Bumbling Bazballers, two-day Tests and dead rubbers: These Ashes have over-promised and under-delivered
English summers don’t have sun, sand or surf, but they are home to epic Tests and captivating Ashes series. It’s a different story in Australia.
Bumbling Bazballers, two-day Tests and dead rubbers: These Ashes have over-promised and under-delivered
Opinion
January 2, 2026 — 5.00am
January 2, 2026 — 5.00am
Steve Smith has not played in a competitive Ashes series in Australia. At the age of 36, chances are he never will. He wouldn’t remember one either.
In fact, hardly anyone under 50 would be able to. Australians have been waiting a long time for a close Ashes series on home soil, let alone a truly great one.
Australia won the Ashes in 11 days.Credit: AP
We don’t even need a 2005-style battle for the ages; even one like 2009 – when both teams took turns to flog each other and the fifth Test was actually a decider – would suffice.
OK, asking for a live fifth Test might be ambitious at a time when most fans would happily settle for a third day, but the bar isn’t high.
English summers don’t have sun, sand or surf, but they are home to epic Tests and captivating Ashes series. Both 2019 and 2023 are comfortably better than anything seen in Australia since the World Series days.
Ever since the Ashes rivalry was revitalised by 2005, series in Australia have been highly anticipated and failed to live up to the hype.
Classic Ashes Tests, like the first Test in 2023, generally take place in England, not Australia.Credit: Getty Images
Only once since 1986-87 has the fight for the urn been still alive heading into a fourth Test at home. You need to go back to the twilight in the careers of Dennis Lillee, Greg Chappell and Rod Marsh in 1982/83 to find an Ashes summer that has gone the distance. This one lasted 11 days.
In the 35 Tests since Dean Headley rocked Australia in Melbourne in 1998, nine have been decided by an innings, 12 by 100 or more runs and eight by five or more wickets. Amazing Adelaide (2006) is an outlier. There have been more two-day Tests than classic Tests.
