The upcoming 2025/26 Ashes series in Australia has all the energy you could hope for, but amid the familiar buzz, there is a sense that we stand at the end of an era. As the cricket world turns its attention to Perth and its spectacular Optus Stadium, the first Test venue of the series, a darker story is emerging beyond the final destination of the vase: this winter could be the last time we see some of the defining figures of modern Test cricket battling it out for the game’s oldest prize.
England stumbles and falls downThe ghost of 2011 is haunting them, 15 years without a single Test match win on enemy soil. For a generation, English fans have had to watch highlights on YouTube of players like Kevin Pietersen, Alastair Cook and Graham Swann in that 3-1 win all those years ago. Since then, his team has lost 13 out of 15 Tests, while the other two were rain-affected draws.
Heading into the series, punters feel it is very wide open. Outlets like popular crypto betting sites thunderpick The tourists are currently made 2/1 underdogs, with the hosts priced at 8/11 favourites. If both teams are to emerge with the urn and prove Thunderpick right (or wrong!), they will need their legends on song, but which one of them can join the acclaimed series one last time? let’s take a look.
Usman Khawaja
Usman Khawaja has already written his script. The 38-year-old has publicly confirmed that the upcoming Ashes series will close the book on his remarkable two-act career.
In his early tenure with the Baggy Greens, Australia’s first Muslim player was thought of as a perennial underachiever – an undeniable talent, but in danger of falling into disappointing form. However, during the last three years, his new maturity has made him one of the key Australian weapons at the top of the order.
Since the 2022 recall, Khawaja has averaged over 50, providing steel and calm when Australia needed it most. The numbers shine, but they don’t paint the whole picture. Khawaja topped the run charts in the most recent Ashes series in enemy territory in 2023, proving to doubters once and for all that he does not need friendly Australian pitches to pile up runs. He’ll be aiming for one last hurray, and while he’s the only one to confirm his retirement, he may not be backing down on his own.
steve smith
Even at the age of 36, Steve Smith remains a run-scoring machine. Shimmering, swaying, then bursting into strokes that redefine technique, the Sydney native is the kind of mystery that comes along once in a generation. His numbers are staggering: more than 9,500 Test runs, an Ashes average north of 60, and a 774-run demolition of England in 2019 that will long outlive a cricketer’s short career.
Yet, even the great have to contend with the slow pace of Father Time. Smith has retired from ODIs, doubling his quest for Ashes immortality and, if his own signals are to be believed, has an outside chance of making it to England in 2027. Still, there is a sense of weakness – poor form recently, musical chairs up and down the batting order, and an increasing burden of leadership. Shouldn’t Pat Cummins be patted on the back?,
There’s drama: Will we see another grueling race, or see Smith headed for a poignant exit? The outlets indicate that Australia’s balance may depend on his runs as well as his mood. The results in 2025/26, fair or impartial, could define the final chapter of the legend.
Joe Root
If ever any player deserves a change in his story, it is Joe Root. Already England’s record Test run-scorer – he overtook Sir Alastair Cook last year – Root’s relationship with the Ashes is bittersweet. His numbers are outstanding: over 12,000 runs, forming the foundation of England’s batting for a decade. Yet in Australia, the numbers reveal a ghost he never managed to exorcise: 892 runs on Australian soil, not one of them converted into a century. His average down under, 35.68, is useful but a step away from his career high of 51.29.
This is his fourth tour to Australia, but for once, he travels without the shackles of captaincy, able to channel the tremendous optimism of baseball from his bat. Pundits, former players and fans alike point to Root – if England are to achieve the impossible, it is he, not the brash newcomer or vice-captain du jour, who must find both form and luck.
The critics have sharpened their knives: another unproductive tour and whispers about Virat Kohli growing silent as his career ends. Still, if Root produces a match-defining innings – if he finally finds fame – this series will be his monument, and those same critics will sing praises of his name far beyond Sydney or Melbourne.
nathan lyon
Will spin be considered later in Australia, no one told nathan lyonAt the age of 38, with 562 wickets, already the second highest wicket-taker as an off-spinner behind Muttiah Muralitharan’s 800 wickets, Lyon is that rare creature – a finger spinner who flourished in a fast bowler’s paradise, After being dismissed as an oddity early in his career, the veteran has long enjoyed cult-hero status, He is now the constant that weather-beatens Australia, who keeps coming, keeps asking the same questions – flight, fall, bounce – until the batsmen collapse,
His Ashes numbers form a sub-plot in themselves: 84 wickets at 30.77, and in 2023, he became folklore – walking out with a torn calf, refusing to surrender, taking wickets and running between the wickets when common sense and pain begged him to stop. With Cummins’s fitness uncertain, Lyon could be even more important this time around, with his partnership with the fast bowlers vital to Australia’s strategy.
So—the last home Ashes? Lyon is not saying. He has hinted that the 2027 Ashes in England could be a target, but as the time draws closer, it looks like he has yet to rewrite history. Every ball this summer is a fresh take on arguably the greatest Australian off-spin epic of all time.
