The legendary Australian batsman was the focus of the first adult book I recall going through as a youngster. To a young pupil, the unfairness of an English captain ordering his countrymen to hurt a talented Aussie was unfathomable. Thus, similar to countless others, I developed a dislike for England.
Excitement about the Ashes? That's a given. The sport's schedule makes this a rare treat to watch two of the world’s best teams challenge and provoke each other over what we anticipate will be 25 days of intense competition with the traditional red ball.
According to Ian Botham pointed out last week at the launch of the ballot for the historic 2027 match, the Ashes has a special charm. “Historically, everyone in the cricketing world tunes into the Ashes,” he remarked. “It's about heritage, it’s the competition, you know that’s it all flat out.”
In England, those two tightly fought contests – featuring Steve Smith’s mountain of runs and Ben Stokes’ Headingley masterpiece in 2019, and the controversial Long Room incident of 2023 – have lived up to the hype of what an Ashes contest should be. Yet, they have not had the equivalent resonance on the other side of the world when many locals falls asleep before the afternoon session begins.
On Australian soil, the Ashes has been less flat out than just uneventful for over ten years. Australians expect their team to dominate easily, as it has been since the 1990s. Boland's stunning figures at the MCG wasn’t wrought in a furnace of competition, it was English tragicomedy confirming a worldview. A genuine contest should not be this way.
Cricket’s Town Criers Must Now Lean In at the Ashes’ Waning Embers and Fan the Flames
England's squad were greeted upon arrival by a tired headline in the city's paper, “Baz Bawl”, accompanied by a portrayal of the widely respected Ben Stokes as “cocky”. The publication then had a go at “Average Joe” Root, also known as “Dud Root Down Under”. This sufficed to elicit a typical media response, allowing the media to squeeze what juice is left in the lead-up before the series begins.
In contrast, the previous Border-Gavaskar Trophy between Australia and India sparked something on its own. The highlight was that MCG experience, a memory that cannot be extinguished. The numbers, too, overwhelmed. 838,000 were present across the series, the fourth most for any contest in Australia and the highest for any non-Ashes matchup. Audiences were entranced, not unlike the ratings surge for India's UK visit this year, and multiple periods drew more than two million TV fans.
In recent weeks, the touching send-offs of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli at the Sydney Cricket Ground made ODI matches truly significant. Compare the headline following the previous occasion England came here for a white ball tour: “Smallest attendance for Australia-England ODI sparks concerns for ODI cricket's survival”.
The Growing Clout of Indian Cricket
Even though rain ruined the short-format games with India, what play we saw indicates Australia are some way off the short form’s global benchmark. In women’s cricket, at the World Cup last month, the host nation knocked off the title holders. The all-format contest kicking off in February-March is primed as a de facto world championship.
It’s easy to dismiss the colorful fan groups that gather at India’s matches – across all formats – as a simple reflection of the huge expat community of the planet's largest country. But, to financial analysts and television executives, they are an elixir.
The world’s largest democracy now means more to Australia than its motherland, given the countries share an ocean, shared colonial history, and growing cultural ties. India will likely overtake the UK, per ABS migration data, as the origin of the biggest contingent of foreign-born Australian residents as soon. The struggling defence pact is driving a recalibration of defence interests respecting the growing influence of regional giants, a shift that occurred years back in the sport of cricket.
Greg Chappell, who also coached India, noted last week that England was “our biggest traditional rival”, but also that “to be fair, without India, cricket wouldn’t be the same”.
The Final Challenge
Until Australia won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy last summer, India had held it for a decade. On the subcontinent, Australia haven't triumphed in over two decades. Should the hosts win back the urn comfortably this summer, failing to secure the five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India in the coming years would leave the Cummins era unfulfilled.
That elusive victory on the subcontinent remains the final proving ground for this generation, and a setback against England this summer – attributed to unfortunate bowler injury, just like past incidents – would only fuel the story.
The tourists have not secured a victory in Australia for almost 15 years, and despite the history, it cannot sustain a one-sided contest forever. Therefore, with a gaudy, engrossing India having recently departed, the English squad have much to play for. Triumph in the Ashes and remain significant. Alternatively lose the urn and with it an irreplaceable asset: the right to being the top opponent. Please England, just be good.
