Cricket update | Australia win 2nd Test by 8 wickets

England 334 & 241 | Australia 511 & 69-2 

England’s Ashes campaign is close to unravelling in under a week of cricket after an eight-wicket defeat to Australia in the second Test.

Author | Peter Jones

Stadium | The Gabba

There was a hint of resistance with the bat on the fourth day of the pink-ball Test in Brisbane, but it was not enough to prevent a second heavy loss of the tour, following the two-day collapse in the series opener in Perth.

Ben Stokes, perhaps intent on setting the tone after England’s poor showing on Saturday, ground out a determined 50 from 152 deliveries. His stand of 96 with Will Jacks, who made 41 from 92 balls, was England’s longest partnership of the series and offered a brief sense of stability.

That ended an hour into the middle session when Jacks fell to a superb catch from Australia captain Steve Smith at first slip. England’s innings then disintegrated, the final four wickets tumbling for 17 runs as they were dismissed for 241. Stokes edged Michael Neser, Gus Atkinson fell to a short ball from Brendan Doggett and Brydon Carse nicked off to give Neser his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket.

Australia were then left with a modest target of 65

Atkinson bowled Travis Head and found extra bounce to remove Marnus Labuschagne, but the hosts wrapped up victory inside 10 overs.

The result leaves England 2-0 down and needing to win all three remaining Tests to regain the Ashes, a feat they have never achieved from such a position. On a tour billed as their best chance in a generation to reclaim the urn, Stokes and his side risk producing one of England’s poorest Ashes showings in Australia in modern times.

Questions over mindset are likely to resurface, not least with the tourists set to follow this defeat with a break on the Sunshine Coast. Whatever they choose to do before the third Test in Adelaide on 17 December, a dramatic improvement will be required if they are to keep the series alive.

More misery at the Gabba

Australia take a 2-0 lead in the series. pic.twitter.com/DO0IeRo64O

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) December 7, 2025

England remain technically alive in the series, yet it is hard to imagine a route back from here given their dire displays and their bleak recent record in Australia.

This latest setback extends their winless run in the country to 17 matches, 15 of which have ended in defeat. It is also their 10th loss in 14 away Tests against all opposition and their eighth defeat in 15 overall since September 2024.

READ MORE | Ashes news and stories

Brisbane provided no respite. England have not won in the city since 1986 and another dispiriting chapter was added to that record. The Gabba, buzzing with expectation on Saturday night as wickets fell, drifted into half-empty silence by Sunday afternoon.

It also adds to England’s struggles under lights. They have now lost six of their eight day-night Tests, including all four staged in Australia. The hosts, by contrast, have won 14 of their 15 pink-ball matches. No other side has posted more than England’s 334 when batting first in a day-night Test and still finished on the losing side.