The English Team, Please Show Your Mettle: The Ashes' Status as the Greatest Rivalry Hinges on It

Don Bradman was the focus of the first adult book I remember going through as a youngster. In the mind of a primary school student, the injustice of an English captain ordering his teammates to target a brilliant Australian was unfathomable. Thus, like many, I developed a dislike for England.

Anticipation for the Ashes? That's a given. The sport's schedule makes this a special occasion to observe two of the top cricketing nations challenge and provoke each other over what we anticipate will be 25 days of intense competition with the red Kookaburra.

According to the celebrated all-rounder reminded us last week at the launch of the ballot for the 150th anniversary Test, the Ashes has a special charm. “Historically, fans globally tunes into the Ashes,” he said. “It’s the tradition, it’s the competition, you know that’s it all flat out.”

In England, those two tightly fought contests – marked by Smith's prolific scoring and Stokes' heroic innings in 2019, and the Lord’s Long Room disgrace of 2023 – have lived up to the hype of what an Ashes contest should be. Yet, they have not had the same cultural impact on the Australian shores when many locals nods off before the end of the lunch interval.

In home Tests, the Ashes has been more subdued than just uneventful for more than a decade. 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 true rivalry should not be this way.

Cricket’s Town Criers Must Now Lean In at the Ashes’ Waning Embers and Whistle Oxygen

England's squad were greeted upon arrival by a predictable front page in the local tabloid, “Bazball”, accompanied by a portrayal of the widely respected Ben Stokes as “cocky”. The paper then had a go at “Mediocre” Root, aka “Dud Root Down Under”. It was enough to prompt a typical media response, enabling the press to squeeze what juice is left in the lead-up before the series begins.

In contrast, the previous Border-Gavaskar Trophy between the Aussies and India sparked something on its own. The highlight was the Melbourne match, a memory that cannot be extinguished. The metrics, too, overwhelmed. Over 800,000 attended the five Tests, the fourth most for any contest in Australia and the top for any non-Ashes contest. Audiences were entranced, not unlike the ratings surge for India’s tour of England this year, and multiple periods drew more than two million TV fans.

Lately, the touching send-offs of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli at the Sydney Cricket Ground made one-day cricket truly significant. Contrast the headline following the last time England came here for a white ball tour: “Record-low MCG crowd for an ODI match sparks concerns for future of 50-over format”.

The Growing Clout of Indian Cricket

Although rain ruined the T20 series with India, what play we saw indicates Australia are lagging behind the T20 international standards. In women’s cricket, at the World Cup last month, the host nation defeated the title holders. The multi-format series starting in Sydney is primed as a de facto world championship.

One might to dismiss the colorful fan groups that flock to India’s matches – and not just Tests – as a simple reflection of the huge expat community of the world’s most populous nation. However, to bean counters and television executives, they are an boon.

The world’s largest democracy now means more to Australia than its motherland, given the nations have in common an sea, shared colonial history, and increasingly their peoples. India will likely surpass the UK, according to official statistics, as the origin of the largest group of immigrants as soon. The struggling defence pact is driving a recalibration of security priorities respecting the rising power of regional giants, a change that occurred years back in the sport of cricket.

The former Australian skipper, who also coached India, said last week that England was “the classic foe”, but added “honestly, without India, cricket wouldn’t be the same”.

The Final Challenge

Before Australia claimed the trophy last summer, India had retained it for ten years. In India, Australia haven't triumphed in over two decades. Even if the home side reclaim the Ashes 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 ultimate test for today's players, and a blip against England this summer – put down to an untimely injury, just like 2005 and Glenn McGrath’s freak rolled ankle – would only fuel the story.

The tourists have not won an Ashes Test in Australia for almost 15 years, and despite the history, it won't support a one-sided contest indefinitely. So, with a gaudy, engrossing India having only just flown out, the English squad have much to play for. Triumph in the Ashes and stay relevant. Or lose the urn and with it an irreplaceable asset: the claim to being the top opponent. We beg the English, just be good.