How England lost the Ashes in five charts

England are once again left playing for pride and places in the last two Tests of an Ashes series down under.

Australia have an unassailable 3-0 lead following victory in Adelaide, with matches in Melbourne and Sydney to come.

Using data from analysts CricViz, here are five charts that help explain how England's latest torturous tour of Australia unravelled in just 11 days of cricket...

Despite question marks over Australia's top order leading into the series, they have significantly outperformed their England counterparts - the hosts' top-three batters scoring 666 runs at an average of 41.6 compared to 436 at 24.2 by the tourists.

Of course, this can mostly be attributed to Australia's masterstroke borne out of necessity when number five Travis Head was promoted to open in the second innings of the first Test in Perth because of Usman Khawaja's back spasms.

Head hit one of the all-time great Ashes centuries to win the match inside two days and justified his continued promotion to opener with a sublime 170 in Adelaide.

Jake Weatherald, who made his debut in Perth, made a vital 72 in Brisbane amid more meagre returns, while number three Marnus Labuschagne has hit two fifties.

Bouncing back from a pair in Perth, England opener Zak Crawley has scored 214 runs in the past two Tests.

But fellow opener Ben Duckett is having a dismal series - 97 runs at 16.16 - while frenetic number three Ollie Pope is not faring much better and could be dropped.

England have adopted an aggressive style with the bat since head coach Brendon McCullum took over in 2022 - yes, that word again, 'Bazball'.

Australia have actually scored at a higher run-rate than England so far - 4.34 v 3.78 - and played slightly more attacking shots - 34% compared to 31%.

Those stats can in part be put down to match situations - for example Australia needing only 65 in their second innings in Brisbane and therefore able to attack and reach their target in 10 overs.

The key difference between the sides has been how successful they have been on the attack - Australia's average of 46.9 when playing attacking shots is far better than England's 31.4.

England have shown more willingness to adapt since their second innings in Brisbane, but are struggling in defence too.

The tourists have lost 18 wickets while looking to defend across the series - equivalent to a dismissal every 37 defensive shots. Australia have lost seven such wickets - once in every 64 defensive shots.

England's hyped - and hyper-fast - pace attack shone in dismissing Australia for 132 in their first innings of the first Test in Perth, but have struggled to be as effective since.

In the first 30 overs of an innings with the new ball, Australia's pace bowlers have taken 32 wickets at an average of 22.8, compared to 23 at 32.2 by England.

England's declining threat with the new ball could be partly explained by their inability to find the correct length to bowl at on each surface since that first day in Perth.

Complaints from commentators and pundits that England have frequently bowled too short are backed up by comparing the sides' accuracy on hitting a good length - defined as 5-7m from the stumps.

Australia's bowlers have landed 30% of their deliveries in this zone throughout the series, with England doing so just 23% of the time, and have therefore put the tourists' batters under more sustained pressure.

Even before Marnus Labuschagne decided to have a one-man competition with himself for screamer of the series, Australia have been clearly superior in the field.

The hosts have taken 47 and dropped eight of 55 chances - a success rate of 85% compared to England's 77% (33 catches, 10 drops).

Half of England's dropped chances happened during a miserable day two of the second Test at the Gabba...

The Ashes: Australia v England

21 November 2025 - 7 January 2026

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