Don Bradman was the focus of the first adult book I remember going through as a child. In the mind of a young pupil, the injustice of an England's skipper ordering his countrymen to target a talented Aussie was unfathomable. And so, like many, I developed a dislike for England.
Excitement about the Ashes? It goes without saying. The sport's schedule makes this a rare treat to observe 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 150th anniversary Test, the Ashes has a unique appeal. “Historically, everyone in the cricketing world watches the Ashes,” he remarked. “It's about heritage, it’s the competition, it's always full throttle.”
Across the UK, those two recent drawn series – marked by Smith's prolific scoring 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 equivalent resonance on the Australian shores when half of Australia nods off before the afternoon session begins.
On Australian soil, the Ashes has been more subdued than just uneventful for over ten years. Fans down under anticipate their team to dominate easily, 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 reinforcing perceptions. A genuine contest should not be this way.
The Sport's Commentators Must Now Crouch Down at the Ashes’ Waning Embers and Fan the Flames
The English team were met in Perth by a predictable front page in the local tabloid, “Bazball”, accompanied by a description of the highly regarded Ben Stokes as “arrogant”. The publication then had a dig at “Mediocre” Root, also known as “Flop Root in Australia”. This sufficed to prompt a predictable Fleet Street reaction, allowing the press to extract every last drop in the days before the first ball is bowled.
On the other hand, the previous Border-Gavaskar Trophy between Australia and India ignited excitement on its own. The spiritual peak was the Melbourne match, a moment that will linger forever. The metrics, too, overwhelmed. Over 800,000 attended the five Tests, the fourth most for any series in Australia and the highest for any non-Ashes matchup. Viewers were captivated, similar to the ratings surge for India’s tour of England this year, and eight sessions drew more than two million TV fans.
Lately, the touching send-offs of two Indian legends at the Sydney Cricket Ground made ODI matches actually mean something. Contrast the news title following the previous occasion England visited for a limited-overs series: “Smallest attendance for Australia-England ODI sparks concerns for ODI cricket's survival”.
India’s Rising Influence
Even though rain ruined the T20 series with India, what play we saw suggests Australia are some way off the T20 international standards. For the women's game, at the World Cup last month, the host nation defeated the defending champions. The all-format contest starting in Sydney is shaping up as a unofficial world title decider.
One might to dismiss the adoring blue, orange and green crowds that gather at India’s matches – and not just Tests – as a simple reflection of the vast diaspora of the world’s most populous nation. However, to bean counters and broadcast bosses, they are an boon.
The world’s largest democracy now means more to Australia than its motherland, given the nations have in common an ocean, shared colonial history, and increasingly their peoples. India is set to overtake the UK, per official statistics, as the source of the biggest contingent of foreign-born Australian residents as early as this year. The struggling defence pact is driving a realignment of defence interests respecting the rising power of Asian powers, a change that long ago happened in the sport of cricket.
The former Australian skipper, who also coached India, said 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 claimed the trophy last summer, India had retained it for ten years. In India, Australia haven't triumphed in more than 20 years. Even if the hosts reclaim the Ashes comfortably this summer, failing to secure the five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India in early 2027 would leave the Cummins era unfulfilled.
That elusive victory on the Indian soil remains the ultimate test for today's players, and a setback against England this summer – attributed to unfortunate bowler injury, just like past incidents – would only add to the narrative.
The tourists have not secured a victory in Australia for almost 15 years, and despite the history, it won't support a lopsided rivalry forever. Therefore, with a vibrant Indian team having only just flown out, the English squad have much to play for. Win the series and stay relevant. Or lose the urn and with it an irreplaceable asset: the claim to Australia’s greatest rivalry. Please England, just be good.
