How Not to Tour Australia …

Dark mid-winter can be a grind.

But one silver lining must surely be the cricket.

While we’re suffering from frost-bitten fingers and toes and trapped in a dark, frozen hellhole, news about what our cricketers are up to in sunnier climes is pure bliss.

And if there is an Ashes series on the line, that’s the icing on the cake.

Unless, of course, you tune in during the early hours only to find that we’ve been skittled out for next to nothing by the square-jawed Aussie brutes.

The late, great sports journalist Ian Wooldridge always advised (with his usual wry take on things) that the only way to greet an Australian is with a firm grip of the windpipe.

With a few notable exceptions, all we seem to have done is to roll over and play tickle tums.

Maybe our boys are just too nice.

And where did it all go wrong?

When the team set out for the latest Ashes tour, the blood was pumping, and hopes were high.

After all, mused the experts, many in the current Aussie side were virtually collecting their pensions.

But it was England’s wheels which quickly came off, and Cricket Australia reasserted their dominance inside just 11 days of cricket.

Compare that with golf’s victorious European Ryder Cup team, who travelled to the States last September to deliver a second successive crushing defeat on Team USA.

They’d prepared for the match to the nth degree for close on two years under the steely eye of team captain Luke Donald.

Nothing had been left to chance. And it showed.

As far as the Ashes are concerned, the blame certificates are still flying off the press.

But it’s already clear that the England setup had departed these shores with a little too much confidence and not enough planning and attention to detail.

Let’s take a leaf out of golf’s playbook and leave nothing to chance with your 2026 marketing collateral.

Until next week.

Alec