England’s 1-4 Ashes humiliation at the hands of Australia hasn’t stopped a BBC Sport poll revealing a shocking – and hilarious – amount of tourists in a combined XI from the series.
Australia’s nervy five-wicket victory in the fifth Test at the SCG sealed another emphatic series win for the hosts down under, with England’s one positive for the tour winning a two-day fourth Test in Melbourne, in the process breaking a 15-year victory drought in the country.
The BBC were been derided pre-series for picking a fan-voted XI with more Poms than Aussies – including Jamie Smith over Alex Carey as starting wicketkeeper.
Despite the one-sided scoreline, though, BBC readers haven’t backed down, with their combined XI following the series once again featuring six Englishmen to five Australians.
Adding to the farce, just 91 per cent of readers picked Travis Head in their team, ovdespite his 629 runs for the series being over 200 more than the next-best player from either side – while Joe Root, who scored two centuries to finish second on the run-scoring charts, came in at 94 per cent.
Zak Crawley was also a near-unanimous choice to open the batting, despite a mediocre series in which he averaged just 27.30; while Ben Stokes, whose captaincy was criticised throughout and who averaged below 20 – albeit with 15 wickets – is another contentious selection.
Notably, Michael Neser, who took 15 wickets at 19.93 for the series, was not selected.
While BBC’s Test Match Special, who posted the team on their social media channels, claims each player was put into a head-to-head vote with their opposite number – hence Head being put against Ben Duckett, Crawley against Jake Weatherald and so on, Australian acting captain Steve Smith was selected in the team at No.3, despite having spent the summer batting at four.
That would have meant only one spot for either Smith or Root in the final team, and suggests tweaks were made to ensure a more reflective XI – making both Neser’s absence and the high number of Englishmen even stranger.
The reaction from fans on social media has been a mix of amused bewilderment from Australians and sheepishness from the other side of the world – with some pointing out that the 6-5 England-Australian team ratio suggests, dare we say, a moral victory.
In comparison, Fox Cricket’s Kerry O’Keeffe revealed his combined team at lunch on Day 5 of the fifth Test, which seems much more reflective of the series.