Ashes MCG: England cricket stars are blasted for hiding in the dressing room after loss to Australia

England’s cricket stars have been criticised for hiding in the dressing room after their embarrassing Ashes defeat.

Captain Joe Root was on the only player who took the field after England were bowled out for 68 at the MCG on Tuesday morning.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan said the other players should have stood by him on the pitch while he fielded questions from former player and pundit Adam Gilchrist.

Captain Joe Root (pictured) was on the only player who took the field after England were bowled out for 68 at the MCG on Tuesday morning

‘What I didn’t like, when Joe Root was doing the press and doing the interview with Gilly, and I didn’t see any other England players out there. I didn’t like that,’ Vaughan told Fox Cricket.

‘I didn’t like the fact that the England players – they went straight down into the dressing room. They’re embarrassed.

‘And of course you’re embarrassed. You’ve just performed poorly, you’ve just been bowled out for 68. Show face, get on the pitch, support your captain.

‘The captain’s going to answer all the questions now, he has done. Well, his team have got to be right beside him even in the tough times.’        

England slumped to a humiliating defeat on the third morning at the MCG, bowled out for a pathetic 68 as Australia moved into an unassailable 3-0 lead and retained the Ashes in spectacular style.

Resuming at 31 for four, the tourists needed 51 more to avoid an innings defeat, with Joe Root and Ben Stokes at the crease and England fans praying for the miracle that these days feels like their only path to victory.

Instead, the last six tumbled for 22 as Scott Boland, Australia’s 32-year-old debutant seamer, took a barely believable six for seven, and England fell to their lowest total in Australia since March 1904, when they made 61, also at Melbourne.  

Australia moved into an unassailable 3-0 lead and retained the Ashes in spectacular style

Scott Boland, Australia’s 32-year-old debutant seamer, took a barely believable six for seven

Their latest surrender included England’s 53rd and 54th Test ducks of 2021, equalling their own world record, set back in 1998. They’re a laughing stock now and, assuming no more complications with Covid, there are still two Tests to come.

This could get even messier, and it seems inconceivable now that heads will not roll once this fiasco of a tour is finally put out of its misery.

England’s predictable procession continued in the fifth over of the third morning, when Starc bowled Ben Stokes for 11 with a ball that nipped back through the gate to make it 46 for five.

After that, it was the Boland show. He already had figures of two for one after the second evening, and now – charging in on his home ground – he won a marginal lbw decision against Jonny Bairstow.

England put in another disastrous batting performance as Joe Root’s men were humiliated  

Starc bowled Ben Stokes for 11 with a ball that nipped back through the gate of the all-rounder

Root aimed a skewed drive outside off stump and was caught by David Warner at first slip

Moments later, came the big one, as Root aimed a skewed drive outside off stump and was caught by David Warner at first slip for 28. That left him with a calendar-year haul of 1,708 runs at 61 – a mammoth 1,178 ahead of England’s next-most productive Test batsman, Rory Burns.

England’s captain trudged off a beaten man. He has been heroic this year, but the same cannot be said of his team-mates. Root really must be exhausted.

His demise hastened England’s. Mark Wood chipped a return catch back to Boland, before Ollie Robinson was caught at third slip. 

And it was all over when Cameron Green bowled Jimmy Anderson just 80 minutes into the morning. Australia had won by an innings and 14, and fully deserved the acclaim of the crowd.

England’s captain trudged off a beaten man, and must really be exhausted after an heroic 2021

Cameron Green bowled Jimmy Anderson just 80 minutes into the morning session

Root contemplates another humiliating series defeat down under with two Tests still to play