England Test Career

[Joe Baldwin]

The 2024/2025 international Test calendar has given us four 3-Test series over the course of the year. The West Indies are first, followed by Sri Lanka on home soil. A trip to Pakistan follows shortly after and the season concludes with a series in New Zealand.

ENGLAND vs WEST INDIES

1st Test

With question marks over the form of Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes, we opted to give a debut to 20-year-old prodigy James Rew. Unlike real life, we're not retiring Jimmy Anderson after the first Test and we're hoping he plays a full part in the Test summer. Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood and Rehan Ahmed joined him in our first bowling lineup - the batters are as you'd expect.

Rehan Ahmed was the star of the show on Day 1, as despite winning the toss and electing to bat, Ahmed's 6-71 reduced the West Indies to 205 all out, losing their last eight wickets for just 44 runs. The response was led by the scintillating Ben Duckett who began his summer with 162, ably supported by Crawley who made 84. England posted 444 in their first knock, a huge lead of 239.

The West Indies didn't make England bat again, mustering just 125 in reply. Ollie Robinson took 6-20 and Athanaze was the only man to offer even the slightest bit of resistance, making 53 for the tourists. England won by an innings and 114 runs to take the lead in the series.

2nd Test

The visitors won the toss again, forcing an unchanged England to bowl first. However, there was no change in the momentum of the two sides as another superb bowling performance from Robinson, who took 5-21, saw West Indies dismissed for 208. Another 89 for the in-form Duckett looked like setting up another big lead, but this notion fell by the wayside as a middle order collapse saw England post 211 - it was a one-innings shoot-out.

The tourists fell to 35-4, but Kyle Mayers counter-attacked with a swashbuckling 78 as the West Indies posted 203, setting a target of 201 in this low-scoring affair. But it was no matter - Duckett continued his red-hot streak with an unbeaten 101, guiding England home to win by eight wickets.

3rd Test

Matty Potts came in for Mark Wood in the only change for England. There was no change to our fortunes at the toss, as we lost again and would bowl first. The tourists did post a more respectable first-innings score this time - Tagenarine Chanderpaul making 64 out of their 275. Rehan Ahmed's 6-85 continued his rapid ascent into international stardom.

England could only muster 240 in reply, despite Crawley's valiant 66. With a first-innings lead of 35, the West Indies added another 267 with the flamboyant Shai Hope making 99 - he edged Potts behind to Rew agonisingly short of the century mark. Potts took 4-52, taking his chance in the team with both hands.

Requiring 303 to win, our middle order failed again and we fell to 90-4. Duckett was still there and continued his phenomenal summer so far with 94, but he couldn't guide us home. The series had already been won, but the West Indies claimed a memorable victory, bowling us out for 242 and sealing victory by 60 runs.

England 2-1 West Indies - England win the series

Ben Duckett was our Man of the Series with 456 runs across the three Tests. Nobody else averaged more than 40, and indeed Stokes, Brook, Pope and Rew didn't perform with the bat - Rew just made 80 runs averaging 20, not really taking his chance. Rehan Ahmed took 19 wickets and Ollie Robinson 16, firmly establishing themselves in our bowling attack, while Jimmy took 7 wickets at 31.43.

Chanderpaul top scored for the visitors with 224 runs, while Alzarri Joseph mustered 18 wickets .

[Joe Baldwin]

ENGLAND vs SRI LANKA

1st Test

We named an unchanged side to the one that lost to the West Indies in the 3rd Test of the previous series - Crawley, Duckett, Pope, Root, Brook, Stokes*, Rew+, Ahmed, Robinson, Potts, Anderson.

We lost our fourth toss in a row and again bowled first. Despite resistance from Dhananjaya de Silva, who made 74, we produced another very efficient bowling performance and dismissed Sri Lanka for 186 - Rehan Ahmed again impressing with 4-41. In response, we piled on the runs, with Pope (131), Crawley (123) and Stokes (80) all finding their touch. We posted 460, a massive first innings lead of 276.

Four more wickets for Rehan Ahmed led England to another victory batting just once - Sri Lanka could only muster 195 and England won by an innings and 79 runs.

2nd Test

Another unchanged side and this time we won the toss! Batting first, we posted 367 first up, with a second consecutive century for Zak Crawley and another 76 for Duckett. In reply, Sri Lanka again failed to break the 200-run mark, but their 185 did push them past the follow-on.

The remainder of Day 2 and the whole of Day 3 became a batting masterclass from Crawley and Duckett, who blasted 263 for the first wicket. For Crawley, his 167 was his third century in as many Test innings, while Duckett's 130 further reinforced his position as one of Test cricket's leading openers. Pope's unbeaten 77 bumped the score up to 389-2 before the declaration came, setting Sri Lanka the unlikely target of 572.

Unsurprisingly, they didn't make it - instead, their 205 rendered defeat by 366 runs. The wickets were shared around but Ollie Robinson's figures of 20-14-13-3 really stood out, an economy rate of 0.65.

3rd Test

The series may already be wrapped up but the failings of the middle order were cracks that the superb top order performances were papering over. Josh Bohannon was in - he'd bat at 3, Ollie Pope moved to 5 and Harry Brook was dropped.

We won the toss again but with rain dominating the first two days, we elected to bowl first. It was a decision that backfired as Sri Lanka posted 232, their highest score of the series so far, with Dhananjaya de Silva top-scoring with 93. Potts impressed with 4-38. In reply, with rain still prominent and dark overhead conditions, England were skittled for 115 as we found ourselves facing a 117-run deficit.

A century stand for the 7th wicket between Kusal Mendis and Wanindu Hasaranga bumped Sri Lanka to 242 all out in their 2nd innings, leaving England a target of 360 to win.

Crawley and Duckett again fired, with the Kent man making his fourth century of the series with 111. Joe Root chose this moment to find form as well, and his 101 nudged us closer to the target, and Ollie Pope's 49 got us over the line to win by five wickets - a terrific chase as the sun shone on Day 4 and 5.

