Bailey Macnamara | 12:00am BST 17 August 2025
The final time England received an away Check match within the Males’s Ashes, Barack Obama was in his first time period as United States president and the UK was within the first yr of a coalition authorities!
It was January 2011, Mitchell Starc was bowling to the left and to the suitable, and England had been wrapping up a 3-1 Ashes sequence win whereas Graeme Swann led the gamers in a sprinkler type celebration dance.
However since then, 15 Exams have handed between Australia and England down-under and the latter haven’t been in a position to notch up even one victory! They’ve managed one attract each of the final two however the general file reads 13 defeats in one of the crucial one-sided match-ups seen of late.
After all, the chirping has began forward of the up-coming sequence in November, however why wait till then to witness a contest which in a single explicit sport would in all probability be halted by the referee after day one of many first Check.
A Journey To Bulawayo
Cricket followers of a one-sided fixture ought to instantly divert their eyes to the south west of Zimbabwe the place the Chevrons are presently internet hosting New Zealand within the second Check. This and all different worldwide video games may be discovered on FIRST’s record of cricket websites.
The primary sport of the sequence was over inside three days with the Black Caps triumphing by 9 wickets and there’s each likelihood that this Check will conclude sooner moderately than later as soon as once more.
That outcome adopted an identical sample seen since a drawn Check in December 2000 with New Zealand successful all seven matches on this format through the quarter of a century which has adopted and all bar one by a really important margin!
Zimbabwe vs New Zealand, July 2025 – NZ received by 9 wicketsZimbabwe vs New Zealand, August 2016 – NZ received by 254 runsZimbabwe vs New Zealand, July 2016 – NZ received by an innings & 117 runsNew Zealand vs Zimbabwe, January 2012 – NZ received by an innings & 301 runsZimbabwe vs New Zealand, November 2011 – NZ received by 34 runsZimbabwe vs New Zealand, August 2005 – NZ received by an innings & 46 runsZimbabwe vs New Zealand, August 2005 – NZ received by an innings & 294 runsNew Zealand vs Zimbabwe, December 2000 – Match drawn
After all, there are many causes for why New Zealand are so dominant over Zimbabwe, however the Black Caps needs to be given credit score for taking over the African facet as England’s conflict with them at Trent Bridge earlier this summer time was the primary in Check cricket since 2003 when a sure Jimmy Anderson made his debut!
The Ashes Awaits
And speaking of Jimmy, or truly, ‘Sir’ Jimmy as we must always say, this 2025/26 Ashes tour would be the first time that England haven’t had him in and across the squad this century!
Okay, he made his Check debut towards Zimbabwe at Lord’s in 2003 however was referred to as up and made his worldwide debut through the triangular ODI sequence which was positioned in between the third and fourth Exams – how instances change.
In order that takes us again to the memorable 1998/99 Ashes tour when below the captaincy of Alec Stewart England managed to attract on the Gabba, received on the MCG and loved a Darren Gough hat-trick in Sydney though they did go on to lose that Check and the sequence 3-1.
Everybody remembers that Jimmy was an enormous a part of the 2010/11 victory, famously telling Mitch Johnson to “shhhhh” earlier than and after taking a wicket, however in the identical manner that Stuart Broad writes off the 2021/22 sequence because it concerned covid bubbles, possibly Australia ought to simply write off the 3-1 defeat as they’d probably the most uncompetitive squad ever seen.
How a couple of drawn sequence? , those which we’ve got had for the Males’s Ashes within the UK the final two instances in 2019 and 2023, to not point out the lately concluded epic between England and India contesting the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.
Properly, the final drawn Males’s Ashes sequence in Australia was the 1965/66 sequence which noticed three video games shared and one victory for all sides.
Neglect a one-sided Males’s Ashes, it’s time to finish sixty years of harm.
Convey again the drawn-down-under particular!
