The charts above provide the batting and bowling averages by batting and bowling position for the 2025-26 Ashes. On the face of it, the superiority of the Australian bowling shines through, even without Josh Hazlewood (for all five Tests), Pat Cummins (for four out of five Tests) and Nathan Lyon (for three out of five Tests). Mitchel Starc and Scott Boland were masterful for Australia. Michael Neser and Pat Cummins (when he played) provided admirable support. And it was enough. England’s bowlers struggled to stay fit – a predicament made worse by the fact that England did not compensate for their bowling deficit by playing the extra bowler. Stokes broke down with injuries in two of the Test and did not bowl for large periods of the Australian second innings in Adelaide, and not at all in the Australian second innings in Sydney.
The figures for each bowling position suggest that England’s spare bowlers (bowlers in positions 5 or later) outdid Australia’s. They did, thanks to Stokes’ five wicket haul (as the 5th bowler) in the first innings of the series. After that, England’s fifth bowlers managed six wickets in four Tests. As the figures also show, England four main bowlers needed more support than Australia’s four main bowlers did. But England’s fifth bowler bowled roughly the same number of overs as Australia’s fifth bowlers.
This could have been a more competitive series than it turned out to be, especially once it became evident that the Australian attack was depleted. But England’s decision to replace the injured Mark Wood with the part-time off-spin of Will Jacks effectively ended England’s chances. It increased the stress on England’s attack, extended the run output of the Australian tail, stretched Ben Stokes’ bowling health to breaking point, and made it impossible to England to take any advantage of Australia’s injury problems. Michael Neser and Scott Boland would play many more Tests than they actually have in this era if they weren’t competing with four all time great Australian bowlers. Winning in Australia is always difficult. It becomes more difficult, as India found out last year and England have found this year, when teams don’t play enough bowling because they think they need more batting. Unless the opposition also makes the same choice (as England did against India in England in 2025), this hedge does not work.
