ECB lacks clout to bring about change and end Ashes misery

The England and Wales Cricket Board will have few shots to play in its review of the Ashes when it meets next month to sift through the wreckage.

- Matt Hughes

The tone and outcome of those meetings will be determined by whether England can rally or are whitewashed for the third time in six tours of Australia.

Over the past 20 years of disappointments in Australia other than Andrew Strauss's outlier in 2010-11, the ECB has exhausted all avenues. It appointed Ken Schofield, the former executive director of golf's European Tour, to conduct an external inquiry and then asked Strauss, England's last Ashes-winning captain in Australia, to review the domestic structure.

After four months of work in 2007, the Schofield review was published after the start of the domestic season and included 19 recommendations, 17 of which were endorsed by the ECB. The subsequent introduction of a director of cricket, currently Rob Key, and the establishment of full-time selectors played a significant role in England recovering from their first Ashes whitewash for nearly 90 years to win in Australia four years later. Although it took longer to implement Schofield's call to abolish the Pro40 League, it altered the structure of the domestic game.

The Strauss-led high-performance review in 2022 was more streamlined, but had less impact, with the counties rejecting his proposals for cuts to the County Championship and a six-team Division One to prepare future England players better for the challenge of playing in Australia.