Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has delivered a pointed critique of England's preparation for the recent Ashes series, suggesting their long-awaited victory in the fourth Test only underscores a critical pre-tour failing. Gavaskar's comments, which included a veiled reference to a controversial remark by England captain Ben Stokes, centred on the visitors' lack of meaningful first-class match practice before the high-stakes contest in Australia.
The Context: A Hollow Victory and a Pitch Farce
England finally broke a 15-year drought on Australian soil by winning the fourth Ashes Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in December 2025. However, the triumph was heavily qualified. The series was already lost, and the match itself was widely deemed a 'farce' due to an extremely bowler-friendly pitch that produced a result within just two days. Both batting line-ups collapsed repeatedly, highlighting a modern struggle with the patience required for Test cricket.
In his column for SportStar, Gavaskar analysed this batting fragility, linking it to the prevalence of fast-scoring white-ball formats. He then turned his attention to England's much-debated preparation, or lack thereof, before the first ball was bowled in Perth.
Gavaskar's Core Argument: Practice Makes Perfect
The former India captain made a straightforward case: England's performance in Melbourne proved that more time in the middle with a red ball would have served them better from the outset. "England’s win, even though it came in the fourth Test with the series already lost, does prove once again that the more you play, the better you will get, especially in unfamiliar overseas conditions," Gavaskar wrote.
He pointedly questioned the team's strategy: "The point, therefore, is should England have played a few more First-Class games before the first Test?" This query was not new; many former players from both England and Australia had criticised the team for arriving without a single full-fledged first-class fixture. Their only long-form practice was a three-day game against the England Lions.
The 'Has-Beens' Controversy Revisited
Gavaskar's column took a sharp turn with a clever, barbed reference to Ben Stokes's pre-series comments. When questioned about the light preparation schedule and criticism from ex-players, Stokes had defended his team's methods, stating modern cricket's 'landscape' had changed.
Stokes's now-infamous retort was: "There’s quite a few factors that play into why we can’t prepare how the has-beens maybe prepared in the past." Gavaskar, embodying the very 'has-beens' Stokes referenced, wryly noted: "The ‘ares’ do not agree with the ‘has-beens’ here." This line served as a direct, if polite, rebuttal to the England skipper's dismissal of past players' wisdom.
Stokes himself later expressed deep regret for his choice of words after England lost the first Test in Perth by eight wickets. "I got the words I said there completely wrong," Stokes admitted. "Has-beens is a horrible word. It’s the only thing that managed to come out of my mouth at that moment. God, I’m going to be one of those one day. But it’s not at all what I meant by that."
Gavaskar's analysis, however, uses the outcome of the series to suggest that the experience of those former players—the 'has-beens'—might have held valuable insight. The implication is clear: traditional first-class preparation remains a vital component for success in Test cricket, a format that demands specific skills which cannot be honed solely through white-ball cricket or internal training.
