Ashes: SCG Test to decide Bazball future, warns Vaughan, who calls Boxing Day win ‘lottery’

England might have conceded the Ashes, but they still have plenty to play for in the final Test at the SCG in Sydney, starting this Sunday (Jan 4). Although a win here wouldn’t change much for the visitors, barring their points on the WTC standings, what good it could do is save the much-talked-about Bazball philosophy, potentially saving Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes’ jobs, former captain Michael Vaughan reckons.

England lost the first three Ashes Tests within 11 days before winning the next – the Boxing Day one at the MCG inside six sessions, which Vaughan feels was more of a mere lottery than a hard-fought win.

Putting the Bazball and the two concerned men behind it on notice, Vaughan warned all against their worst fears should England lose in Sydney, surrendering the away series 1-4. Vaughan calls for the tourists to pull up their socks and play to win the fifth Ashes Test, to have any pride on their sleeves following a shaky start.

"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 said as quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald.

Although Bazball ended England’s 500-plus-day wait for a Test win on the Aussie soil (at the MCG), having last won the 2011 SCG Test (by an innings), Vaughan feels that for everything to fall in place for them, England must have a rock-solid week, ending it with nothing less than a victory.

"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 continued.

‘Chopping, changing not required’

Considering any result is possible in Sydney, Vaughan reckons if England loses the final Test, chopping and changing wouldn’t solve anything, as they, as a unit, must realise that they got most things wrong on this tour and should work on them to put England’s Test cricket back on track.

"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 to think that they were a bit unlucky, or things didn't quite go the way they wanted ... well, we have a problem going forward.

“The key is maturity, and that's the one thing that I think this team can be a lot better at, in terms of the way they play and talk. If they can accept that, I have no problem with the management staying the same," Vaughan said.