Australian Men’s Cricket Team Vs England Cricket Team Match Scorecard: Full Series Breakdown, Turning Points

Will Jacks stood at deep midwicket. Travis Head skied it. A straightforward catch. Head was on 121. The Ashes 5th Test at Sydney was alive jacks dropped it. Jacks dropped it again when Head was on 156. Head went on to score 163 off 166 balls. Australia posted 567. England despite Joe Root’s magnificent 160 in reply lost the Test and the series 4-1.

This is the full scorecard of the Ashes 2025-26. But more than that this is the story of why England keep losing in Australia, even when their best player is scoring brilliantly.

The Complete Ashes 2025-26 Series Scorecard: All 5 Tests at a Glance

Test	Venue	Scores	Result	POTM
1st Test	Perth Stadium	ENG 172 & 164 / AUS 132 & 205/2	Australia won by 8 wkts	Mitchell Starc
2nd Test	The Gabba, Brisbane	ENG 334 & 241 / AUS 511 & 69/2	Australia won by 8 wkts	Nathan Lyon
3rd Test	Adelaide Oval	AUS 371 & 349 / ENG 286 & 352	Australia won by 82 runs	Alex Carey
4th Test	MCG, Melbourne	AUS 152 & 132 / ENG 110 & 178/6	England won by 4 wkts	Josh Tongue
5th Test	SCG, Sydney	ENG 384 & 342 / AUS 567 & 161/5	Australia won by 5 wkts	Travis Head

Series Result: Australia 4 England 1. Mitchell Starc named Player of the Series with 31 wickets.

Test 1 Perth: England Collapsed Before They Started

Perth. November 21. A seaming pitch. England’s openers walked out believing in Bazball.

By stumps on Day 2, it was over.

172 & 164: Bazball Meets a Seaming Ball

England scored 172 in their first innings and 164 in their second. In two innings combined, England’s batters who had averaged 30+ runs per session in UK conditions looked like a county side at Perth Stadium.

The problem wasn’t courage. The problem was pitch-reading. Bazball’s core principle aggressive, positive batting is built on a hard batting surface. On a seaming Perth deck in Australian summer, “positive” means nicking off outside off-stump. England’s batters kept finding out the hard way.

What people think: England lost Perth because Australia bowled brilliantly.
Reality: England’s batting plan was completely wrong for the conditions. Bazball attacks on flat or dry surfaces. It self-destructs on seam. Australia didn’t trap England England trapped themselves.

Australia then chased 205 in 28.2 overs comfortably, confidently, without any sign of panic. Australia won by 8 wickets.

What to learn from this: If you’re following England in the Ashes, Test 1 Perth is always the most dangerous match for them. The pitch suits Australia’s pace attack instinctively. England haven’t won the Perth Ashes Test since the 1990s.

Test 2 Brisbane: Australia’s Second 8-Wicket Statement

Australia’s Gabba is a fortress. England knew it. They still had no answer. Australia posted 511 in their first innings a declaration-worthy total that put England 177 behind before the game entered its second half. England’s 334 first innings was decent. But on the back of 511, decent isn’t enough.

England’s second innings: 241 all out. Australia chased 65 off 10 overs 69/2. Clinical. Calculated. Uninterested in drama.

Unique insight: Australia’s pattern across Tests 1 and 2 was identical bowl England out cheaply in at least one innings, build a first-innings total that eliminates the margin for error, chase small with top-order composure. The template never changed. England had no counter.

Test 3 Adelaide: England’s Best Fight: Still Not Enough

Adelaide is traditionally England’s most competitive Australian Ashes venue. In 2025-26, they gave Australia their hardest match of the series and still lost.

Alex Carey’s Double: 106 and 72 Won the Test

Alex Carey scored 106 off 143 in the first innings and 72 off 128 in the second. Carey became only the second wicketkeeper in history to score a century and take seven catches in an Ashes Test joining Matt Prior in 2010-11.

This is where things go wrong for England in Adelaide: England’s seamers struggled to dismiss Carey, who played with deep patience the exact opposite of the Bazball aggression England wanted to instil. A wicketkeeper outbatting England’s entire middle order across two innings is a story that deserved a bigger headline.

England chased 435 for victory in the fourth innings. They scored 352, 82 short. Brave. Insufficient. The story of this entire series.

Read Also:- Pakistan National Cricket Team vs India National Cricket Team Match Scorecard

Test 4 Melbourne: Bazball’s One Shining Day

Boxing Day. MCG. Australia’s most sacred ground. England won by 4 wickets in the 33rd over.

This was Bazball exactly as designed. Australia were bowled out for 152 and 132 a combined total of 284 runs across two innings. Brydon Carse took 4/34 in Australia’s second innings. Josh Tongue took 5/45 in the first. England chased 175 easily after early wickets.

This was also England’s first Test win in Australia in nearly 15 years since January 2011.

Counterintuitive insight: This match hurt England’s long-term development more than it helped. By winning the MCG Test through pace-friendly conditions and a low-target chase, England validated Bazball in a context where it happened to work. It delayed the harder question what do we do when Australia bat for 567?

Test 5 Sydney: Root’s 160, Head’s 163, and Two Dropped Catches That Decided the Ashes

The SCG Test was the most dramatic of the series. It ended with Australia retaining the Ashes 4-1. But it nearly went differently and the pivot point came down to two moments at deep midwicket.

The Two Jacks Drops: The Most Costly Fielding Errors of the Series

Travis Head was on 121. Will Jacks dropped him at deep midwicket.

