Ashes 2025/26 review - New year, same old obituary.

As the dust settled on yet another Ashes series down under, the depleted Ben Stokes led England side left the Aussie shores with more questions than answers as they squandered yet another opportunity to win an Ashes series down under. With Ben Stokes and Joe Root unsure of returning in 2029, they might just end their career without an Ashes series win down under. 

England had their best chance in Perth. After being bowled out for 172, they took a 40 run lead courtesy some riveting fast bowling from Ben Stokes and Joffra Archer, but somehow choked as Travis Head scored  a stunning 4th innings 100 as Australia won inside two days. At the Gabba, even though Joe Root scored a magnificent 100 and England scored a competent 334, Australia scored over 550 runs with Mitchell Starc scoring 80 and then Micheal Nesser running through the English batting line up in the second innings to give the Aussies a 2-0 win. 

The third test was a much closer affair and England, despite being set a target of a mammoth 450 managed to score 350 as Zack Crawley, Jamie Smith and Will Jacks kept them in the hunt, but eventually it was Mitchell Starc again who ran through the English batting as the Aussies retained the urn exactly after a month it started, that too without the presence of Steve Smith.

England finally registered an Ashes test win down under after 14 long years in front of a packed crowd at the MCG as the test match finished inside two days for the second time this series. Josh Tongue and Brydon Carse ensured that England did not miss Joffra Archer and Ben Stokes became the first English captain since Andrew Strauss to register an Ashes win down under.

But alas, the joy was short lived. Despite Joe Root, Jacob Bethell scoring daddy hundreds and Josh Tongue claiming a 4fer yet again, England were blown away by yet another Travis Head special with some nice garnishing done by Steve Smith as both scored big hundreds to give Australia a lead of 183. 

Mitchell Starc and Beau Webster combined to pick 6 out of the 10 wickets as Australia were set a target of 161, which they eventually chased down after a bit of a stumble. This edition of the Ashes also saw the retirement of competent opener Usman Khwaja as he bid adieu to the game with a decent series.

All that hype. All that planning. All that bold talk about Bazball dominating. Blown away in the blink of an eye. Nothing left but four more years to think about it. Somebody always takes the fall for a failed Ashes campaign on Australian soil. And sadly, it has happened for the fourth consecutive time. Stokes and McCullum do have a long home summer coming up against New Zealand and Pakistan, but their real test will be against South Africa when they land on their shores in December.

A stern test awaits them when Australia do come to England with the hope of winning an Ashes series in England for one last time in June 2027. But before that, they need to up their game in order to qualify for the 2027 wtc final, which, honestly seems like an uphill task.