The Ashes 2025-26: Andy Zaltzman on how statistical history offers England little hope of coming back to win series
One of the many disappointments was that where Australia’s low order contributed vital runs and equally vital hours, England were again quickly evaporated.
The Mitchell Starc-Scott Boland ninth wicket partnership lasted 27.2 overs to change the tone of the series and cement Australia’s first innings advantage with a dominant lead
England’s eighth, ninth and 10th wicket partnerships lasted 27.5 overs in the four innings of the two Tests combined, equating to the loss of one wicket in every 14 balls.
To illustrate the gap between potential on paper and reality on the field, Gus Atkinson (who had a century and four other scores of over 35 in his 15-Test career) and Brydon Carse (three scores of over 35 in the last India series, a State Championship average of over 30, two first-class hundreds) scored 78-8 off 91 balls in Perth and Brisbane.
Brendan Doggett (Test rookie, domestic first-class average 8.5) and Boland (local average 12.1, previous Test high score 20) took 41-2 from 125 balls. Australia scored at a basballistic rate, but they also played with a flexibility and awareness that England failed to implement in more than passing passes.
On the plus side, England’s spin attack is ahead of Australia in wickets taken after the first two Tests.
In the last 50 years of Ashes cricket in Australia, when England’s spinners took more wickets than Australia’s in the first two Tests, they went on to win the series – in 2010-11, 1986-87 and 1978-79.
In Brisbane, England took a 1-0 lead on the wicket count in the series when Will Jacks took the first wicket from a spinner in the southern hemisphere Ashes Test since Steve Smith dismissed Jack Leach in the fourth Test four years ago.
Admittedly, England were 2-0 up after the two tests in 1978-79 and 1-0 in the other two series, but as far as statistics go, let’s grab it and get a good grip on it before it flies to the wind.
For those looking to build a house of statistical straw, you might also point out that the last time England were beaten for under 80 in the first four innings of the Ashes was 2005, another triumphant series.
And after Stokes and Jacks’ 96-run win, you might note that England have won the Ashes every time they have had a 90-plus seventh-wicket haul in Australia since the Second World War (Ian Bell and Matt Prior scored 107 in 2010-11, Geoff Miller and Bob Taylor scored 135 in 1978-79).
Blow it up, Mr. Wolf.