Head was on 156. Jacks dropped him again.

Head went on to score 163 off 166 balls, His second century of the series. Australia posted 567 all out. England’s entire first innings of 384 built on Joe Root’s majestic 160 off just under 300 balls became a first-innings deficit of 183. The match was Australia’s from that point.

Bold opinion: Those two dropped catches are arguably the worst individual fielding performance in England’s Ashes history for their consequences. It wasn’t carelessness both were legitimate chances Jacks got to. But in Test cricket, world-class players take both of those. The gap between England and Australia in this series was not talent, it was precision under pressure.

Steve Smith then scored a century, and Australia posted 567. England’s second innings of 342 — featuring Jacob Bethell’s 118 extended the match to Day 5 but Australia chased 160 in 31.2 overs. Mitchell Starc dismissed the last two England wickets to seal the series.

Starc’s Final Two Wickets: England’s SCG Collapse

England’s second innings was England’s best batting of the entire series. But when Starc gets the second new ball and needs wickets, he delivers.

Will Jacks and Jofra Archer fell in quick succession as England were bowled out for 342. Australia then chased 160 smoothly 161/5 in 31.2 overs. Carey 16. Green 22. Clinical. Professional. Ashes done.

Mitchell Starc: Player of the Series Analysis

Mitchell Starc took 31 wickets in the Ashes 2025-26, the most by any bowler in an Ashes series in Australia in over a decade. He was named Player of the Series.

What made Starc dominant was not just pace. It was intelligence. He adjusted his line between Tests depending on whether England was playing proactively or reactively:

• Perth and Brisbane: Full, swinging deliveries at off-stump England’s positive front-foot players drove straight to slips
• Adelaide: Back-of-a-length, targeting Jamie Smith and Root when the pitch flattened
• Sydney: New ball aggression with reverse swing in the second innings to break partnerships that England was building

What most people miss: Starc’s 31 wickets included dismissals of Root, Brook, Duckett, and Crawley across multiple innings. He was targeting England’s top six consistently not picking up tail wickets. The top-order damage is what made Australia’s wins so decisive.

The Real Reason England Lost the Ashes

The scorelines read 172 & 164; 334 & 241; 286 & 352; 110 & 178/6; 384 & 342.

England could bat. They scored 384 in Sydney. Root scored 160. Bethell scored 118. Brook scored cameos throughout. England’s problem was not scoring runs.

England’s problem was taking wickets. In four of the five Tests, England’s bowling attack could not remove Australia’s middle order consistently enough to create a match-winning position. When Australia bat to 511 at Brisbane or 567 at Sydney, no batting line-up in the world can rescue you no matter how positive your philosophy is.

The structural issue: England’s pace attack outside of Archer and Carse relied too heavily on swing conditions. In Australia’s dry heat, from Test 2 onwards, the ball didn’t swing. England’s seamers became line-and-length medium pacers. Australia’s seamers Starc, Boland, Cummins (absent through injury) were built for these conditions.

Bazball creates fantastic match results when England’s bowlers are dominant. It becomes irrelevant when they aren’t.

What People Think vs What Actually Happened

Myth 1: “England should have won the Ashes they batted brilliantly in patches.”
Truth: Root’s 160 came in a match Australia won by 5 wickets. Bethell’s 118 came in a losing second innings. Individual brilliance in Tests means nothing if the bowling attack can’t create pressure on the other side. England batted well and lost 4-1. That’s not an argument for moral victory.

Myth 2: “England’s MCG win proved Bazball still works.”
Truth: England won in Melbourne because Australia batted terribly dismissed for 152 and 132 not because Bazball was effective. On a pitch that offered England’s seamers consistent movement, the result was predictable. The question isn’t whether Bazball works on seam-friendly surfaces. The question is: what do England do on flat Australian wickets when Australia score 500+?

Myth 3: “Australia defended the Ashes England were close in Sydney.”
Truth: After Head’s 163 and Smith’s century, Australia had a first-innings lead of 183 and the entire series under control. England’s second innings of 342 extended the match beautifully but never threatened Australia’s position. Moral courage is not the same as competitive pressure.

Australia vs England Ashes Head-to-Head Context

Australia have now won 6 of the last 7 Ashes series played in Australia. England’s only win in Australia in the modern era was the 2010-11 series under Andrew Strauss.

Ashes Series	Venue	Winner	Margin
2010-11	Australia	England	3-1
2013-14	Australia	Australia	5-0
2017-18	Australia	Australia	4-0
2021-22	Australia	Australia	4-0
2025-26	Australia	Australia	4-1

Original observation: England haven’t retained the Ashes urn in Australia since 1987. Not Flower’s team. Not Strauss’s triumph. Not Stokes’s Bazball era. Australia defending at home is not a recent trend it is a forty-year pattern. Until England find a bowling attack that can take 20 Australian wickets twice in five days in Australian conditions, the Ashes urn will stay in Australia.

Player Performance Ratings: Ashes 2025-26

Player	Team	Series Stat
Mitchell Starc	Australia	31 wickets — Player of Series
Travis Head	Australia	163 SCG + multiple contributions
Joe Root	England	160 SCG — team’s best batter
Alex Carey	Australia	106 + 72 in Adelaide POTM
Steve Smith	Australia	Century at SCG, consistent
Jacob Bethell	England	118 2nd innings Sydney
Brydon Carse	England	4/34 MCG + key spells
Josh Tongue	England	5/45 MCG
Scott Boland	Australia	Consistent pressure bowling
Will Jacks	England	Two dropped catches SCG — decisive

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