"Just does not surprise me" - Michael Vaughan slams England for Gabba defeat in Ashes 2021

England's grueling nine-wicket Ashes 2021 defeat at the Gabba "just does not surprise" Michael Vaughan. The former captain slammed the visitors on Sunday, saying he's now habitual of seeing Joe Root and co.'s 'fundamental' issues and their propensity to give hope before performing badly.

The Day 4 of the Test had started with both Root and Dawid Malan carrying on their promising overnight partnership and looking set to plunder at least a decent lead. But England crumbled from 223-2 to 297-10 in 29 overs and could only set a 20-run target, which was shot down in just 31 balls by the hosts.

Speaking to foxsports.com.au, Vaughan lamented England's recurring theme of "horrendous sessions" against better teams. Vaughan said:

“I thought that might happen. It happens a lot to this England side where you get a load of hope and, before you know it, you’re done and dusted quite quickly. Everything that’s happened this week just does not surprise me."

Vaughan added:

“You kind of have hope that things can be different and they’ll get it right because they’ve got so much talent in the team, but fundamentally against the best teams, this is what England do. If you look at it over the past few years, when they’ve played the better teams – Australia, India, New Zealand; it happened in the summer that we’ve just had, it happened against Australia in 2019 – this England side, they have horrendous sessions.”

Few gave England any chance of winning the Gabba Test. In the leadup to the series, England lost to New Zealand 1-0 and conceded a 2-1 series lead to India at home, which led bare their overreliance on Root and inability to weave aggressive bowling spells without the injured Jofra Archer.

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"Jack Leach is clearly in that vulnerable position and Australia targeted him brilliantly" - Michael Vaughan

One of the key factors behind Australia's win was their belligerence against Jack Leach. The left-arm spinner could only bowl 13 overs because he conceded 102 runs in them at a staggering economy rate of 7.8. In contrast, his counterpart Nathan Lyon bowled 43 overs at 2.6 apiece while also picking up four wickets.

Vaughan blamed England for Leach's lack of confidence, saying the visitors not trusting his skills despite good performances put him in a vulnerable spot which Australia exploited brilliantly.

Vaughan said:

“It looks like the Aussies knew that Jack Leach had not played any cricket and is a vulnerable player in the side. Because he’s not been picked and, in your own mind as an individual when you’ve been in and out of the side because the team hasn’t trusted you to play since you’ve had such a good winter in Sri Lanka and India, he’s clearly in that vulnerable position and Australia targeted him brilliantly."

Vaughan added that he wouldn't be too surprised if England do away with spin completely in the second Test and go for an all-seam attack, while bolstering their batting line-up.

He remarked:

“I’m always a believer that you need variation. If you’ve got five bowlers in your attack, surely four seamers can do the job. If you’re asking for a fifth then your four seamers haven’t bowled well enough. It wouldn’t surprise me if England went without the spinner and pack the batting, picked another batter and played four seamers.”

The Adelaide Test, a day-night fixture, will kick off at 9:30 IST on Thursday.