LIVE: Ex-Aussies’ scathing takedown of ‘reckless’ England

Former Aussie tweaker Xavier Doherty has offloaded on England’s aggressive style of play, labelling BazBall “a flop”.

With the exception of captain Ben Stokes, England has struggled to make huge scores across the first three Tests on account of a string of heedless dismissals.

“I went into this Ashes series looking forward to BazBall and this exciting brand of cricket that England play and it’s turned out to be a bit of a flop, I reckon,” he told SEN Tassie.

“I think it’s just an excuse for them to go out and do whatever they want with no accountability and just be reckless.

“England have at times played some really good cricket and then just do something awfully stupid and then just say, ‘Ah well, that’s all just part of it’.”

Doherty also condemned the disgruntled English crowds whom he believes are taking out their frustrations on the Aussies after Jonny Bairstow’s controversial stumping during the second Test at Lord’s.

“It’s just another excuse for the English to call Australia cheats… it’s like a mob mentality,” he said.

“The cricket crowd over there is turning into a football crowd with the chants and the abuse.

“It’s just this unaccountable mindset that they’ve got, the rules don’t apply to us anymore so we’ll do and say whatever we feel like and then we’ll be the upholders of the spirit of cricket and we’ll tell other people what they should be doing.

“They’re in a world of their own at the minute and this Bazball phenomenon has gone to their heads, no doubt.”