The omnishambles Ashes: how England broke on the Covid tour of 2021

It is New Year's Eve, 2021, and Ashley Giles is having a panic attack at Heathrow airport.

As he stares blankly at his mobile phone, hovering above an empty Passenger Locator Form, he knows something is not right. After 15 minutes, Giles regains himself, casts away thoughts of turning around and jumping into a taxi home, fills out the form and boards a plane back to Australia.

Giles was returning earlier than he had intended. England men's director of cricket had arrived in Australia on November 6 with the first group of England's Ashes squad, landing in Brisbane ahead of a two-week quarantine at a resort on the Gold Coast. Those participating in the T20 World Cup in the UAE arrived ten days later.

Having stayed on deck until day three of the second Test, in Adelaide, Giles returned to the UK for what was supposed to be a 12-day break before heading back for the fourth Test, in Sydney.

A period intended for unwinding was anything but. A combination of jet lag and severe anxiety meant Giles could not sleep. On Christmas Day evening, a few hours from the start of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, he finally crashed.

He was woken up in the middle of the night by a call he was dreading but knew, deep down, might be coming. Covid had entered the England bubble. "It was a nightmare," Giles says.

After a family member had initially tested positive, a number of coaches were subsequently infected, including head coach Chris Silverwood, and ended up spending the Sydney Test in quarantine. Giles cut short his "break" and returned to find a group on their knees.

After nearly a year of negotiations with Cricket Australia and the Australian government to get the Ashes on, the contest itself lasted just 12 days. Giles, Silverwood, and eventually the captain, Joe Root, lost their jobs after the 4-0 loss. Graham Thorpe, dismissed as assistant coach after a video he had taken of a post-series drinking session was leaked, took his own life in August 2024, in part because of the trauma of that tour.

The toll of that winter still lives with those who experienced it. Stuart Broad, who declared the series void a year later, clarified his comments to Jos Buttler on their For the Love of Cricket podcast earlier this month: "It was that painful an experience that it didn't count in my own brain."

Crash and Burns: England's Ashes started inauspiciously with a first-ball bowled for opener Rory Burns © Getty Images

It was only this summer with the release of his autobiography The King of Spain and I, that Giles came close to any catharsis.

"I don't mind saying - by that time, I was starting to struggle. I was finding it difficult. Sleeping was difficult. Probably finding solace in the bottom of a glass too much. All those behaviours that creep in when you're just on the edge. If that was happening to me, it was clearly happening to others on that tour as well.

"We all tried to work it out as best we could to get the series on. But make no mistake… when we left these shores, I think we had almost no chance of winning the Ashes."

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That England have won just one of the six Ashes tours this century adds important historical context to Giles' words. Even the best prepared, most functional, visiting sides get turned over down under.

No one had played more Test cricket during the pandemic than England leading into this series. Having hosted bio-secure bubbles through the summer of 2020, and adhered to strict ones overseas, the ECB and its players had grown somewhat used to them. However, as negotiations with CA progressed, fears crept in.

Having been in strict lockdown for tours of Sri Lanka and India at the start of the year, the English summer of 2021 had been a step towards a more open, old-world familiarity. Though the final Test of the home series against India was postponed because of Covid, life for an England cricketer had pretty much returned to normal.

Behind the scenes, however, anxiety over the Ashes was rising. The one certainty was they would be subject to severe restrictions, to the point that players began wondering whether they should make the trip at all.

Australia was closed to foreign nationals, and negotiations were further complicated by the different rules across states. Though players appreciated the need to quarantine, they pushed to do so in New South Wales, where it would only be three days, rather than the two weeks in Queensland ahead of the first Test at the Gabba. Requests to move the Tests were made but CA held firm. On the eve of the series, the final Test was moved from Perth to Hobart due to Western Australia's stricter Covid border policies.

As captain, Root insisted on being privy to these talks. Those close to him reflect that this was unwise in hindsight because it burdened him with even more responsibility. But he was adamant he was the best person to act as a conduit for the players and in particular, their families.

Given the length and demands of the tour, families were deemed as important as the players but ended up making for an extra layer of complexity. As seen with access to the swimming pool at the Gold Coast resort: Cricket Australia had insisted the pool was out of bounds, worried about the optics. One of the scenarios put to England was if a drone flew over and captured them having a good time while returning Australians underwent strict quarantine. In the end, England got their way.

