England won their first Test in Australia since January 2011 in the fourth match of the 2025/26 Ashes series, coming out on top in a chaotic game at the MCG.
After 20 wickets fell on day one of the match, with Australia beginning their second innings on Boxing Day evening, the Test match continued at breakneck speed on day two. Australia were bowled out for the second time before Tea, and England were set 175 runs to win. Having already lost the Ashes after going 3-0 down after three matches in the series, a win would avoid the possibility of a whitewash, and also break England's 15-year Test win drought in Australia.
Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett got the innings off to a characteristically quick start, scoring 51 for the first wicket in seven overs. After Duckett was bowled by Mitchell Starc, England sent Brydon Carse out at No.3, looking for a flurry of runs before having to send their established batters out on a minefield surface.
Carse only managed to score six runs before falling to Jhye Richardson, however, with Jacob Bethell walking out at No.4. Bethell put on 40 to take England to within 38 runs of the target before he was dismissed. Harry Brook came to the crease to see England over the line by four wickets.
WTC standings: Australia suffer first loss of 2025-27 cycle
Not only is the win England's first in Australia since their series-win in 2010/11, it's Australia's first loss of this World Test Championship title. The result has made little impact on the WTC standings, with Australia still out ahead in first and England still below India in seventh.
| Position | Team | Matches | Won | Lost | Drawn | No Result | Deducted | Points | PCT |
| 1 | Australia | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 72 | 85.71 |
| 2 | New Zealand | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 77.78 |
| 3 | South Africa | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 75.00 |
| 4 | Sri Lanka | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 66.67 |
| 5 | Pakistan | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 50.00 |
| 6 | India | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 48.15 |
| 7 | England | 9 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 38 | 35.18 |
| 8 | Bangladesh | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 16.67 |
| 9 | West Indies | 8 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 4.17 |
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