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📻 IMPORTANT AUCKLAND UPDATE 📻
Pom’s view: Aussies set to be much weaker next time in England
SEN • January 1st, 2026 4:21 pm
The mood surrounding English cricket has been lifted following the visitors’ four-wicket win in the Boxing Day Test.
While little has been taken from the result by either side, with the Test match just lasting two days on an incredibly tough MCG wicket, there’s certainly been less doom and gloom than in previous weeks.
Even though there’s still one Ashes Test remaining in Sydney, Will Macpherson from the UK Telegraph is already looking ahead to 2027, which is when the fight for the urn returns to England.
By then, Australia will have held the Ashes for a decade, but according to Macpherson, that could be coming to an end.
Looking at the Aussies’ ageing side, Macpherson is tipping that Australia’s future ‘looks weak’, adding that England ‘are favourites for 2027’.
“For all the regret on this tour, England fans should be optimistic looking ahead to the next Ashes series, which is just 18 months away,” Macpherson wrote.
“Predicting Australia’s team for that series is mightily difficult, for two reasons. First is the age profile of the current team. Of the 15 players Australia has selected in this series, just two – Cameron Green, 26, and Jhye Richardson, 29 – are under 30. Of the three unused squad members, only Todd Murphy, the 25-year-old spinner, is in his twenties. The unavailable Hazlewood turns 35 next week.
“Talk to those who know Australian batting best and they speak with excitement about a crop of youngsters such as Konstas, Victoria’s Oliver Peake, 19, Harry Dixon, 20, and Campbell Kellaway, 23, who have great promise but may be a couple of years off being ready. There appears to be a curious lost generation, aged between 25 and 30, who has not quite broken into a great team but may now be called upon.
“Australia’s ageing bowlers remain remarkably robust, with Mitchell Starc especially deserving huge credit. Somehow, they keep going, but at some stage a changing of the guard will be required. As gloomy as many aspects of this Ashes tour have seemed, there is cause for optimism as England look ahead to 2027.”
In fairness to those already tipping England in 18 months’ time, winning an away Ashes series has proved incredibly difficult Australia, even with some fairly strong squads over the last two decades.
The last time Australia won a series in England was 2001. Since then, they’ve lost in 2005, 2009, 2013 and 2015. The last two series in the UK, which came in 2019 and 2023, have resulted in 2-2 draws, with Australia retaining the urn.