England 3-0 Sri Lanka - England win the series

Zak Crawley was absolutely incredible throughout the series, making 535 runs in three Tests including four centuries. Duckett (311) and Pope (308) also impressed. Rehan Ahmed took 23 wickets at an average of 13.65, building on his performances against the West Indies, while Potts and Robinson took 11 each. For Sri Lanka, Dhananjaya de Silva top scored with 251 runs and Dilshan Madushanka was consistent and led the wicket charts with 13, averaging 39.85 in the series.

[Joe Baldwin]

PAKISTAN vs ENGLAND

1st Test

Bohannon mustered just 3 runs in his two innings in the 3rd Test against Sri Lanka, so he made way and Brook returned to the lineup for the 1st Test in Rawalpindi.

Having batted superbly throughout the English summer, Ben Duckett wrote his name into the history books forever by breaking Brian Lara's long-standing record for the highest score in Test cricket. Batting for the entire duration of the first two days, the Nottinghamshire opener compiled an incredible 408* from 571 balls, with 49 fours and 5 sixes. England declared an hour into Day 3, posting a 1st innings score of 774-7.

Facing a gargantuan task, Pakistan could only manage 271, with Rizwan making 96 before falling victim to the evergreen Jimmy Anderson. Robinson's 3-66 was the pick of the bowlers. It was the morning session on Day 4 and Pakistan were unsurprisingly told to follow on with a deficit of 503 runs.

But the quality of Abdullah Shafiq and Shan Masood proved immensely frustrating. A very slow first wicket stand of 205, with both openers making centuries, meant the time was ticking away for England to force a result. Shafiq was removed for 100 from 265 balls, but Saud Shakil picked up where Shafiq had left off and the English bowlers had no answer. Eventually, both were dismissed - Masood making 167 from 411 balls - but the damage had been done. A late flurry gave England a spark but the match was drawn with Pakistan six wickets down after 162 overs of blocking.

2nd Test

This Test match will go down as one of the all-time great matches.

After an underwhelming string of performances from James Rew, he was dropped and replaced with debutant Jamie Smith. With the intention of managing fitness, we also dropped Anderson and Potts, with Olly Stone and Jofra Archer coming into the side.

Having frustrated England in Rawalpindi, Abdullah Shafiq continued where he left off in Lahore, making 147 from the top of the order as Pakistan mustered 300 exactly in their first innings. Despite a reasonable start from our top order with half-centuries for Duckett and Pope, the turning point was the injury sustained by Ben Stokes, who was forced to retire hurt on just 2. In the end, it proved costly as we could only manage 243, 57 runs behind.

With Stokes unavailable, Babar Azam decided to emerge from his relative slumber and fired 102 as Pakistan amassed 436 all out, setting us an improbable target of 494. Jofra Archer took 5-96, providing a welcome selection headache in the seam bowling stakes.

Improbable? World-record holder Ben Duckett would see about that! Duckett and Crawley made 105 for the first wicket before the latter fell for 51 - but the middle order failed again. Pope (2), Root (17) and Brook (39) didn't deliver the performance we really needed, and with Stokes unable to bat, we were essentially 201-5. Step forward debutant Jamie Smith, who having made a start in the first innings, combined with Duckett with an enormous 172-run partnership to get England to just 111 runs short of target.

At this point, Duckett fell for 180 - Pakistan must be sick of the sight of him! - leaving Smith and Ahmed to make a further dent in the scores. Smith completed his debut century but was eventually bowled for 103 by Abrar Ahmed, but Rehan Ahmed wouldn't be denied. Farming the strike, he made 67 before falling victim to Shaheen Afridi with just 6 runs required.

With Pakistan needing just one wicket to win, Jofra Archer and Olly Stone managed to cap a ridiculous chase and they saw England over the line to win officially by two wickets! There were just 17 minutes remaining in the evening of Day 5 - a real victory in the shadows!

3rd Test

The first two wickets had been flat or slightly favoured seam bowlers. The Karachi wicket was different, however, and Jack Leach replaced Olly Stone to add a second spin option alongside Rehan Ahmed. It was time for another debut as well - Ben Compton was given the chance to stake his claim for a place as he came in for the injured Stokes at number 6.

Pakistan won the toss and batted first again, however if England were worried about Pakistan's response to their previous heartbreaking defeat, Jofra Archer settled the nerves immediately. Archer's 5-36 ripped the heart out of the hosts' batting lineup and they posted just 130 to open the game up.

England's middle order failed yet again - it really has become an issue - as we slumped to 80-5. But Ben Compton combined with Jamie Smith to establish a strong first innings lead, and Compton would eventually depart for 66, making him the top scorer on debut. England's 273 all out represented a first-innings lead of 143.

Pakistan fought back, led once again by Abdullah Shafiq (112) and Babar Azam (76). The wickets were shared between the four bowlers again, Ahmed leading the way with 4-83, but Pakistan posted 307, giving England a potentially tricky small target of 167. But if they thought they had a chance, watching Ben Duckett walk out to bat will have dampened their spirits before a ball had been bowled. Duckett is now inevitable, and his unbeaten 75 steered England home to win by 7 wickets.

Pakistan 0-2 England - England win the series

Ben Duckett ended the series with 765 runs from 5 innings at an average of 255 - quite frankly ridiculous statistics with three Tests of the season to go. His overall Test average is now 62.42 and he's accumulated 1532 runs at 127.67 in the current season so far.

The series also boosted the reputations of Jamie Smith and Ben Compton. Smith was actually the third highest run scorer in the series having not played in the 1st Test, while the resurgence of Jofra Archer is also great news - his 15 wickets at 17.33 in the two Tests he played was bettered only by Rehan Ahmed's 19 wickets at 29.95 - Ahmed now has 61 wickets at 20.21 in the year to date.

Pakistan offered much more resistance than the West Indies and Sri Lanka had done, and Abdullah Shafiq top scored with 445 runs at 74.17 in the series - the 24 year-old nudging his Test average above 50 in 22 Tests. None of the bowlers really set the world on fire but Shaheen Afridi always carries a threat and led the wicket charts with 13 at an average of 37.69.

