Ashes analysis: The numbers behind England’s struggles in Australia

England’s miserable record in Australia since the famous 2010-11 series victory is well-documented but what are some of the underlying issues encountered by the tourists?

Here are a selection of key stats across the past three series that demonstrate the challenge facing Ben Stokes’ side.

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0 – Number of England victories since 2011

We’re starting with the obvious stat that all England fans will be fed up with by now, but the tourists have gone 15 Tests without tasting success Down Under and have only managed to register two morale-boosting draws in that period (MCG in 2017 and SCG in 2022).

3 – England have found themselves 3-0 down after three Tests and the series over in each of the past three tours

Ben Stokes’ men simply cannot afford another slow start, as Australian momentum has proved seemingly impossible to overturn in their home conditions.

35.68 – Joe Root’s Test average in Australia

A narrative that will continue to dominate the headlines this coming series, unless Joe Root – who has nine scores above 50 – can finally reach that elusive Test century in Australia.

Whilst a ton is neither Root’s primary focus nor even necessary to cement his legacy, it is evident that England’s leading run-scorer has found Australian conditions his biggest challenge, given his next lowest average is 45.42 in India (24.50 average in just two Tests in Bangladesh excluded).

48% – England all out for under 200

Batting as a group has been difficult, with England being dismissed for under 200 on 14 occasions in 29 innings – four times in which it happened twice in the same Test.

They have only passed 300 six times, including back-to-back first innings totals of 400+ in 2017-18, but failed to do so across the entirety of the 2021-22 tour.

8 – Number of times England have trailed by more than 150 runs after the first innings

It is fair to say that whether England have batted or bowled first, they have nearly always been playing catch-up at the halfway stage and predominantly from a position of improbable return.

Only twice have England recorded a first-innings lead which were both at the MCG Boxing Day Test in 2013 and 2017.

120 – Closest margin of victory by runs

It is therefore unsurprising that Tests in Australia have been nowhere near as dramatic as those witnessed in England over recent times, with the 120-run defeat in the 2017-18 second Test at Adelaide statistically the closest the tourists have got to a run chase with fleeting moments of hope, needing 185 runs and seven wickets in hand, before they were rapidly extinguished.

17 – Number of times England have lost six or more wickets for less than 100 runs

‘Tis the season for a batting collapse if you’re England in Australia, with people in the UK often waking up to the news that the wheels have come off another batting innings in dramatic fashion.

This was arguably a kind way of portraying it, with many smaller-scale collapses painting a much worse picture, but from losing six wickets for nine runs in Brisbane 2013 to losing all 10 wickets in the space of 56 runs in Hobart 2022 and everything in between, it has largely been a car crash.

68 – England skittled at The G

England’s capitulation at Melbourne in 2021 was their lowest total in Australia since 1904, with debutant Scott Boland needing just 19 deliveries to take a five-wicket haul on his way to remarkable figures of 6-7.

21.59 – Average stand by England openers

Losing early wickets has been a particular issue for England, with just four half-century partnerships, highlighted by Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed’s nightmare tour in 2021-22, by contrast to Australia’s much more solid average of 40.35.

In 15 out of 29 innings, England have lost at least one of their openers with the score in single figures, and the average fall of the first wicket is 7.3 overs, which lays down the challenge to Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett, who as a pair average a healthy 46.47 in 55 innings.

1 – Number of English batters to average over 30 during the 2013-14 and 2021-22 series (minimum three matches)

Ben Stokes, in his debut Test series, led the way with an average of 34.87 in 2013-14, whilst Joe Root’s three half-centuries in 2021-22 saw him score at 32.20.

By comparison, Australia had six do so in each of those two series, the majority of which were above the 40 mark.

5 – Centuries scored by an England player

Three of which came in the space of two Tests in 2017 – Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow in Perth and Alastair Cook in Melbourne – with Ben Stokes and Bairstow also notching the only hundreds for England in 2013-14 and 2021-22 respectively.

That overall tally is matched by Steve Smith alone, with Australia notching 24 individual centuries in total.

9 – Century partnerships by an England pair

Following on that similar pattern, England have struggled to occupy the crease for significant periods of time, with their number of century partnerships significantly lower than the 23 posted by Australia – most notably Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh, who added 301 for the fifth wicket at Perth in 2017.

662 – Australia’s highest home Ashes total

That partnership at the WACA Ground between Smith and Marsh helped the hosts rack up 662-9d, which was their largest score in the Ashes at an Australian ground – they made their third highest score in the fifth Test at Sydney later that series (649-7d).

2 – Ball of the century contenders

Now, there is not much England could really do about this, but it just about sums up their time with the bat that Australia conjured up two moments of magic in consecutive series.

Ryan Harris’ first-ball peach to Alastair Cook in the second innings of the 2013-14 third Test at Perth may not be anywhere near as dramatic as Mitchell Starc to Rory Burns eight years later, but it will be remembered for its unplayable nature as it swung into Cook, before late movement away saw it clip the bail on the top of off stump.

Back at the WACA Ground the following series, Starc removed James Vince with a delivery around the wicket, which rightly left the English batter bamboozled as it hit a crack and deviated from going down leg to crashing into off-stump at 90mph.

13.71 – Difference in bowling averages between Australia and England’s three most profitable seamers

The Australian seam attack have dominated the English batters, with an overall average of 20.49 across the past three series Down Under, from Mitchell Johnson’s remarkable 37 wickets at 13.97 to Scott Boland’s three-match burst at 9.55.

By contrast, England’s frontline seamers have averaged significantly higher at 34.20, a similar figure to James Anderson and Stuart Broad’s overall mixed record in Australia, which was a major disparity to their average in home Ashes series, whereas the Australia big guns were able to replicate their performances much more closely.

Anderson’s strike rate of 79.50 over the past three series was notably his worst than in any other country, which may have played a role in England opting for an express pace strategy this time around. 

35 – Number of wickets taken by English spinners

England have struggled to replace Graeme Swann after his mid-series retirement in 2013-14, with the spinners used since not being able to make much of an impact at a combined average of 73.80.

Whereas in Nathan Lyon, Australia have been able to call upon a world-class operator who has claimed 56 wickets over the past three home Ashes series at an impressive average of 27.40.

14 – Players who played their last Test for England Down Under

Now this is not necessarily a surprising revelation, given turnover is natural after a major series as some players ponder the end of their international careers, but performances in an Ashes series, both as a team and individually, can often influence future decisions.

Kevin Pietersen was the standout name axed in an exodus of experienced members from the 2013-14 squad as England went about a rebuild.

Scott Borthwick (2013-14), Mason Crane and Tom Curran (both 2017-18) did not feature in the Test setup since making their debuts in the Ashes, whilst Rory Burns, Joe Buttler and Haseeb Hameed all played what remains their last Test appearances in the 2021-22 series.

READ MORE: Ashes flashbacks: Recapping rare moments of English positivity during Down Under drought