Cricket: Former captain Michael Vaughan rips into England's Ashes performance

Former England captain Michael Vaughan (L) is not impressed with Joe Root's England side. Photos / Photosport, Getty

Michael Vaughan has accused England of getting "everything wrong" since arriving in Australia for the Ashes series after an opening day in Melbourne that saw yet another batting collapse leave Joe Root's side facing a series defeat.

England were bowled out for 185 on day one of the Boxing Day Test to stare down the barrel of a third consecutive and series-deciding defeat, with Australia just one wicket down and only 124 runs behind at close, despite making four changes to their side in the hope of triggering a response after the losses in Brisbane and Adelaide.

It led to scathing criticism from the 2004 Ashes-winning captain Vaughan, who said on Fox Sports: "So far the only thing they've done right on the trip is turn up on time.

"They've got pretty much everything wrong – selection, tactics have not quite been right."

Vaughan was particularly critical at the decision by Root and head coach Chris Silverwood to leave out Stuart Broad, having only just brought him back into the team for the second Test last week.

"Stuart Broad should be playing here [in Melbourne], he should've played in Brisbane," Vaughan added.

"How Stuart Broad is not going to be bowling around the wicket to David Warner on a green top, I just can't fathom that with the quality that he brings."

And he called for England to let out their nasty side if they are to stand any chance of clawing their way back into a series that looks increasingly likely to be heading for a second 5-0 whitewash in the last three tours.

"There's been too many mornings where I've turned on the television screen and I saw them all shaking hands and having conversation with Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon," Vaughan added.

"Do that in the dressing rooms afterwards, not before the start of play. They've been too nice, let's see if a nastier England side can produce some better results."

Jonny Bairstow was one of the four players recalled to the side and he defended the aggressive nature of England's dismissals in an effort to address their abysmal batting record Down Under this series, but in what is becoming an increasingly familiar scene for English cricket fans, only captain Joe Root made it to 50 runs as a series of poor shots under pressure gifted Australia all 10 wickets.

Bairstow, who was recalled to the Test side in place of Ollie Pope and who scored the second-highest total of 35, attempted to vindicate their approach and put the errors down to individual decisions that on another day may have paid off.

"I don't think that you can complain when it's obviously individuals going out and playing in the way in which they foresee is the best way," explained Bairstow at stumps, with Australia just one wicket down and only 124 runs behind England.

"That's exactly what it's about. Naturally the execution wasn't there today. But the amount of times that we've seen those shots being executed and going to the boundary is high. It's one of those days that they and we will look back on and probably reassess next time and potentially take different options."

It was another dismal day for England, who have now gone past 400 runs just once in their last 23 innings. However, on a green pitch on which England had been inserted having lost the toss, it was the nature of the dismissals which Bairstow found himself staunchly defending.

"That's an individual decision [to decide when to attack], isn't it?" said Bairstow, addressing England's tendency to lose wickets just before intervals. "If that's the game plan to take the off-spinner down and put the pressure back on, to push the field back, then that's the game plan that was taken.

"It's about finding a way of scoring runs individually. You look amongst techniques that have scored runs over here over many years and there's not one method that works, is there? There's many different methods and it is about finding a way."

"There's different techniques throughout both sides," continued Bairstow. "There have been many people who have analysed people's techniques and game plans, as to how they proceed the best way of scoring runs. But at the end of day, it does come down to scoring runs and spending time out in the middle."

Bairstow did, however, insist that England's performance was not for lack of trying.

"I can tell you now everyone is trying," said Bairstow. "Different methods, individual training techniques implemented. When you've got guys bowling 138kph-144kph it makes you make decisions quicker. That's part and parcel of the game, they bowled well but we can come back and apply the same pressure tomorrow."

Addressing England's prospects in a match which they have to win to keep alive the prospect of winning, or even drawing, the series after arriving in Melbourne 2-0 down in the five-match series, Bairstow said: "We're bowling on the same pitch they bowled on.

"We saw this evening David [Warner] came out and played some shots, applied pressure back on our bowlers. We'll turn up again in the morning, we've seen the pitch offer plenty throughout the day. We've got one end potentially open with a nightwatchman and we'll look to put pressure on [Marcus] Harris and the nightwatchman to get some early inroads."