Just the trip to New Zealand to go and the first season will be in the books!

[Joe Baldwin]

NEW ZEALAND vs ENGLAND

1st Test

With a very batting friendly Wellington wicket, we picked two spinners with Ahmed and Leach, along with Archer and Robinson with the ball - the batters are all the usual suspects. But if we were expecting anything less than a hugely challenging serious, we were seriously mistaken - New Zealand won the toss, batted first and racked up 521 with the top order all in red hot form. It could have been worse - Conway (107), Ravindra (97), Williamson (107) and Mitchell (108) piled on the runs and they were 381-2 at one stage. Archer and Ahmed took four wickets apiece but both conceded plenty, the latter in particular bowling 38 overs for 4-188.

We slumped to 57-3 and 144-5 in response and a heavy defeat looked inevitable, but as they say, form is temporary but class is permanent. Step forward Joe Root, who built excellent partnerships with Jamie Smith (185 runs for the 6th wicket) and Rehan Ahmed (124 runs for the 7th wicket) en route to a wonderful 278, a Test-best score for someone rapidly closing in on Sir Alastair Cook's English run-scoring record. He took England to 515 all out, essentially making the game a one-innings shoot-out with just four sessions remaining.

The draw was inevitable, but England did bowl New Zealand out for 261 with an improved showing with the ball. We had reduced them to 106-6 as well, but an obdurate century from Tom Latham stifled any chance of winning. We'd have needed to score at five an over but on a bowler-friendly wicket, we saw out the draw with a half-century from Ollie Pope seeing us to safety.

2nd Test

With rain forecast for the first two days, it was a bad toss to lose, and lose it we did. New Zealand put us in to bat and we mustered 203 over the course of two heavily weather-affected days. The sun shone thereafter, batting became much easier and the Kiwis piled on 440, Kane Williamson showing his class with a top score of 112, with half-centuries for Conway and Ravindra also making a significant dent in our chances. The bonus was the performance of Potts, brought back in for Leach, who took 4-91.

With a 237-run deficit to overturn, half-centuries for Crawley (58), Duckett (68) and Stokes (67) pushed us up to 369 and set the hosts a target of 133 to take the series lead. A few early wickets would have put a cat amongst the pigeons, but it didn't come - Conway and Ravindra made 99 for the first wicket and the former saw the Kiwis home with 71* - nine wickets the margin of victory.

3rd Test

The form of the returning Jofra Archer had marginalised Jimmy Anderson since the first Test in Pakistan, but with victory a necessity to draw the series, the great man was back for Test 195 of his incredible career. This time England won the toss and in very friendly conditions, batted first, but all hope seemed to be lost as none of the batters could find their feet at all. All eleven Englishmen reached double figures but none of them could get any more than Stokes' 26, and having been reduced to 147-8, all hope of a series-levelling victory seemed lost.

Jofra Archer had other ideas, showing the established batters how it was done and blasting his way to a half-century, pushing our score up to 238, but it still felt below-par.

Step forward, Jimmy Anderson of Lancashire. Before you could so much as say the words 'will you retire after this Test?', he had Conway caught in the slips, trapped Williamson and Latham LBW, nicked Nicholls off and had Santner caught in front of square. 14 overs, 7 maidens, 14 runs and 5 wickets - one of the great Test match spells in New Zealand. The hosts were skittled for just 53 and suddenly it was England's to lose.

As the top four had done so for New Zealand in Auckland, so the top four delivered for England in Christchurch. Duckett capped an utterly ridiculous season with 119, Root finished a superb tour with 106 and Pope led the scoring with an unbeaten 126. England declared on 453-4 in the evening of Day 3, leaving New Zealand needing 639 or two days to survive to win the series.

The Kiwis didn't come close, slumping to 175 all out - England's margin of victory being 463 runs. Three more wickets for Jimmy saw him finish the season with a career tally of 724.

New Zealand 1-1 England - series drawn

Joe Roots incredible career-best score in the 1st Test saw him top the run-scoring charts with 465, and it was also a very good series for Ollie Pope who mustered 302. Archer and Ahmed both managed 12 wickets each, though Archer merged with a better average. For the Kiwis, Devon Conway shone with 313 runs at 62.60, while Rachin Ravindra actually led the wickets column with 14, to go with 215 runs from the top of the order.

[Joe Baldwin]

2024/2025 SEASON REVIEW

In terms of performance, winning 8 Tests out of 12 with two draws and two defeats as to be regarded as a positive season. It's too little, too late with regards to the Test World Championship as we're still in mid-table, but the season was very useful with regards to the shape of our team moving forwards. Picking a Player of the Season award is incredibly obvious - Ben Duckett amassed over 1700 runs at an average just under 100 in the year, including an unforgettable world record score of 408* in Rawalpindi. There would also be an obvious runner-up - Rehan Ahmed had a breakthrough year at Test level with 73 wickets, perhaps ending the seemingly endless search for a high quality spinner for the next decade.

Furthermore, Jamie Smith has made an extremely strong case for a regular spot, and the partnership of Archer and Robinson was definitely bearing fruit in the tours of Pakistan and New Zealand, although Robinson's best work was delivered in seamer-friendly conditions in England. Pope and Root recovered after shaky starts to the season - the latter has now officially overtaken Sir Alastair Cook, he's now scored 12,586 runs and is now the all-time leading run-scorer in Tests. His average is still just painfully under 50, however. In the all-time list he's now 5th, 793 runs away from Ricky Ponting in 2nd.

Jimmy is still going for the time being and now sits 2nd on the all-time list of bowlers with 724, having overtaken Shane Warne earlier in the season.

In the World Rankings, Ben Duckett is officially the best batter in the world, followed by Usman Khawaja and Rishabh Pant. The next Englishman is Joe Root in 14th. Bowlers-wise, Ollie Robinson sits 5th and Rehan Ahmed is 10th. Ben Stokes is 8th on the all-rounders list, although Joe Root is 9th and he didn't bowl at all this season.

