It’s nearly 50 years since the last thrilling Ashes series Down Under. England need help
These Ashes have proven the folly of so much pre-series hype. England need help to break a cycle of uncompetitive bouts in Australia.
By the time England return to Australia for their next Ashes tour in 2029, it will have been almost 50 years since the last truly competitive bout on these shores.
In 1982-83, an England side led by Bob Willis held the Ashes after Ian Botham’s extraordinary performances in the UK in 1981, and managed to keep their defence of the urn alive until the final day of the final Test in Sydney, where a draw was enough for the hosts to prevail 2-1.
England at the moment of their famous three-run MCG Test win in 1982. Credit: Getty Images
Like the 2025-26 edition, that series was marked by Australian injuries – Terry Alderman and Dennis Lillee to name two – but also English missteps. Willis, who died in 2019, fatefully sent Australia in to bat at the Adelaide Oval, and paid for it with one of the two defeats that handed the series to Greg Chappell’s team.
But in Melbourne, a fast-moving (for the time) Test match ended with the theatre of a last-wicket stand between Allan Border and Jeff Thomson, who were only parted with four runs left to get after Chris Tavare parried a slips chance into the exultant hands of Geoff Miller.
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These moments and memories have grown more poignant with every series since. The destiny of the Ashes has been known well before the final game on every subsequent tour, even when England won in 1986-87 and 2010-11.
That’s a problem for Cricket Australia, which hyped this tour as the ultimate in cricket’s contests, in parallel with the Bazball bubble that gave so many English supporters false hope of a win here. It’s true that this series has still been watched by record crowds and broadcast audiences, but how much greater would they be with a live SCG Test?
Australia’s acting captain Steve Smith played in the 2010-11 series, and was the last man left at the crease for his team when England claimed their third innings victory of that tour. Since then, he has played in some undulating Ashes bouts in 2015, 2019 and 2023, but they have all taken place in the northern hemisphere.
For genuine contests down under, Smith has instead had to look towards battles with India, in particular. In 2014-15 it was a grinding 2-0 win for Australia, with the destination of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in doubt until the final day in Sydney, while in 2020-21 India won out 2-1 and last summer Australia’s 3-1 triumph was closer than it appears on paper.