Not every player brought family along, but some who did were also allowed to bring nannies to assist. Though it was well-intentioned, by the end, the sheer size of the touring party meant even the smallest gripes and most minor inconveniences were exacerbated.

By the start of the first Test, both England and the accompanying Lions squad had moved to the Novotel in Brisbane, where they were given a separate building on the grounds for their meals. It served to maintain the integrity of their bubble and allowed the ECB to maintain control of the nutrition.

However, on the morning of the opening day of the series, members of the starting XI found themselves at the end of long queues for breakfast, just hours before the first ball. The next day, a rota system was put in place, with players given priority. "It was a bit of a farce," said one player. "But how are you going to tell a mum who's been up with her kids all night that she's got to wait for her breakfast?"

By Sydney, with testing ramped up following a breach, more invasive than they had previously experienced, there was talk of abandoning the tour altogether. Some players were unwilling to subject their children to PCR tests that "went through to the front of your brain". Agreements were eventually made for less invasive tests. It was one of the only wins they banked.

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The morning after England's first day of freedom in Australia, players and staff jumped on a Zoom meeting called by an angry Giles.

With the first group having served their time on the Gold Coast and now moved to Brisbane, they were given the evening to head out in town. The instructions were to hang out in groups of four and not convene at the same venues. Though life in Brisbane was, for all intents and purposes, relatively normal, a big group milling together with the public was a huge risk that could jeopardise the tour.

Bubbles, not barbies: Stuart Broad and Ben Stokes arrive for training in Gold Coast wearing masks © Cricket Australia/Getty Images

That played out with Australia further down the line when captain Pat Cummins was ruled out of the second Test, in Adelaide after dining in a restaurant at a table next to a person who was identified as a positive Covid case. Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon also happened to be dining at the same restaurant but were at separate outdoor tables and played the Test.

To be fair to those who broke team protocol, there were only so many places they could go to on foot, having been prohibited from public transport or taxis. Naturally, they gravitated together and ended up at the same establishments. Giles had to issue neither his first nor his last stern warning.

Also on that Zoom call were staff and players who had just arrived from the T20 World Cup, still in the early stages of their 14-day quarantine, still at the point where the hotel orders were that if the fire alarm went off, they must stay in their rooms. Following defeat in the semi-final against New Zealand, they had stayed on until the final was completed, after which they joined a victorious Australian side on a flight to Queensland. That group, which included Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler, Dawid Malan, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood and Silverwood, had endured a grating holding period in their UAE hotel, where they were in a bubble with India, waiting for the tournament to end. The annoyance was compounded by seeing Australia disembark at the other end with their winners' medals around their necks.

A number of the second cohort were worried by the tone of this Zoom call. Were the first group in danger of ruining what little freedoms the tour had been afforded before they had even got to experience them? Quarantine was more or less the same for both, with players likening it to the first strict lockdowns of 2020.

Socialising was kept to a minimum, with players using their hotel balconies to watch shows or films with their neighbours. Every individual had to dispose of their own rubbish. Even trips to Carrara Oval for training sessions became a chore, particularly for a first group bolstered by a 14-man Lions squad. Three-hour windows became a race against time for players to get their work in. When changes to the ground needed to be made, such as shifting nets, players and staff had to leave the field for 20 minutes so the ground staff could get in, to avoid any potential contact.

Coaches worked overtime to facilitate, putting on a brave face to keep players' spirits high, even though they were suffering as much. Their workloads increased in Brisbane, when both warm-up matches between England and Lions were so badly affected by rain that only seven sessions of play were possible.

Just leave it: after the Adelaide Test, England players were made to watch replays of their dismissals in the dressing room as a lesson in letting the ball go judiciously Mark Brake / © Cricket Australia/Getty Images

"That's when things became desperate," one player says. "You had players worried on their way to training if they were going to get enough work in ahead of the biggest series of their lives."

By the time the squad were all together, the cracks were appearing. Socially, things became awkward, as restricted group sizes created varying degrees of solitude. Those with families that would already constitute four, for example, found themselves cut off from team-mates, missing out on usual team bonding. Even when that increased to six in other states, internal groups had developed a routine that carried through for the remainder of the tour.

"It was like being back at school, told what you can and can't do," said one player. "And then you're also wondering [about] plans, and different WhatsApp groups making plans, and who is getting left out. And whether it's you. Okay then, Deliveroo for me, is it?"

When a handful of family members began testing positive, those on their own grew wary of spending too much time around the broader touring party in case they were then subject to further quarantines. Every interaction was laced with paranoia.

