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Don Bradman was the subject of the first adult book I remember going through as a youngster. In the mind of a primary school student, the injustice of an English captain ordering his countrymen to target a brilliant Australian was hard to grasp. And so, like many, I developed a dislike for England.

Anticipation for the Ashes? That's a given. Cricket’s calendar makes this a rare treat to observe two of the world’s best teams test and taunt and tease each other over what we anticipate will be five Tests of interrogation with the red Kookaburra.

As Ian Botham reminded us last week at the announcement of the ballot for the historic 2027 match, the Ashes has a special charm. “Historically, everyone in the cricketing world watches the Ashes,” he said. “It’s the tradition, the rivalry, you know that’s it all flat out.”

In England, those two tightly fought contests – featuring Steve Smith’s mountain of runs and Stokes' heroic innings in 2019, and the Lord’s Long Room disgrace of 2023 – have met the expectations of what an Ashes contest should be. However, they have not had the equivalent resonance on the Australian shores when many locals falls asleep before the end of the lunch interval.

On Australian soil, the Ashes has been more subdued than just uneventful for over ten years. Australians expect their team to win and win handily, as it has been since the 1990s. Scott Boland’s 6-7 at the MCG wasn’t wrought in a furnace of competition, it was a comical English collapse confirming a worldview. A true rivalry should not be so one-sided.

Cricket’s Town Criers Must Now Lean In at the Fading Glow and Whistle Oxygen

The English team were met in Perth by a predictable front page in the local tabloid, “Bazball”, supported by a portrayal of the highly regarded Ben Stokes as “cocky”. The paper then had a dig at “Mediocre” Root, also known as “Dud Root Down Under”. It was enough to elicit a predictable Fleet Street reaction, enabling the media to squeeze what juice is left in the days before the first ball is bowled.

In contrast, last year’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy between Australia and India ignited excitement on its own. The spiritual peak was the Melbourne match, a moment that will linger forever. The metrics, too, overwhelmed. Over 800,000 were present across the series, the fourth highest for any contest in Australia and the highest for any non-Ashes matchup. Audiences were entranced, not unlike the TV bump for India’s tour of England this year, and eight sessions drew more than two million TV fans.

In recent weeks, the emotional if unofficial farewells of two Indian legends at the SCG made one-day cricket truly significant. Contrast the headline following the previous occasion England came here for a white ball tour: “Record-low MCG crowd for an ODI match raises fears for future of 50-over format”.

The Growing Clout of Indian Cricket

Even though bad weather disrupted the T20 series with India, what play we saw suggests Australia are some way off the T20 international standards. In women’s cricket, at the global tournament last month, the home side knocked off the defending champions. The all-format contest starting in Sydney is shaping up as a de facto world championship.

One might to overlook the adoring blue, orange and green crowds that gather at India’s matches – and not just Tests – as a simple reflection of the vast diaspora of the world’s most populous nation. But, to financial analysts and television executives, they are an elixir.

India now means more to Australia than its historical roots, given the countries share an sea, shared colonial history, and increasingly their peoples. India is set to surpass the UK, per official statistics, as the source of the largest group of foreign-born Australian residents as soon. The failing Aukus relationship is prompting a realignment of security priorities acknowledging the growing influence of Asian powers, a change that occurred years back in the sport of cricket.

Greg Chappell, who also led the Indian team, said last week that England was “the classic foe”, but added “honestly, if not for India, the sport would suffer”.

The Ultimate Test

Until Australia claimed the trophy last summer, India had held it for a decade. On the subcontinent, Australia haven't triumphed in more than 20 years. Even if the home side reclaim the Ashes comfortably this summer, failing to secure the five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India in the coming years would leave the Cummins era incomplete.

That elusive victory on the subcontinent remains the final proving ground for this generation, and a blip against England this summer – attributed to unfortunate bowler injury, similar to past incidents – would only fuel the story.

The tourists have not secured a victory in Australia for nearly fifteen years, and despite the history, it cannot sustain a one-sided contest forever. So, with a gaudy, engrossing India having recently departed, the English squad have a lot at stake. Win the series and remain significant. Or lose the urn and with it an irreplaceable asset: the claim to Australia’s greatest rivalry. We beg the English, just be good.