” ❌
Athers previews England’s second Ashes Test against Australia 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/yikkrUNTLv
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) December 1, 2025
“They had their moments in the Perth game. By lunch-time in the second day, they were dominating the game. They had 75% chance of winning at that point, according to the numbers guys. And then it went downhill and they lost in 2 sessions but they’ll try and draw on the bits of good news that came out of the Perth game. They’ll hope to play a bit better, certainly with the bat. They need to bat a whole lot better than they did there and try and exploit some vulnerabilities in this Australian team,” he added.
Meanwhile, there will be no Pat Cummins in the second Ashes Test as well after the Australia captain was not named in the squad for the day-night second match at the Gabba in Brisbane starting December 4. Cummins has not played in a match since Australia completed a clean sweep of the West Indies in the Caribbean in July, where he first experienced soreness in his back.
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