To complicate matters, back in England, the Yorkshire racism scandal had burst into the public eye after Azeem Rafiq's testimony to a parliamentary committee. Root and other Yorkshire players were involved in a series of meetings as a result. Pete Sim, England's physical preparation coach who was part of the Lions backroom staff, was informed he had been sacked by Yorkshire during one of the warm-ups.

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"Shambles" became a buzzword among the playing group before the series had even begun. England cricketers are well looked after on tour, and it was no different on this one; even with all the challenges, there was an appreciation that their hosts were doing all they could. But as days became weeks, patience wore thin.

It took Australia only 12 days to wrap up the series, with an innings win in Melbourne © Getty Images

The sheer number of people travelling meant each uttered grievance compounded. A comment from a player would be repeated by another, then a partner, then a family member. Whereas in smaller tours such ill-feeling gets laughed off, here there was a multiplier effect. With so many other interests to cater for beyond how England could challenge Australia on the field, it soon became about whether everyone involved could survive off it.

Every delayed take-off, every time they were held in a coach, chipped away at them. Upon arrival into Melbourne from Adelaide for the third Test, England were left on the runway for "around an hour" waiting for a bus to take them to a terminal, sheltering under the wings of the plane they had just disembarked.

When day three of the Boxing Day Test was delayed by 30 minutes for testing after seven positives the day before - Silverwood, bowling coach Jon Lewis, spin coach Jeetan Patel, and fitness consultant Darren Veness, along with three family members - they were at the end of their tether. When match referee David Boon also contracted the virus, the group began wondering why they were still in Australia.

There had been a degree of gallows humour up to that point, in part because everything had been done with the best intentions but was still going awry. Fun was being solicited wherever they could find it. With the ECB's midnight curfew still in effect, nights out were ending with coaches counting players through the door, with those who had made it in early sticking around to cheer the last person in. Ben Stokes' observation that once it was the next day, the midnight curfew started again, so they could all head back out gained plenty of traction without being tested.

Stokes' presence on the tour was a boost for all involved, particularly Root. Having taken a mental-health break during the 2021 summer, Stokes was a late addition to the squad. Though his performances were little to write home about - he averaged 23.60 with the bat and 71.50 with the ball - he was a necessary voice. With Root pulled so many different ways, Stokes took it upon himself to act as something of a union leader. He encouraged more togetherness and aired the grievances of the group strongly - perhaps too strongly, at times.

Deep down, the players knew many issues were unavoidable. But it felt a microcosm of the tour that even what luxuries they were afforded came with problems.

After the Ashes loss, Joe Root captained England to a 0-1 series defeat in the West Indies before stepping down © CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images

During quarantine, CA generously welcomed each tourist with a care package - a basket overflowing with local treats. Despite orders from management to discard the more calorific items, most players "smashed" their offerings, one said. A number came out of that period the heaviest they had been ahead of a series, with one player reported to have objected to a skin folds test on the grounds it was fat-shaming. Some still joke to this day that it was a master stroke in sabotage from the home board.

On Christmas Day, the ECB decided to treat the players and book out a St Kilda beach bar. Having enjoyed the same spot on Christmas Eve of the 2017-18 tour, the players were looking forward to it, only to find themselves surrounded by local families, and treated to a sub-par buffet. By the time camera crews turned up, a number of the players had decided to head back to the hotel for something more substantial to eat.

Similar issues arose for New Year's Eve in Sydney. A rooftop bar had been secured right next to Harbour Bridge for the fireworks. A great spot, by all accounts, with one problem - by the time the first fireworks had gone up and lit up the night sky, the view was obscured by smoke.

Only some players made that trip. The team were warned that traffic in the city centre meant they could face a journey back of up to four hours. Those who decided to stay back went up to the hotel roof to catch the show, only to find it was closed. When they eventually got the hotel to open up, they were shooed back to bed by 12:30am.

"Much like everything on that tour, it just went wrong. It was no one's fault. It was well-intentioned, but it just messed up."

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Losing a wicket to the first ball of the series is never ideal, least of all in an Ashes. But when Mitchell Starc knocked back Rory Burns' leg stump, the glee of almost 31,000 punters inside the Gabba was a surprisingly welcome jolt to the England dressing room. After all the stress and strains it took to get to that point, it felt proper.

