England are about to embark on another attempt to wrestle the Ashes back on Australia's home soil. Ahead of the series, our writers selected their ultimate England Ashes XI in Australia since the end of World War II.
England have won only five Ashes series in Australia since the end of the second World War 80 years ago. As it stands, Ben Stokes's squad will attempt to break a 14-year run without a Test win Down Under when they begin the next series later this week. Despite the persistent heartbreak, there have been just enough moments of light to select an ultimate England XI from the 20 series which have taken place in Australia since 1945.
Len Hutton
24 matches, 1,955 runs at 50.12, 3 hundreds, HS: 156*
Len Hutton played in the 1938 Ashes series in Australia before the outbreak of World War II. However, his performances from the four postwar series he played are more than enough for him to lock out one of the opener spots in this XI, despite suffering a serious injury to his arm in between. After two personally successful but ultimately losing tours of Australia in 1946/47 and 1950/51, Hutton captained England to their first Ashes win for 19 years in 54/55. Despite his own returns in that series falling short of what he achieved in the previous two, his 80 in Adelaide was a crucial point in the series, and his tactical masterstrokes were even more significant. He remains one of only two England captains to win consecutive series' against Australia.
Alastair Cook
20 matches, 1,664 runs at 49.39, 5 hundreds, HS: 244*
Alastair Cook's masterful series in 2010/11 is enough to lock out the second opener spot amid some serious competition. Among those he edges out are Michael Vaughan and Chris Broad, both of whom played a series each in Australia and returned three centuries. However, Cook's 2010/11 series transcends them both. He scored 766 runs as England won the urn on Australian soil for the first time in 24 years – no one has scored more runs in a single five Test match Ashes series in Australia since WWII. He also scored a century at the WACA during England's 2006/07 nightmare, and a double at the MCG on a flat deck in 2017. The loss he captained in 2013/14 stands against him, but his weight of runs is enough to counter it out.
John Edrich
15 matches, 1,283 runs at 55.78, 4 hundreds, HS:130
After two tours of Australia in 1965/66 and 1970/71, John Edrich had never been part of a losing Ashes campaign Down Under. England drew the first of those series, with Edrich a central figure with centuries in Melbourne and Sydney, before their victorious return four years later. Edrich scored 687 runs at an average of 72.00 in 1970/71 and batted for more than 33 hours combined across the seven Test series. His steadfastness at the top of the order meant England were able to bat out four draws on that tour, and he scored two hundreds on that tour.
Ken Barrington
10 matches, 1,046 runs at 69.73, 4 hundreds, HS: 132*
Ken Barrington was never part of a successful England Ashes tour to Australia but his volume of runs amid one of England's most difficult stints in the 20th century win him a place at No.4. He was the leading run-scorer of the 1962/63 series, scoring over 100 runs more than the next best, and was England's leading run-scorer in the following series in 1965/66. His place comes at the expense of Kevin Pietersen, who has a claim through his against-the-grain runs in 2006 and for his double at Adelaide in 2010. However, his 2013 series means that he doesn't stack up to Barrington for weight of runs.
David Gower
21 matches, 1,672 runs at 46.44, 5 hundreds, HS: 136
David Gower's first Ashes tour of Australia was England's victorious 1978/79 series, in which he made his first overseas Test century at the WACA aged just 21. He returned in 1982 and was England's leading run-scorer amid a weakened touring party missing those banned for participating in the rebel tour of South Africa. Gower is one of few who was part of two successful England tours of Australia, and scored 404 runs in the 1986/87 series, and when he returned for the final time four years later, he continued his record of scoring a century in every Ashes series he played in Australia – as well as his more controversial incidents on that tour.
Ian Botham
15 matches, 750 runs at 28.84, 1 hundred, HS: 138
50 wickets at 31.84, 1 five-for, BBI: 5-41
Despite lacking a standout series, Botham's individual moments of brilliance in Australia shine through. There was the Brisbane innings in 1986 where, among a team who had just been labelled "they can't bat, they can't bowl, and they can't field", Botham came out and smoked a century in England's first innings. The five-for he took at Melbourne in 1986 one one-half of a double-act with Gladstone Small which bowled Australia out for 141 on day one, and all-but secured England a second and decisive win in that series.
Alan Knott
12 matches, 586 runs at 34.47, 1 hundred, HS: 106*
47 dismissals, 43 catches, 4 stumpings
An undersung hero of England's Ashes wins of the 70s, according to captain of the 70/71 series Ray Illingworth "it was simply not possible to keep wicket better than he did on that tour". He took 43 catches behind the stumps across two tours of Australia, and no England keeper has more dismissals in an Ashes series than he made in 70/71. Aside from behind the stumps, Knott also made important contributions with the bat. Only Tony Greig made more runs for England during the bruising 1974/75 series, which included his only Test hundred in Australia.
Ray Illingworth
8 matches, 11 wickets at 43.63, BBI: 3-39
390 runs at 32.50, HS: 53
Ray Illingworth captained England's victory in 1970/71, masterminding one of England's fastest attacks on Australian soil. He also led England through an ill-tempered tour, which was marked by hostility between England and the Australian crowds, as well as disagreements with umpires. While his numbers fall short of others, Illingworth made a series of resolute stands down the order in 70/71, and was miserly with the ball, conceded less than two runs an over during that series.
John Snow
6 matches, 31 wickets at 22.83, 2 five-fors, BBI: 7-40
John Snow's record of 31 wickets in the 1970/71 series still stands as the most taken by an England bowler in an Ashes series in Australia since the second World War. One of England's most terrifying speedsters ever, he hit Terry Jenner in the face during the second Sydney Test of that series, and after he was warned for intimidatory bowling, the crowd started throwing beer cans onto the field. There had already been an incident in the first Sydney Test, where Snow had hit Graham McKenzie in the face with a bumper.
Frank Tyson
7 matches, 31 wickets at 25.03, 2 five-fors, BBI: 7-27
Frank Tyson's 28 wickets in the 1954/55 series were key to England's retention of the Ashes, having been drafted in as a replacement for Fred Trueman. After he adopted a shorter run up for the second Test, Tyson took 4-45 in the first innings and 6-85 in the second, bowling short and fast in the pre-helmet era, and giving England a 38-run win. In the third Test, Australia needed 240 to win on the final day with eight wickets in hand before Tyson unleashes, and took 6-16 in 6.3 overs as Australia were bowled out for 111. He returned to Australia for the 58/59 series, but injury meant he only played the fourth and fifth Tests, on slower pitches to the ones on the previous tour.
Darren Gough
8 matches, 41 wickets at 27.12, 2 five-fors, BBI: 6-49
England's standout bowler in Australia in the bad days of the 90s and early 2000s, Darren Gough rounds out the XI. He put on a one-man show in 1994/95, taking 20 wickets at 21.25 – six more than any other England bowler in that series – including a six-for at Sydney which won him Player of the Match. The final two Tests of the 1998/99 series elevated him above the rest. Gough took two wickets in three balls to give England a 12-run win – his only Test win in Australia – and the fifth Test in Sydney saw him take the first Ashes hat-trick by an England player in almost a century.
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