The full list of season statistics is here:


PLAYER STATISTICS – 2024/2025

Name	Played	Runs	Bat. Avg.	Wickets	Bowl. Avg.
Ben Duckett	12	1793	99.61
Zak Crawley	12	1052	50.10
Ollie Pope	12	859	45.21
Joe Root	12	850	47.22
Ben Stokes	11	502	38.62	18	44.00
Rehan Ahmed	12	343	22.87	73	22.63
Jamie Smith	5	283	40.43
Harry Brook	9	279	25.36
James Rew	7	178	22.25
Jofra Archer	5	157	31.40	27	22.44
Ben Compton	3	104	26.00
Ollie Robinson	12	94	10.44	49	24.24
Matty Potts	6	70	14.00	23	24.35
James Anderson	8	31	7.75	24	27.08
Jack Leach	2	24	24.00	5	34.00
Olly Stone	1	6	6.00	2	82.50
Mark Wood	2	6	3.00	6	22.17
Josh Bohannon	1	3	1.50

The schedule for 2025 looks as tough as it could possibly be. The summer is dominated by a 5-Test series against India, which is the only Test series of the summer - several white-ball series dominate the schedule around this. Then, in November and December, it's the Ashes in Australia.

10 Tests across two incredible series. In the World Ratings, we're 2nd behind Australia, so that Ashes series could be the catapult to the summit.

[Joe Baldwin]

ENGLAND vs INDIA

1st Test

With selection dilemmas regarding our middle order and our fast bowling unit, we decided to play Jamie Smith and a resurgent James Rew, leaving no space for Harry Brook. With the ball, Jimmy Anderson, Ollie Robinson and Jofra Archer would hopefully fire us past a very potent looking India side. The visitors would field four debutants in the first Test - batters Sai Sudharsan and Rohan Kunnummal, spin bowler Sriram Ajith Ram and left-arm quick Suraj Jaiswal.

It would be the other Jaiswal - opener Yashasvi - who would put us to the sword. India wasted no time stamping their authority on the series as Day 1 was carnage, with the gun opener making 166 and very capably supported by Shubman Gill (88) and Rishabh Pant (113). They racked up 524 first up and having prepared a seamer-friendly track, there was no chance of getting near it with the likes of Bumrah around. Ben Duckett (59) and Jamie Smith (53) both did okay but we could only muster 280 in reply.

India didn't enforce the follow on, deciding instead to humiliate our bowlers further. Jaiswal added another 110 at nearly a run a ball, while Rinku Singh, batting at four, blasted 123* at an even better rate. Our bowlers took a pounding as they racked up 391-4 in just 67 overs, leaving us with an enormous target of 635. Unsurprisingly we didn't get near it, and in fact slumped to 153 all out, with only Ben Stokes' unbeaten 70 saving us from utter humiliation - losing by 482 runs was as bad a start as it could get.

2nd Test

After such a poor performance, we made just one change, with Jack Leach replacing Jofra Archer who had been very expensive in the 1st Test. India gave a fifth debut of the series to Shivam Mavi.

We managed to win the toss and had first go on another seam-friendly track. 70 for Ollie Pope and contributions lower down nudged us up to 285, but India again responded with 379 to establish a significant first innings lead of 94. If the top order don't get you, the middle order will - this time it was Dhruv Jurel (109) and Kunnummal (65) that did the damage - Anderson's 3-64 from 33 overs a bright spark.

The batting unit then misfired its way to 220, leaving India with a modest target of 126 to win - a task which proved no challenge at all for the dominant visitors, who won by 8 wickets in the end.

3rd Test

With the series 2-0 to India after two heavy defeats, all seemed lost for England. We recalled Brook for Rew, who had again not taken his chance, and brought in Essex seamer Sam Cook for his Test debut.

We won the toss again, and this time we made it count. Despite losing Zak Crawley retired hurt, centuries for Ben Duckett (103) and a crucial return to form for Joe Root (132) fired us to 405 all out. In reply, Ollie Robinson dismissed the Indian top three for peanuts on his way to 5-64, but just as impressive was debutant Cook, who finished with 3-19 from 14.4 overs as we skittled India for 139.

Following in their footsteps, despite a lead of 266, we stuck India back in the field and had a little more fun. They did fight back, bowling us out for 211, but a daunting target of 478 was too much of a challenge even for the quality India possess. This time Anderson rose to the fore as so often before, with his 4-63 the stand-out figures as England claimed victory by 210 runs - despite Jaiswal carrying his bat for 148*.

2-1 and back in the series!

4th Test

Could we level the series and force a crucial decider? With Crawley injured, Ben Compton came in at the top of the order in our only change.

Again we batted first, but as so often before, we didn't really fire. Root made 66 and there were plenty of starts but 219 never felt like enough - Mavi taking 4-27. With India seemingly on course, Ollie Robinson absolutely demolished the Indian top order and suddenly they were 19-4! Robinson would end with 6-63 as India laboured to 232 all out, saved by 104 from Dhruv Jurel. It was essentially a one-innings shoot-out to stay in the series.

But the Indian class told, and 4-31 for Mavi reduced us to 167 all out. Harry Brook made 60 in a timely return to something resembling form but nobody else contributed anything and India, set a target of 154 to win the series, did so without losing a wicket. Jaiswal (80*) and Gill (75*) made no mistake - but at least they put us out of our misery quickly, rattling the runs off at 5 an over.

The series was over, and we'd lost it convincingly,

5th Test

The final Test of the series was a question of salvaging some pride ahead of an Ashes series in Australia. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to salvage anything, as despite winning the toss and batting first again, we collapsed to 153 all out. India have found a gun seamer in 27 year-old Mavi, who took 5-54.

In reply, Jaiswal (112) and Singh (136) piled on the pain and they rattled up 469, a lead of 316. We were long since dead and buried, but Joe Root's superb 146* did at least prevent an innings defeat - he combined with Rehan Ahmed (64), an increasingly genuine all-rounder, to add 109 for the 7th wicket. England scored 336, leaving India 21 to win.

