The former England captain, Michael Vaughan, requested caution post England’s overwhelming Ashes 2025/26 victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as they head into the fifth and final game of the series at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). The former captain underlined that ending the series on a clinical note would be crucial for captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum.

England responded strongly at the MCG as the game was played on a bowling-friendly surface, which produced 36 wickets, all failing to pace. He felt that the last win was more like a lottery and believes that this team and the management would need to show progress in winning a hard-fought contest.

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“I think it's a massive game for England [in Sydney]. It's nice to win a game of cricket, but let's be honest, it was a complete lottery in Melbourne. It wasn't a proper game of Test match cricket. For the future and for this management in particular, they need to win a strong game of cricket here. That's not a two-dayer.” Vaughan expressed in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Michael Vaughan gives England new goal for Sydney Test

England’s Melbourne win was their first Test victory in Australia since 2011, bringing an end to a wait of over 5000 days. Under McCullum, they have now played 45 Tests, winning 25 and losing 17. Vaughan stresses the New Year’s Test could prove to be decisive in their leadership set-up for the future.

“For this management to carry on, the likes of Ben and Baz - I'm pretty sure they will carry on - but I think they need a good week for that to be absolutely rock solid. There's a huge appetite within the group to keep [McCullum] on. But fundamentally, if they get pummeled in Sydney, there needs to be some honest conversations.” Vaughan added.

“I think chopping and changing is not necessarily the right thing for English cricket. Whatever happens at the end of this tour, they've got to accept that they got a lot of things wrong. If they're going to be so stubborn as to think that they were a bit unlucky, or that things didn't quite go the way they wanted.” The former England captain concluded.