Australia has problems.
A dough No. 3 in Marnus Labuschagne who has gone 49 innings without a Test century and looks certain to be dropped ahead of the upcoming home series against New Zealand.
Batting woes apart, too, with the team bundled out for 99 and 111 long on Last loss 2-1 in South Africa which saw their opponents move them to the top of the Test rankings.
The selectors in the firing line after persisting with Labuschagne also recalled Nic Maddinson, who had not played a first-class game since March 2025 and went on to score just 56 runs in four innings in South Africa, including a 33-ball duck, before being dropped.
A generational attack, sure, but old in bowling, which should include that four-match assignment against New Zealand around Christmas, five Tests in India and the 150th anniversary day-night Test at home to England in March before the Ashes outside next summer.
Michael Atherton can predict an “explosion” before Australia arrives in the UK, telling Sky Sports Cricket Podcast: “You could see it was going terribly wrong, couldn’t you?”
Australia under the pump ahead of the white-ball series
England’s Test team is not perfect – could do with a frontline spinner as an option, for starters – but Joe Root’s men will surely take some encouragement from Australia’s struggles in the longest format, even if they are unlikely to admit it publicly.
Now they have a chance to “keep the pressure on”, in Atherton’s words, as they embark on a white-ball tour of the country, a trip that includes three one-day internationals – the first of which is on Friday November 13 (3.30am UK) – and five T20 internationals.
Australia have opted to rest pacemen Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins for all eight matches, but a number of Test players could feature in the ODIs, including Travis Head, Alex Carey, Cameron Green and Matt Renshaw.
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England beat Sri Lanka in their previous ODI in October, with batsman Ben Duckett scoring his second consecutive hundred.
Atherton added: “Even though some of the big guns aren’t playing, it’s a chance to keep some pressure on Australia now – pressure on their selectors after the decisions about Labuschagne and what have you, pressure on some of their big players and pressure on them to keep their results modest.
“The past players will start attacking them as they started to do, actually, after about the first Ashes day in Perth last year, before England let them off the hook.”
One of those past players who had his say after South Africa’s third Test batting was David Warnerwho called the capitulation with the bat in Cape Town “appalling”, “disgraceful” and “un-Australian” as he analyzed the wreckage for Fox Sports.
Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne has gone 49 times without a Test hundred
Will Australia bounce back?
What would be very Australian is to come back fighting when people have written you off.
Before last winter’s Ashes, many were told they were too old, but then promptly schooled a young England en route to a 4-1 win that kept the urn.
Three years ago in the 50-over World Cup in India they were hammered by the hosts and then by South Africa in their first two matches, only to win their next nine and clinch their sixth title.
The point is, no matter how much of a mess Australia may seem, they are not to be taken lightly. If you do, you are likely to get hurt. But for now, England will feel they have a great chance to leave some pre-Ashes scars on their rivals.
Harry Brook’s England play three ODIs and five T20Is in Australia between November 13 and December 2
Yet for all this talk of Australia’s “breakout”, let’s not forget that England did it in Perth at the start of the 2025-26 Ashes when, with the first Test in the palm of their hand, they gave away wickets with brainless drives and ended up losing within two days.
They never recovered.
This white-ball tournament begins at the same venue and if England can avoid a repeat, then perhaps it will be Australia who cannot recover.
Schedule for England’s tour of Australia
ODIs 3.30 UK time, with T20s 8.15 UK time
- First ODI: Friday 13 November (Perth)
- Second ODI: Sunday 15 November (Adelaide)
- Third ODI: Wednesday 18 November (Hobart)
- 1st T20I: Saturday 21 November (Melbourne)
- Second T20I: Tuesday 24 November (Carrara)
- 3rd T20I: Friday 27 November (Brisbane)
- Fourth T20I: Sunday 29 November (Sydney)
- Fifth T20I: Wednesday 2 December (Canberra)
