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26 August 2025, 15:10 BST
England may lack the killer instinct needed to win in this winter’s Ashes, says former Australia head coach Justin Langer.
Langer, 54, won four Ashes series as a player and was unbeaten in two series as a coach before leaving in 2022.
England played their part in a thrilling 2-2 draw with India this summer and also drew the last series with Australia in the UK 2-2 in 2023.
Speaking to Stuart Broad and Jos Buttler on BBC Sounds’ For the Love of Cricket podcast, Langer said: “It’s going to be a really, really close series. My question for England will be, have you got the killer instinct to finish off a series if you get a chance?
“We’ve seen it, the two-all here in the last Ashes series, two-all against India.
“England had the chances to win that series. Have you got the killer instinct to win the Ashes in Australia? That’s going to be the big question.”
England have only won one Ashes series in Australia since 1987, a 3-1 series win in 2010-11.
Their past three tours have been lost without winning a match and Langer thinks the tourists will have to be aggressive to stand a chance on the tour which starts with the first Test in Perth on 21 November.
“Call it Bazball or the aggressive approach, I think England must play that approach in Australia. No question, because it’ll put pressure back on,” he said.
“The only players who had success against Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath were those who attacked them. They got back in their face and they hated it because no one did it.
“It’s going to take courage because you have got Mitchell Starc bowling like he does, Josh Hazlewood never misses the spot and Pat Cummins is a generational bowler. So it’s going to take great courage.”
Men’s Ashes 2025-26 schedule
First Test, Optus Stadium in Perth: 21-25 November
Second Test, Gabba in Brisbane: 4-8 December
Third Test, Adelaide Oval in Adelaide: 17-21 December
Fourth Test, MCG in Melbourne: 26-30 December
Fifth Test, SCG in Sydney: 4-8 January
BBC Test Match Special will have ball-by-ball coverage of both the men’s and women’s Ashes with live text commentary of every match on the BBC Sport website.
