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Cricket Players‘Glee and embarrassment’: Bangladesh’s Australia shock reopens ‘bitter’ truth that still haunts England
The shock result triggered a peculiar mix of “glee and embarrassment” in the English media, as it reopened a bitter truth that has continued to haunt England.
Bangladesh scripted history last weekend in Darwin, securing their maiden international win in Australia against Australia with a nine-wicket victory in the Test series opener. It was a result that will be remembered for years in world cricket. Thousands of miles away, the shock result triggered a peculiar mix of “glee and embarrassment” in the English media, as it reopened a bitter truth that has continued to haunt England.
This is almost the identical Australian team that romped to a 4-1 Ashes victory over England last season, a series that eventually culminated in Brendon McCullum’s sacking as Test coach and Ben Stokes’ resignation as captain.
The embarrassment for the two teams was perhaps best captured in a social media post from Cricket Iceland, which wrote: “Bangladesh now have the same number of Test wins in Australia as England do in the last 15 years!”
Former England fast bowler Stuart Broad, who retired three summers ago, reckoned England should have, and perhaps must have, been in the same position that Bangladesh are today. He admitted that the result in Darwin was a bitter pill for England to swallow, too.
“The result leaves a real bitter, sour taste that’s still not disappeared from England’s winter’s work,” he said on his For the Love of Cricket podcast. “That could have been us, should have been us.”
Before the start of the 2025/26 Ashes, Broad had described Australia as having one of the worst batting line-ups in recent times. In hindsight, given the Ashes result, he was mocked for the assessment, but the Bangladesh result has offered some vindication.
“I never backed down from that, because I genuinely believe it,” he said of his infamous comment. “Just because they won 4-1, it still didn’t take away from my mindset. They’re coming to a stage where they’re going to have to bring some fresh blood in. It’s whether they decide to do it now or they go, ‘Can we hang on until the end of the next Ashes series and then restart it?’”
Former England captain Mike Atherton, too, reflected on the same theme in his column for The Times.
“It is difficult to know which emotion should dominate,” he wrote. “The glee and schadenfreude over the result or the lasting pain and embarrassment from the way England’s own ineptitude allowed Australia to paper over the cracks in last winter’s Ashes.”
However, Atherton also admitted that Bangladesh’s historic victory had rekindled hope that the future of Test cricket is not quite as uncertain as some fear amid the rise of T20 cricket. More importantly, he argued that Test cricket remains a priority beyond the traditional powerhouses of Australia, England, India, South Africa and New Zealand.
“More and more, England and Australia see their commercial ambitions orbiting around India, but it is a dangerous game to view the cricketing landscape in such a tripartite way,” he wrote.
“Since Bangladesh’s elevation to Test status in 2000 … Australia have played seven Tests in that time against them, England only ten.
“A strong Test game can only truly be so if there is a breadth and variety to the competition.
“The responsibility cuts both ways: it is for every team to exploit their own resources as efficiently as possible, to develop quality teams, and then for the game as a whole to provide opportunity.”
Fellow former England captain Nasser Hussain also lamented what could have been for England in last winter’s Ashes.
“England aren’t even playing at the moment, and it’s all about what could have been last winter,” he wrote for Sky Sports.
“A few journalists were writing them (Bangladesh) off completely. But they played proper Test match cricket. And I think that’s what infuriates a few England fans, really.”
The Telegraph described the result as “deeply uncomfortable” for England, but refused to take anything away from Bangladesh’s performance, highlighting how the Tigers tactically dismantled “Australia’s best” without resorting to anything flashy.
“Not only did Bangladesh beat Australia’s best, but they did so in style, controlling the game in a way England never even threatened to,” the publication wrote.
“There was nothing flashy. It is easy to forget that England also bowled out Australia cheaply at the start of the series, but did not have the smarts to take advantage.
“The reasons it went wrong for England are now well covered: desperately inadequate preparation at Lilac Hill against the Lions, failing to even speak about the dangers of driving on the up, which killed them in Perth and Brisbane, a divergence of approach between the captain and coach, bowling that was fast but loose, a generally slack attitude to downtime.
“If anything, it gets more painful by the day.”
Sky Sports host Ian Ward even took a dig at Justin Langer after the Australian guided Manchester Originals to victory in The Hundred final. Ward asked him: “How are your emotions – and I don’t mean after what happened at Darwin?”
A laughing Langer replied: “You Poms are good, aren’t you?”
“Just keep kicking us while we’re down,” he added.