The threat of the Omicron variant of Covid had limited the ground to around 80% capacity. But the atmosphere was akin to previous Ashes battles. Unfortunately for England, the rest of the series followed suit. The lack of adequate warm-up meant they were always going to be up against it in Brisbane. But there was optimism in Adelaide, particularly when Root and Malan took England to 150 for 2 in response to Australia's first innings of 473 for 9 declared. Both were dismissed by the time the score had reached 157.

Suit up: supporters in costumes that reflected the times Dave Hewison / © Getty Images

At the end of the match, nursing a 275-run defeat, and now 2-0 down, England's batters were forced to rewatch their dismissals in the away dressing room of Adelaide Oval. The purpose of the exercise was to encourage players to leave more in the channel outside off stump. But a number were surprised to be subject to this kind of video session so soon after defeat and in front of each other. By all accounts, it "wasn't a bollocking", but the timing could have been better. A Test later, they were ransacked in Melbourne for 68 inside 28 overs. Maybe more shots would have helped?

The bowlers, meanwhile, were having their own problems. After James Anderson and Stuart Broad had been left out of the first Test - an example of some unnecessary galaxy-brain selecting - they and the rest of the bowling group were criticised by Root in the second for not bowling full enough.

Between the second and third Tests, paranoia around selection had taken hold. Unlike now under Brendon McCullum, XIs then were only revealed to the players on the morning of matches. Though changes were expected to the batting, those involved were none the wiser, trying to take cues from various bits in training.

At a time when clarity would have alleviated some of the pressures, players were gauging whether they might play based on if they were told to practise fielding in the slip cordon. It was also in this period between Tests that Burns and Haseeb Hameed were spotted batting on one leg - an effective remedial drill to work on balance but one to be done behind closed doors, and certainly not bang in the middle of an Ashes.

Matters spiralled when Burns found out online that Crawley would be coming in for him in Melbourne, before Silverwood had the chance to tell him. Players began asking those beyond the group if their names had been mentioned. Stokes even put his foot in it with Ollie Pope, pumping up the Surrey batter to slot in at five in the fourth Test having failed to make a mark at six, only for Pope not to make the cut.

That England were able to stave off defeat in Sydney owed as much to the rain as their ability to band together, especially with a number of key coaches out of action. Thorpe assumed charge, alongside Ant Botha and James Foster, and Adam Hollioake was drafted in from Queensland. The players ended up helping out one another at training, throwing to batters, running their own fielding drills, and collaborating on bowling plans.

The final wicket: Ollie Robinson backs away to leg and is bowled by Pat Cummins' yorker to end the Ashes 4-0 in Australia's favour William West / © AFP/Getty Images

However, it was this situation that created a notable flashpoint. Midway through one session ahead of the Sydney Test, a number of players, led by Stokes, left early to get back to the hotel after finishing their work. Root lamented them in the WhatsApp group, believing their departure was selfish, given some of the players still needed their help to tune up. Stokes bit back, believing they had done nothing wrong, before later apologising to the group in person, realising the error of his ways.

The draw in Sydney still had collateral. Buttler broke a finger, ending a nightmarish tour in front of and behind the stumps. He was eventually replaced by Sam Billings, who was 90 minutes from getting a plane home, having completed a Big Bash League stint. Covid protocols meant Billings drove 500 miles to Sydney instead of flying to meet with the squad ahead of the final match, in Hobart. His Test debut lasted just three days. By then, the players had stopped helping themselves. A pre-Test trip to Barnbougle was used by a number of players as an opportunity to cut loose.

They arrived ahead of the Test worse for wear and were treated accordingly. Ollie Robinson, criticised during the match by Lewis for not being fit enough, was bowled as he flailed off the cut strip, the final wicket to confirm Australia's 4-0 success. A painfully apt dismissal on a tour that had now fully capitulated.

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Only five players from four years ago will be back in Australia this winter. This time, there is more hope and fewer emotional and physical constraints.

"Are we going to be allowed out of our rooms?" asked Root rhetorically last month. "Is everyone going to make the plane? It is completely different. It is a completely different set of circumstances for everyone involved on that tour. There are so many different things they don't have to deal with now."

That tour, for all its pain, remains a talking point. When players catch up on the circuit, it creeps back into conversation as they reminisce on the most unusual two months of their careers. Ashes tours are unique, and this sits top of the list.

If the simplicity of the mantra of McCullum and Stokes is to get back to enjoying international cricket, the message was enhanced by the complications that preceded it. The pandemic had steadily worn down England's Test players. The 2021-22 Ashes broke them.

Vithushan Ehantharajah is an associate editor at ESPNcricinfo

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