English cricket

Ian Healy: Former Australian wicketkeeper Ian Healy expressed his disappointment with how England has played so far, calling their performance "deflating", and suggested that a lack of preparation for Aussie conditions has resulted in hosts being 2-nil down in the Ashes series.

After a loss in a series opener in Perth, Brisbane didn’t play out much better for England, as Australia cruised to victory in Brisbane to take an ominous 2-0 lead in the series, having been set a target of just 65 runs.

“It’s a very deflating performance so far,” Healy told SEN. “The optimism we had before any contest was very high. We thought that this was going to be the close Ashes (in Australia) that we’ve been craving since the 60s.