We even prevented the ignominy of a 10-wicket defeat as Anderson had Gill caught in the slips for 1, but that was all she wrote.

England 1-4 India - India win the series

In summary, we were absolutely shocking - with the exception of the 3rd Test we were absolutely blown away by India in the first series of the new World Test Championship cycle. Joe Root was the only batter to emerge with any credit, scoring 575 runs at 63.89, and Ben Stokes (40.38) and Ben Duckett (31.00) were the only other batters to average more than 26. Jamie Smith and Ollie Pope had bad series, I know we prepare seamer-friendly wickets at home but we batted first four times.

With the ball, only Sam Cook (8 wickets at 29.62) averaged less than 32, and the likes of Rehan Ahmed, who had been so successful last year against predominantly lesser opposition, struggled - he mustered 14 wickets in 5 Tests at 52.29. Robinson led the wickets column with 19, but this equated to two excellent performances in 10 innings.

By contrast, India dazzled. Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 721 runs at 120.17 and Bumrah (30 wickets), Mavi (27 wickets) and Ajith Ram (24 wickets) all significantly outperformed our bowlers.

Next up - the Ashes in Australia. We'll need all the help we can get.

[Joe Baldwin]

THE ASHES 2025

Having been trounced by India in the summer series, England travelled to Australia having won just two of their last eight Tests. Morale and expectations were understandably low and the selectors had some big decisions to make. Australia, for their part, had suffered a hugely disappointing defeat to New Zealand in the World Test Championship Final, with the Kiwis chasing 336 with six wickets to spare, but they had recovered with a straightforward 2-0 series win over the West Indies.

England's 18-man squad for the tour included three uncapped batters - 22 year-old opener Ian Coop, 21 year-old Leo Sadler and 18 year-old Keith Strachan. The latter two have already been capped in England's white ball sides and the prodigiously talented Strachan already has seven First Class centuries for Derbyshire to his name. Despite a poor series against India, Rehan Ahmed kept his place as the premier spinner and the seam-bowling attack picked itself.

1st Test - Australia vs England - 15th November 2025 - Brisbane
England won the toss and elected to bat first.

ENG XI: Crawley, Duckett, Brook, Root, Stokes*, Sadler, Smith+, Ahmed, Robinson, Cook, Anderson
AUS XI: Smith, Khawaja, Labuschagne, Green, Head, Marsh, Carey, Cummins, Hazlewood, Morris, Buckingham

The weather was absolutely perfect for batting, with glorious sunshine sizzling down onto a wicket which looked a belter. Australia didn't name a single spinner in their lineup, giving a debut to Jordan Buckingham, while England dropped Ollie Pope, promoted Harry Brook to No.3 and brought Leo Sadler in at No.6 for his Test debut.

Despite the excellent conditions, it was Australia who would land the first blow. A scintillating spell from Pat Cummins reduced England to 112-5, with a number of batters getting starts but not kicking on. Sadler could only manage 6 in his first Test knock - the Aussie captain was just too good for him. But Joe Root provided some stubborn resistance and combined with Jamie Smith to add 58 for the 6th wicket, with the talismanic No.4 falling just short of a half-century, and the tail wagged - Ollie Robinson combined with Smith and latterly Sam Cook to add some crucial runs in the evening of Day 1. In the end, England managed to post 303 batting first, with half-centuries for Smith and Robinson propelling them to respectability.

It felt like a slightly below-par score given the conditions, but Anderson - playing his 201st Test - took the vital wicket of Steven Smith early as England applied the pressure. Australia's top order initially batted well, with Labuschagne playing superbly for 71 and Travis Head firing a rapid 64, but once they fell, England's seamers were able to run through the tail quickly. Robinson added 5-49 to the 51 he made with the bat and Australia's response of 274 gave England a slight advantage.

Day 3 belonged exclusively to England as they set about building a challenging target for their hosts. A strong batting performance began with Crawley and Duckett adding 95 for the 1st wicket - the latter going on to make 71 - and 90 for Harry Brook, adapting quickly to his loftier position in the batting order, really laid the foundations. The middle order stuttered, Sadler compounding a difficult debut with just 5 in the second innings, but an amazing 7th wicket stand of 131 really took the Test away from Australia. Smith made back-to-back half-centuries with 53, but it was a maiden Test century for Rehan Ahmed that took the headlines - he made 112 as England were eventually bowled out for 445.

Australia were set 475 to win with four and a half sessions of the game remaining, and with the odds stacked against them and a pitch that was starting to seam around a bit, it looked like England were on course to win a Test in Australia. The feeling grew when Anderson again dismissed Smith cheaply in his opening spell - the legendary batter making just 4 - but Labuschagne and Khawaja provided stubborn resistance and took the game into Day 5 with nine wickets still in hand.

The bowlers toiled and toiled in the Brisbane heat, but Australia defended for their lives. Labuschagne led the way, scoring 89 from 262 balls, and Khawaja (44), Head (40) and Marsh (44) all stayed at the crease for well over an hour each. Eventually one end of the tail opened, then the other, but Josh Hazlewood survived for 81 balls and combined with Lance Morris (8 from 41 balls) to take the game to the final over.

Rehan Ahmed trapped Morris LBW in the final over of the match, leaving No.11 debutant Buckingham to survive two deliveries to save the draw... and it wasn't to be for England. Australia survived nine wickets down, having faced 133 overs, and for England it was a missed opportunity that they may come to regret.

Match Drawn
Man of the Match: M. Labuschagne

[Joe Baldwin]

2nd Test - Australia vs England - 22nd November 2025 - Adelaide
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first.

With the series moving to Adelaide and just two days of rest, Australia dropped Morris and gave another debut to 31-year-old seamer Matt Kelly of Western Australia. Having come so close to taking the lead in the series, England rested Cook and gave Matty Potts the opportunity to make his mark in the Ashes.

