With both sides evenly matched, the Ashes of 2025-26 could be one of the closest seen in Australia for many decades
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After more than 40 years of one-sided Ashes series in Australia, the time may have come for a classic.
Cricket’s most famous rivalry has regularly delivered in England, especially since the iconic 2005 battle when Michael Vaughan’s team finally reclaimed the urn for the first time in 16 years.
You have to go back to 1982-83 for the last time the Ashes was still live heading into the final Test of a series in Australia.
Going on the 2-1 result the 1986-87 series looked close, but England had already retained the urn after a crushing Boxing Day Test win and Australia won a dead-rubber in Sydney.
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Since that series, Australia have destroyed England every time they travelled Down Under, apart from the 2010-11 outlier.
England’s 3-1 demolition 15 years ago prompted Australian cricket to conduct a review, led by former BHP chairman Don Argus.
After that series, Steve Smith – who had played just five Tests – was brutally dropped and didn’t play for Australia again for more than two years.
Due to Pat Cummins being injured, Smith will start this Ashes as captain and still Australia’s most important batter as a 36-year-old with 36 Test centuries and 10,477 runs.
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“We love coming up against England,” Smith said.
“The Ashes is the pinnacle for an Australian or an English cricketer.
“There’s going to be plenty of viewers on TV, both here and back in England as well.
“So hopefully we can put on a really good show and entertain plenty of people.”
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Opener Jake Weatherald will join paceman Brendan Doggett in debuting for Australia when the first Test starts at Perth Stadium on Friday.
It will be the first time since Kurtis Patterson and Jhye Richardson came in to face Sri Lanka in January 2019 that Australia have blooded two debutants in the same Test.
Wiped 4-0 the last time they travelled to Australia, England are a vastly different prospect to the burnt-out team that arrived four years ago towards the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bazball, under coach, former New Zealand captain, Brendon McCullum has made England an unpredictable, entertaining opposition.
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England captain Ben Stokes is confident his team will not be daunted by playing in Australia.
“They’ve all proven themselves on the biggest stage, that they can win games of cricket for England,” Stokes said.
“They can change a game in the blink of an eye.
“So in terms of telling them what to do cricket wise, (it’s) nothing.
“Just keep going out and doing what you’ve been doing, because it’s been pretty good since you’ve been going.”
Australia have often got off to a flyer by starting a home summer at the Gabba in Brisbane, but the move to Perth could reduce their advantage.
2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes
First Test: November 21-25, Perth Stadium, 1:20pm AEDT
Second Test: December 4-8, The Gabba, Brisbane (D/N), 3pm AEDT
Third Test: December 17-21: Adelaide Oval, 10:30am AEDT
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT
Australia squad (first Test only): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood
