The legendary Australian batsman was the focus of the first adult book I remember going through as a youngster. To a young pupil, the unfairness of an England's skipper instructing his countrymen to hurt a brilliant Australian was unfathomable. Thus, similar to countless others, I came to hate England.
Anticipation for the Ashes? That's a given. Cricket’s calendar makes this a special occasion to observe two of the world’s best teams challenge and provoke each other over what we hope will be 25 days of interrogation with the traditional red ball.
As Ian Botham reminded us last week at the launch of the ballot for the historic 2027 match, the Ashes has a unique appeal. “Traditionally, everyone in the cricketing world watches the Ashes,” he said. “It’s the tradition, the rivalry, you know that’s it all flat out.”
In England, those two recent drawn series – featuring Steve Smith’s mountain of runs and Stokes' heroic innings in 2019, and the Lord’s Long Room disgrace of 2023 – have met the expectations of what an Ashes contest should be. However, they have not had the same cultural impact on the other side of the world when many locals falls asleep before the end of the lunch interval.
On Australian soil, the Ashes has been less flat out than just flat for more than a decade. Australians expect their team to win and win handily, as it has been since the nineties. Boland's stunning figures at the MCG wasn’t wrought in a furnace of competition, it was a comical English collapse confirming a worldview. A true rivalry should not be this way.
The Sport's Commentators Must Now Lean In at the Fading Glow and Whistle Oxygen
England's squad were met in Perth by a predictable front page in the local tabloid, “Bazball”, supported by a description of the highly regarded Ben Stokes as “arrogant”. The publication then had a go at “Mediocre” Root, also known as “Flop Root in Australia”. This sufficed to prompt a typical media response, allowing the media to extract every last drop in the lead-up before the series begins.
On the other hand, the previous Border-Gavaskar Trophy between Australia and India sparked something all by itself. The highlight was the Melbourne match, a moment that will linger forever. The metrics, also, impressed. Over 800,000 attended the five Tests, the fourth highest for any contest in Australia and the highest for any non-Ashes matchup. Viewers were captivated, not unlike the ratings surge for India’s tour of England this year, and multiple periods drew more than 2m television viewers.
Lately, the touching send-offs of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli at the Sydney Cricket Ground made ODI matches actually mean something. Compare the headline following the last time England visited for a limited-overs series: “Smallest attendance for an ODI match raises fears for ODI cricket's survival”.
India’s Rising Influence
Although rain ruined the short-format games with India, the action that occurred suggests Australia are lagging behind the T20 international standards. In women’s cricket, at the global tournament last month, the home side defeated the defending champions. The multi-format series kicking off in February-March is shaping up as a de facto world championship.
It’s easy to overlook the adoring blue, orange and green crowds that gather at India’s matches – across all formats – as a mere result of the huge expat community of the world’s most populous nation. But, to financial analysts and television executives, they are an elixir.
The world’s largest democracy now matters more to Australia than its motherland, given the countries share an ocean, shared colonial history, and increasingly their peoples. India is set to surpass the UK, per official statistics, as the source of the biggest contingent of immigrants as soon. The struggling defence pact is prompting a realignment of security priorities acknowledging the rising power of Asian powers, a shift that occurred years back in the sport of cricket.
Greg Chappell, who also coached India, said last week that England was “our biggest traditional rival”, but added “honestly, without India, cricket wouldn’t be the same”.
The Final Challenge
Before Australia won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy last summer, India had retained it for ten years. In India, Australia haven’t won in over two decades. Even if the home side reclaim the Ashes easily this summer, losing the multi-match series in India in early 2027 would leave the Cummins era incomplete.
That elusive victory on the subcontinent remains the ultimate test for today's players, and a setback against England this summer – attributed to an untimely injury, just like 2005 and Glenn McGrath’s freak rolled ankle – would only add to the narrative.
England have not won an Ashes Test in Australia for nearly fifteen years, and despite the history, it won't support a one-sided contest forever. Therefore, with a gaudy, engrossing India having only just flown out, Ben Stokes’s players have much to play for. Win the series and stay relevant. Or lose the urn and with it an irreplaceable asset: the right to being the top opponent. We beg the English, just be good.
