Over the past decade, Australia has cemented its status as a cricketing powerhouse, dominating the Ashes series in both men’s and women’s formats. For the Baggy Greens, they romped to glory in last year’s ODI Cricket World Cup, stunning hosts India to claim the crown. While the women have scooped up last seven major competitions both in ODI’s and T20I format.
Next winter, the Ashes series will be played in Australia during their summer (which is England’s winter). The latest cricket lines make the Aussie men a huge -165 betting favorite, with their female counterparts priced similarly. But how have the Aussies become so dominant in recent times? And how long can their dominance go on?
The Women’s Team: A Legacy of Supremacy
The Australian women’s team has long been the dominant force in the female form of the game. They have won 13 of the 20 major tournaments since women started playing the game back in 1973, and their dominance shows no sign of slowing down. However, for the decade following 2005, they found themselves as definitive second favourites behind England.
The England women’s team won the Ashes in 2005, just as their male counterparts did. After that, they were successful in retaining the trophy on Australian soil for the first time since 1935. England went on to successfully win three of the next four Ashes Series. The exit from the Super Sixes stage of the 2009 World Cup was perhaps the lowest point in England women’s cricketing history.
From 2015 onwards, however, the Aussies have firmly put themselves back in the driving seat. They regained the urn with a resounding victory on English soil. The Aussies managed to retain the urn with a draw at home, before winning back-to-back series in 2019 and 2022. Another draw last summer meant that the Aussies will head into next year’s Ashes on home soil on the back of ten solid years with the urn in their possession.
Key to their success has been the formidable performances of players like Ellyse Perry and Meg Lanning. The former has blistering all-round capabilities and has been instrumental in both the batting and bowling departments. Her ability to deliver under pressure has often been the difference in crucial matches such as her spell-binding 99 in last summer’s one-off test match.
The multi-format series, which includes Tests, ODIs, and T20s, has highlighted Australia’s versatility. In the 2015 series, crucial performances from players like the aforementioned Perry and Alyssa Healy helped secure a commanding victory. Subsequent series have seen similar dominance, with the 2019 series being particularly notable for Australia’s comprehensive victories, especially in the limited-overs games.
The Men’s Team: A Resilient Force
The Baggy Greens, too, had to endure a difficult 2005 as they lost the Ashes for the first time in almost two decades. The cricketing action during that 2-1 victory for the hosts that summer is regarded as some of the greatest of all time, and the exploits of Andrew Flintoff, Kevin Pietersen, and the late great Shane Warne are still replayed on highlight reels to this day. The decade that followed saw the urn swing back and forth, with England famously winning on Australian soil in 2011 for the first time since 1987.
But that was the beginning of the end of English dominance. English stars such as Graham Swann and Jonathon Trott began to age while the Aussies ushered in new stars such as Steve Smith and David Warner. The development of the Australian pace attack was also crucial, and the emergence of Patrick Cummins and Mitchell Starc made it clear that a changing of the guard was in the offing.
The Aussies secured a thumping 4-0 victory in the 2017/18 Ashes, and that was the true start of a renaissance in Australian cricket. They managed to retain the urn with a 2-2 series draw 18 months later before another 4-0 drubbing on home turf asserted the dominance of Steve Smith and Co. They would once again retain the urn with a series draw last summer, squandering a 2-0 series lead in the process. While they were happy to cling on to the urn, a first-series victory in the backyard of their greatest rival has remained elusive for 23 years.
In just over a year, the two teams will face each other once again. England is already building toward the future while for Australia, its latest golden generation is probably coming to the end of its lifespan. Australia will be aiming to cling on to the ashes for one more series before embarking upon a rebuild of its own.