ENG XI: Crawley, Duckett, Brook, Root, Stokes*, Sadler, Smith+, Ahmed, Robinson, Potts, Anderson
AUS XI: Smith, Khawaja, Labuschagne, Green, Head, Marsh, Carey, Cummins, Kelly, Hazlewood, Buckingham

Australia won the toss and elected to bat first, again in perfect batting conditions, but it was England who made early inroads. Anderson trapped Khawaja LBW for a duck, Robinson then had Smith caught in the slips and clean bowled Cam Green as the hosts slipped to 31-3. Labuschagne and Head set about rebuilding the innings and did so with typical flamboyance, but Anderson put the brakes on their progress by dismissing Labuschagne for 46. Marsh quickly followed and Australia were floundering on 102-5.

Head played positively for 75, but Anderson bowled him for his 4th wicket of the innings, and Robinson - who took four of his own - combined with Potts and Ahmed to bowl Australia out for 192. In the conditions, that was definitely below-par. But what happened next is beyond England's wildest dreams.

Emerging on the first evening, Crawley and Duckett set about completely dismantling the Australian bowling attack. In a throwback to the last England victory down under, the openers enjoyed the pace on the ball and cashed in emphatically against an attack shorn of a spin option. An incredible 1st wicket partnership of 336 gave England a commanding lead on its own, and when Crawley finally fell for 167, Brook continued where he left off, taking England to 511-1. Brook fell for 79, but in comes Joe Root - the misery compounded for the hosts.

Meanwhile, Ben Duckett, the world-record holder, looked on course to threaten his own record. However, with the series of utmost importance, Duckett reached 300* and the declaration promptly followed - England had posted 633-3 and declared with an hour of Day 3 to go.

Having missed out by a wicket in the 1st Test, England made sure that with even longer to hold out, Australia didn't stand a chance of repeating the trick. Smith's torrid start to the series continued as Anderson once again removed him in his first spell, and aside from 61 from Travis Head, the resistance was not especially difficult to break down. In the end Anderson (3-38) and Ahmed (3-77) led the way as Australia were bowled out for 210 - a far cry from the side that slumped in such a fashion themselves against India. With two Tests down, England took the lead in the series - it's well and truly alive!

England won by an innings and 231 runs
Man of the Match: B. Duckett

[Joe Baldwin]

3rd Test - Australia vs England - 29th November 2025 - Victoria
England won the toss and elected to bat first.

After England's crushing victory in the second Test, taking a 1-0 lead, the tourists made a single change, with Cook returning for Potts. Australia, however, had altered their approach and prepared a wicket that looked a little more spin-friendly than seam. They called Mitchell Starc, Todd Murphy and Nathan Lyon back in, dropping Kelly, Hazlewood and Buckingham, and they also added Oliver Davies at No.6 in place of Mitchell Marsh.

ENG XI: Crawley, Duckett, Brook, Root, Stokes*, Sadler, Smith+, Ahmed, Robinson, Cook, Anderson
AUS XI: Smith, Khawaja, Labuschagne, Green, Head, Davies, Carey, Cummins, Starc, Murphy, Lyon

Despite the shift towards spin, conditions were still excellent for batting and it was an easy choice for Ben Stokes after winning the toss. The top order set about the business of scoring runs, and although the Australian bowlers were pretty economical, Crawley and Duckett put on 108 for the first wicket. Todd Murphy prised Crawley out for 48, but Harry Brook has rediscovered his scoring touch coming in at No.3 and the second wicket was worth 127 before the prolific Duckett fell to Murphy for 116. Brook would fall agonisingly short of a century of his own - he edged behind for 93 - but combined with Stokes (73) and Rehan Ahmed (61*), England declared in the evening of Day 2 having amassed 515-8.

Australia needed a positive start but once again early wickets fell. Khawaja (5), Labuschagne (2) and Green (1) were all sent packing to the new ball and Rehan Ahmed promptly spun England into a commanding position. Ahmed finished with 5-73, with only Travis Head offering any resistance with a well crafted 74. Australia posted just 192 - a deficit of 323 - and England enforced the follow-on.

Smith and Khawaja mustered 42 for the first wicket but with the pitch now giving the spinners plenty of assistance, Ahmed made the breakthrough, removing Smith for 20. In the blink of an eye, Ahmed had four wickets and Australia had fallen to 121-7, still over 200 runs away from making England bat again. Cook also impressed with 3-34, and despite the tail wagging a little bit with Starc making a punchy 41, Australia were bowled out for 203 - another innings defeat.

After three Tests, it's 2-0 to the visitors and the series cannot be lost. But the Ashes still need to be won.

England won by an innings and 120 runs.
Man of the Match: R. Ahmed

[Joe Baldwin]

4th Test - Australia vs England - 6th December 2025 - Sydney
England won the toss and elected to bat first.

Despite a promising start to his domestic career, Leo Sadler hadn't made an impact at No.6 in his first three Tests, so in an otherwise unchanged England side he dropped out and James Rew takes his place in the lineup. Australia persisted with a slightly spin-friendly wicket so Murphy and Lyon both kept their places - Starc was replaced by Buckingham in their only change.

ENG XI: Crawley, Duckett, Brook, Root, Stokes*, Smith+, Rew, Ahmed, Robinson, Cook, Anderson
AUS XI: Smith, Khawaja, Labuschagne, Green, Head, Davies, Carey, Cummins, Murphy, Lyon, Buckingham

Needing to avoid defeat in just one of the two remaining Tests, winning the toss and electing to bat was the first step in the right direction - but on this occasion, the England top order didn't fire to quite the same extent they'd managed previously. England were 120-5 after a strong showing with the ball from Buckingham in particular, and it looked like Australia were fighting their way back into the series. But Ben Stokes had other ideas - he made a circumspect 96 and formed a century partnership for the 7th wicket with the rapidly improving Rehan Ahmed, who himself made 55. Finally, Ollie Robinson blasted 42* as the tail wagged again and England dragged themselves to 336 when they were finally bowled out.

