The legendary Australian batsman was the subject of the initial serious read I recall reading as a youngster. To a young pupil, the unfairness of an England's skipper instructing his countrymen to target a brilliant Australian was hard to grasp. And so, similar to countless others, I came to hate England.
Anticipation for the Ashes? It goes without saying. The sport's schedule makes this a rare treat to watch two of the top cricketing nations test and taunt and tease each other over what we anticipate will be five Tests 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 special charm. “Traditionally, everyone in the cricketing world tunes into the Ashes,” he remarked. “It’s the tradition, the rivalry, you know that’s it all flat out.”
In England, those two tightly fought contests – featuring Smith's prolific scoring and Ben Stokes’ Headingley masterpiece in 2019, and the controversial Long Room incident of 2023 – have met the expectations of what an Ashes battle should be. Yet, they have not had the same cultural impact on the other side of the world when many locals nods off before the end of the lunch interval.
In home Tests, the Ashes has been less flat out than just flat for more than a decade. Australians expect their team to dominate easily, as it has been since the 1990s. Scott Boland’s 6-7 at the MCG wasn’t wrought in a furnace of competition, it was English tragicomedy confirming a worldview. A genuine contest should not be so one-sided.
Cricket’s Town Criers Need to Lean In at the Fading Glow and Whistle Oxygen
England's squad were greeted upon arrival 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 go at “Mediocre” Root, aka “Dud Root Down Under”. This sufficed to prompt a predictable Fleet Street reaction, allowing the media to extract every last drop in the lead-up before the series begins.
In contrast, the previous Border-Gavaskar Trophy between the Aussies and India sparked something all by itself. The spiritual peak was the Melbourne match, a memory that will linger forever. The numbers, too, overwhelmed. 838,000 were present across the series, the fourth most for any series in Australia and the highest for any non-Ashes contest. Audiences were entranced, not unlike the ratings surge for India's UK visit this year, and multiple periods averaged more than 2m television viewers.
Lately, the touching send-offs of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli at the SCG made one-day cricket truly significant. Compare the news title following the previous occasion England came here for a limited-overs series: “Smallest attendance for Australia-England ODI raises fears for ODI cricket's survival”.
The Growing Clout of Indian Cricket
Even though bad weather disrupted the T20 series with India, what play we saw indicates Australia are some way off the short form’s global benchmark. For the women's game, at the global tournament last month, the home side knocked off the defending champions. The multi-format series starting in Sydney is shaping up as a de facto world championship.
It’s easy to overlook the colorful fan groups that flock to India’s matches – across all formats – as a simple reflection of the vast diaspora of the planet's largest country. However, to bean counters and television executives, they are an boon.
India now means more to Australia than its motherland, given the nations have in common an sea, colonial parallels, and increasingly their peoples. India is set to overtake the UK, according to official statistics, as the origin of the biggest contingent of foreign-born Australian residents as soon. The struggling defence pact is prompting a realignment of security priorities acknowledging the growing influence of regional giants, a shift that long ago happened in the sport of cricket.
Greg Chappell, who also coached India, said last week that England was “the classic foe”, but added “to be fair, without India, the sport would suffer”.
The Final Challenge
Until Australia claimed the trophy last summer, India had held it for a decade. On the subcontinent, Australia haven't triumphed in over two decades. Even if the hosts win back the urn easily this summer, losing the five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India in the coming years would leave the Cummins era unfulfilled.
That elusive victory on the Indian soil remains the final proving ground for this generation, and a setback against England this summer – put down to an untimely injury, just like past incidents – would only add to the narrative.
England have not secured a victory in Australia for almost 15 years, and as rich as the lore may be, it won't support a one-sided contest forever. So, with a gaudy, engrossing India having only just flown out, Ben Stokes’s players have much to play for. Triumph in the Ashes and stay relevant. Or surrender the trophy and with it something that can’t be won back: the claim to Australia’s greatest rivalry. Please England, just be good.
