Australia currently have the urn. That is because they won it with a 4-0 victory in the 2017 Ashes and have retained it since, with one win and two drawn series. The second of those draws came in the last edition, when Australia visited England for the red-ball series in 2023. The visitors were 2-0 up, but England fought back. That fightback only managed to square the series. Even though it was Manchester rain that eventually set the draw in stone, former Australian coach Justin Langer believes it also had to do with England not having ‘killer instinct’ required to complete the job.
Speaking to Stuart Broad and Jos Buttler on BBC Sounds’ For the Love of Cricket podcast, Langer said: “It’s going to be a really, really close series. My question for England will be, have you got the killer instinct to finish off a series if you get a chance?
“We’ve seen it, the two-all here in the last Ashes series, two-all against India.
“England had the chances to win that series. Have you got the killer instinct to win the Ashes in Australia? That’s going to be the big question.”
England’s recent Test series against India might lend weight to these assumptions. They had several chances in the series to nip India in the bud, but the tourists’ threat kept growing to the point that a potential 3-1 series win turned into a 2-2 draw, with India winning the final Test on the last day.
Their away Ashes record puts them under further pressure. The last time England won an Ashes series down under was in 2010-11. To find another such win before that, you will have to scroll all the way back to 1986-87. They returned winless from the last two away editions, with Australia winning 4-0 each time. There is little reason to believe the odds will not again be stacked in the hosts’ favour this year, but Langer thinks England’s only chance to win the Ashes would be to stick to Bazball and put a squeeze on the Australians.
“Call it Bazball or the aggressive approach, but I think England must play that approach in Australia. No question, because it’ll put pressure back on,” Langer told the podcast.
“The only players who had success against Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath were those who attacked them. They got back in their face and they hated it because no one did it.
“It’s going to take courage because you have got Mitchell Starc bowling like he does, Josh Hazlewood never misses the spot and Pat Cummins is a generational bowler. So it’s going to take great courage.”
The two sides have plenty of unanswered questions, with less than three months left before the historic series. Neither side will play any Test matches before they meet in Perth, though both will try to sneak in more red-ball practice via their respective domestic competitions.
2025 Ashes series schedule:
First Test: Perth Stadium, November 21-25
Second Test: Gabba, December 4-8
Third Test: Adelaide Oval, December 17-21
Fourth Test: Melbourne Cricket Ground, December 26-30
Fifth Test: Sydney Cricket Ground, January 4-8