Australia's task was made much harder when Smith was forced to retire hurt after suffering a fracture having made just 24. He'd not play any further part in the game, and though Labuschagne led the charge with 50, the remaining batters were unable to capitalise on some decent starts as the bowlers took regular wickets. Anderson was the pick of the bowlers with 4-51, showing his enduring class, and Australia could only make 257, giving England a strong first innings lead of 79.

One more good performance with the bat and the Ashes would be won, but if England were feeling any pressure, it didn't show for a second. Duckett (83) and Brook (75) put England in a commanding position but it was Joe Root that took the game out of reach, scoring an unbeaten 122 as England declared on 424-7 mid-way through the fourth day. Jamie Smith also contributed 59, part of a 140-run partnership for the 5th wicket, and Australia needed to chase down 504 to keep the series alive.

Unsurprisingly, the task was far too much for an out-of-form batting lineup without the injured Smith. Anderson bowled Khawaja for 4 and Cook trapped Green LBW for 2 as England went in for the kill. Half-centuries for Labuschagne (58), Head (52) and Davies (55*) stalled England's progress for a while, but patience paid off and the last five wickets fell for 52 as Australia slumped to 194 all out.

England had won the Ashes in Australia for the first time in 14 years, and not only that, they'd comprehensively blown Australia away.

England won by 309 runs
Man of the Match: J. Root

[Joe Baldwin]

5th Test - Australia vs England - 13th December 2025 - Canberra
England won the toss and elected to bat first.

With the series already in the bag, England gave a debut to 18-year-old Derbyshire batter Keith Strachan in place of James Rew. Matty Potts also returned in place of Sam Cook. Australia were looking to salvage some pride and gave a debut to seam bowler Fergus O'Neill - the seam-friendly Canberra wicket also necessitating recalls for Lance Morris and Josh Hazlewood. Matty Renshaw would open in place of the injured Steven Smith and Mitch Marsh came in for Oliver Davies.

ENG XI: Crawley, Duckett, Brook, Root, Stokes*, Strachan, Smith+, Ahmed, Robinson, Potts, Anderson
AUS XI: Khawaja, Renshaw, Labuschagne, Green, Head, Marsh, Carey, Cummins, O'Neill, Hazlewood, Morris

Once again, England won the toss and would bat first, but this time Australia took a vice-like grip on the Test. Josh Hazlewood produced a stunning perfomance with 5-32, having removed Brook (14), Root (0) and Stokes (5) cheaply to bring Strachan to the crease for the first time. The teenager made 38 in his maiden innings, and his 80-run stand for the 5th wicket with Duckett was the bright spark of the innings. Duckett continued his relentless run-scoring, making 86, but England were bowled out for 180 as Australia put themselves in a commanding position.

The hosts made it count. Khawaja scored 82 and formed a century stand with Labuschagne, who made 54, but it was Travis Head who lit up the innings with 107 from 132 balls, giving Australia a healthy lead. Rehan Ahmed finished as the pick of the bowlers with 4-99 but Australia's total of 391 gave them a commanding lead of 211.

With plenty of time left in the game but facing a huge deficit, England set about their second innings. The openers both got starts but neither Crawley (37) or Duckett (46) could kick on, but 65 from Joe Root helped England wipe the deficit out with six wickets left. But make a note of the date as a star was well and truly born - Keith Strachan, on debut and with the odds against him, compiled a scintillating century to establish himself on the international stage. He made 105 before falling to Pat Cummins, capably supported by Jamie Smith who scored 62 - the two men taking England to 406 all out and setting Australia a target of 196 on a degrading pitch.

Australia's chase couldn't have started worse - a hooping in-swinger from Anderson snuck through the gate and castled Khawaja for a first-ball duck. Renshaw and Labuschagne put on 56 for the second wicket but when Matty Potts bowled Labuschagne for 25, the floodgates were opened. Ahmed dismissed Green for 16, Robinson bowled Head for 9 and Anderson nicked Marsh through to keeper Smith for just 2. When Robinson also had Renshaw caught at the wicket for 45, Australia were 105-6 and facing an uphill task.

Carey and Cummins had other ideas and both dug in to drag Australia closer to the target. Their 7th wicket stand was worth 57 when Rehan Ahmed struck to remove Carey for 39, but his departure opened the tail and O'Neill and Hazlewood were unable to support Cummins - the hosts were nine wickets down and still needed 25 to win. Now batting with No.11 Morris, Cummins continued chipping away to the frustration of the bowlers. WinViz had no idea which way the game was going to go, but suddenly, Rehan Ahmed induced an edge from Cummins and Crawley clung on! Australia fell just 8 runs short of the target, bowled out for 188 and capping a miserable series for them - it was four in a row for England.

From a 211-run deficit heading into their second innings, this was a win for the ages and sealed an incredible series win - made all the more special coming in the context of such a poor collective performance against India.

England won by 7 runs
Man of the Match: K. Strachan

[Joe Baldwin]

2025/2026 SEASON REVIEW

The season was very much a tale of two halves. An embarrassing 4-1 defeat filled with very poor performances at home to India was followed by a hugely memorable Ashes victory in Australia, with three very convincing wins and it could easily have been a whitewash had Australia not held on for their lives in the first Test. Ben Duckett mustered 757 runs in the series, including another memorable unbeaten triple-century in the second Test, but for seemingly the first time the vast majority of the side performed well. Brook made 403 runs in the series, averaging 50.38, while Crawley, Root, Smith and Ahmed all averaged in excess of 45 with the bat. Finally, the performance of Keith Strachan with a century on debut at 18 years of age suggests there is a star in the making.

Ahmed excelled with the ball, leading the wickets column with 30 in the series at 23.57. Anderson's star continues to shine bright with 24 wickets at 20.62 - he now has 764 wickets in 205 Tests. Robinson also managed 22 wickets at 21.50 - it really was a complete performance from both departments.

