Ashes Defeats Can Land The Last Blow

After a poor summer by his standards, is the career of Stuart Broad reaching the point of no return, asks Tim Wigmore

- Tim Wigmore

England defeats DownUnder always ends careers. After the thrashing in 2006-07, Ashley Giles, Sajid Mahmood, and two wicketkeepers, Geraint Jones and Chris Read, never played a Test for England again. The 2013/14 debacle ended the England Test careers of Kevin Pietersen and Michael Carberry (England’s top two run scorers of the tour), Chris Tremlett, Boyd Rankin, Tim Bresnan, Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar – and went a long way to ending those of Jonathan Trott and Matt Prior too.

Add in that Scott Borthwick has not played a Test since his lone appearance as England’s number eight and leg-spinner at Sydney, and that adds up to one player short of a full team’s worth whose Test careers were irrevocably scuppered by the last Ashes tour. Even the glorious 3-1 triumph in 2010/11 ended the Test career of Paul Collingwood.

The point is this: Ashes tours end careers, especially when England lose. And when you consider that England are significant underdogs for this campaign, it rather invites the question of which players are potential victims of this winter’s tour.

This will not solely be determined by how players perform on the pitch.