Australia continued their dominance in the Ashes with a 4–1 series win over England on 8 January. With their five-wicket win in the final Ashes 2025-26 Test, the Australia national cricket team consolidated their position in the ICC World Test Championship 2025-2027 points table.
After the fifth and final Test against England at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), Australia remained the number one team in the ICC World Test Championship 2025-2027 points table, strengthening their chances of a third title clash.
Australia vs England Final Ashes Test Highlights
Australia finished the Ashes 2025-26 on a high note with a five-wicket win in Sydney, completing the series 4-1 and giving veteran Usman Khawaja a fitting farewell to Test cricket.
Chasing a modest target of 160 runs, Cameron Green and Alex Carey kept their composure in the end and took the team to victory without any drama. Carey remained unbeaten on 16, while Green was out on 22, leading to celebrations at the SCG. For 39-year-old Khawaja, it was a fitting farewell, going off with a series win on home soil.
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Australia had already retained the Ashes by winning the first three Tests, while England managed to avoid a clean sweep by winning the fourth Test in Melbourne, but the hosts staged a comeback in the final match and effectively ended the home series.
Earlier on the fifth day, England started playing at 302 runs for 8 wickets with a lead of 119 runs. Their resistance could not last long, as they were bowled out for 342. Then, Australia began the chase with intent, scoring 10 runs in the very first over. Travis Head created the atmosphere by hitting two quick fours.
Head scored 29 runs while Jake Weatherald and Marnus Labuschagne contributed 34 and 37 runs respectively. Josh Tongue took three wickets in the final innings of the New Year Test. Australia was in a strong position from the beginning by scoring 567 runs in reply to England’s 384 runs in the first innings. In this match, Joe Root, Head, Steve Smith and Jacob Bethel scored centuries.
Updated ICC World Test Championship points table (WTC table) revealed after AUS vs ENG 5th Test
With this win, Australia not only retained the number one spot in the WTC 2025-27 points table but also increased their points and PCT points, far ahead of other top teams. Now, they have 84 points and 87.50 PCT points from 8 Tests in the current cycle, having lost only one match at the MCG.
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New Zealand are in second place, followed by defending champions South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. India are in a difficult position at the moment and are placed sixth with 52 points with four wins from nine matches.
England, on the other hand, slipped to seventh place with only 31.67 PCT points. They won only three Tests from their 10 games in the current WTC 2025-27 cycle.
Here is the updated ICC World Test Championship points table:
| Situation | Team | played | won | lost | Drag | dead | score | PCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 84 | 87.50 |
| 2 | new zealand | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 77.78 |
| 3 | South Africa | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 75.00 |
| 4 | Sri Lanka | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 66.67 |
| 5 | Pakistan | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 50.00 |
| 6 | India | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 52 | 48.15 |
| 7 | England | 10 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 38 | 31.67 |
| 8 | bangladesh | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 16.67 |
| 9 | west indies | 8 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4.17 |