PLAYER STATISTICS - 2025/2026:

Name	Played	Runs	Bat. Avg.	Wickets	Bowl. Avg.
Ben Duckett	10	1067	62.76
Joe Root	10	907	56.69
Harry Brook	8	558	39.86
Ben Stokes	10	548	36.53	15	32.67
Jamie Smith	10	535	31.47
Zak Crawley	8	450	37.50
Rehan Ahmed	10	366	24.40	44	32.70
Ollie Robinson	10	250	17.86	41	26.80
Ollie Pope	5	201	20.10
Keith Strachan	1	143	71.50
James Rew	3	122	20.33
Sam Cook	6	112	18.67	13	37.08
Ben Compton	2	91	22.75
James Anderson	10	41	3.73	40	26.90
Lee Sadler	3	32	10.67
Jack Leach	1	9	9.00	0	N/A
Jofra Archer	1	8	8.00	5	35.40
Matty Potts	2	3	3.00	5	41.00

Joe Root is now the 2nd leading run-scorer in Tests, having overtaken Dravid, Kallis and Ponting - he now has 13,492 runs in 162 Tests. Anderson is just 36 wickets behind Muralitharan and providing he doesn't retire, another season like this one could be enough for him to overtake the Sri Lankan great.

Ben Stokes has moved up to 12th in the England wickets list, having overtaken Darren Gough with 231, and he's also now 11th in the runs column with 7,366, surpassing Wally Hammond and Andrew Strauss.

Ben Duckett is also now notable for his average of 60.90 in 42 Tests - it's the best average of anyone with more than 10 Tests, edging in front of Herbert Sutcliffe's average of 60.73. Both he and Crawley reached 4,000 runs this season and Brook now has just over 2,000 in 29 Tests. Ahmed now has 135 Test wickets in 26 appearances, four more than Jack Leach.

Fast-forwarding to the 2026-2027 season, our schedule is as follows:

3 Tests at home vs New Zealand
3 Tests at home vs Pakistan
3 Tests away vs South Africa
2 Tests away vs Bangladesh

[Joe Baldwin]

ENGLAND vs NEW ZEALAND - 3 Tests

1st Test

New Zealand are the current Test World Champions and the top-ranked Test side in world cricket. Our stunning Ashes victory in Australia pushed us up to 2nd, and this series promised to be a hugely competitive affair. England gave a debut to fast-bowler Gus Atkinson and teenage prodigy Keith Strachan retained his place at No.6 for the start of the English summer.

England won the toss and elected to bat, but despite half-centuries from Ben Stokes (53) and Jamie Smith (63), the first innings total of 242 felt below par. And so it proved - the tourists' response of 351, led by 104 for Gareth Severin, gave them a significant first innings lead. Atkinson bowled well for 3-53 in his first innings in Test cricket, and Anderson begun his charge towards Muralitharan's record with 3-92.

Ben Duckett dug in and made 96 as England aimed to set a challenging total, and supported predominantly by Smith (39) and Robinson (39), the hosts made 272 and set the Kiwis a target of 164 in challenging conditions. It looked for a while like it would be a straightforward chase as they reached 118-2 relatively serenely, but a blistering spell from debutant Atkinson (5-58) ripped through the middle order. But it was too little too late - New Zealand reached the target with three wickets to go.

2nd Test

England kept an unchanged side for the 2nd Test and again won the toss. New Zealand continued to pose all sorts of problems, however, and reduced the hosts to 20-3. Crawley and Stokes could not be moved and their 4th wicket partnership of 161 launched England to an overall first innings score of 313 - the skipper falling agonisingly four runs short of a century. Jamie Smith continued an impressive series with another 57 as well.

In return, Devon Conway's 80 looked to be bringing New Zealand level, but 5-83 from Rehan Ahmed dismissed the Kiwis for 237, giving England a lead of 76. Crawley took full advantage - he made 87 as England set a much more challenging target of 346, and it proved decisive as England claimed victory by 100 runs. Ahmed added 3-42 and Atkinson another three wickets to his fledgling international career as we levelled the series.

3rd Test

With the series on the line and Harry Brook again short of runs, he was dropped and replaced by Ollie Pope, who had made a terrific start to the domestic season. That was the only change for the series decider. With heavy cloud forecast for Day 1, New Zealand won the toss and elected to bowl first, reaping immediate rewards as Nathan Smith - who was having a really good series - took two early wickets to reduce England to 27-3. Pope was the only batter to offer much resistance in the end but he made a scintillating 109 as England opened with a laboured 213.

In reply, Jimmy Anderson stole the headlines with 5-50, but half-centuries for Kiwi debutant Robbie O'Donnell and Nathan Smith pushed the visitors up to 272, a lead of 59. Crawley made a positive start but was given minimal help from the remainder of the top order - his 35 pushed us into the lead but we'd been reduced to 74-5 when Jamie Smith arrived at the crease. The keeper counter-punched with a classy 50 but the total of 190 left New Zealand a relatively straightforward chase of 132.

Ravindra had retired hurt in the first innings and a brilliant opening spell from the seamers reduced the visitors to 52-4 with five wickets left. Severin (26) and O'Donnell (19) did make 42 runs for the 5th wicket to take the world number 1 side to the brink of series victory, but Rehan Ahmed had other ideas, dismissing both men, Smith and Zak Foulkes on his way to 4-34.

But Jamieson and Ray Toole would not budge. England threw everything they had but it wasn't enough - they couldn't take the final wicket and New Zealand edged over the line to claim victory technically by two wickets.

England 1-2 New Zealand - New Zealand win the series

None of our batters really fired but Zak Crawley was our leading run-scorer with 264 runs averaging 44.00. Joe Root (66 runs at 11.00) and Harry Brook (33 runs at 8.25) really struggled, Ollie Pope runs making more in one innings than they could muster between them in twelve. With the ball, Gus Atkinson's 17 wickets at 17.82 led the charts in his maiden Test series.

For the victors, again Devon Conway led the way with 271 runs at 45.17. Nathan Smith also led the wickets column in the series - he claimed 19 scalps averaging 20.95 in an impressive campaign.

For England, it's Pakistan at home next as we look to get back on track.