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The legendary Australian batsman was the subject of the first adult book I remember going through as a youngster. To a primary school student, the injustice of an England's skipper ordering his teammates to target a brilliant Australian was unfathomable. Thus, similar to countless others, I developed a dislike for England.

Anticipation for the Ashes? That's a given. The sport's schedule makes this a rare treat to observe two of the world’s best teams challenge and provoke each other over what we hope will be five Tests of interrogation with the traditional red ball.

As the celebrated all-rounder pointed out last week at the launch of the ticket draw for the historic 2027 match, the Ashes has a unique appeal. “Historically, fans globally watches the Ashes,” he remarked. “It's about heritage, it’s the competition, it's always full throttle.”

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

On Australian soil, the Ashes has been more subdued than just flat for over ten years. Australians expect their team to dominate easily, as it has been since the nineties. Boland's stunning figures at the MCG wasn’t born from a fierce duel, it was a comical English collapse reinforcing perceptions. A true rivalry should not be this way.

Cricket’s Town Criers Must Now Lean In at the Ashes’ Waning Embers and Fan the Flames

England's squad were met in Perth by a predictable front page in the local tabloid, “Baz Bawl”, supported by a portrayal of the highly regarded Ben Stokes as “arrogant”. The paper then had a dig at “Mediocre” Root, aka “Flop Root in Australia”. This sufficed to prompt a typical media response, allowing the media to squeeze what juice is left in the days before the series begins.

On the other hand, last year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy between the Aussies and India sparked something all by itself. The spiritual peak was that MCG experience, a moment that will linger forever. The metrics, also, overwhelmed. 838,000 attended the five Tests, the fourth highest for any contest in Australia and the highest for any non-Ashes contest. Viewers were captivated, not unlike the TV bump for India’s tour of England this year, and multiple periods drew more than two million TV fans.

In recent weeks, the touching send-offs of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli at the SCG made ODI matches truly significant. Contrast the headline following the last time England came here for a limited-overs series: “Smallest attendance for Australia-England ODI sparks concerns for ODI cricket's survival”.

The Growing Clout of Indian Cricket

Although bad weather disrupted the T20 series with India, the action that occurred suggests Australia are lagging behind the short form’s global benchmark. For the women's game, at the global tournament last month, the host nation defeated the defending champions. The all-format contest kicking off in February-March is primed as a de facto world championship.

One might to dismiss the colorful fan groups that gather at India’s matches – and not just Tests – as a simple reflection of the vast diaspora of the planet's largest country. However, to bean counters and television executives, they are an boon.

The world’s largest democracy now means more to Australia than its historical roots, 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 realignment of security priorities acknowledging the growing influence of Asian powers, a change that occurred years back in the cricketing world.

The former Australian skipper, who also led the Indian team, said last week that England was “the classic foe”, but also that “to be fair, without India, cricket wouldn’t be the same”.

The Final Challenge

Until Australia claimed the trophy last summer, India had retained it for ten years. In India, Australia haven't triumphed in more than 20 years. Even if the home side reclaim the Ashes easily this summer, failing to secure the five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India in the coming years would make this period incomplete.

That elusive victory on the Indian soil remains the final proving ground for this generation, and a blip against England this summer – attributed to unfortunate bowler injury, just like 2005 and Glenn McGrath’s freak rolled ankle – would only add to the narrative.

England have not secured a victory in Australia for almost 15 years, and despite the history, it cannot sustain a one-sided contest forever. So, with a gaudy, engrossing India having only just flown out, Ben Stokes’s players have much to play for. Triumph in the Ashes and stay relevant. Or lose the urn and with it something that can’t be won back: the claim to being the top opponent. We beg the English, just be good.