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Don Bradman was the focus of the initial serious read I recall going through as a child. To a primary school student, the injustice of an English captain ordering his teammates to target a brilliant Australian was unfathomable. And so, similar to countless others, I came to hate England.

Anticipation for the Ashes? It goes without saying. The sport's schedule makes this a rare treat to watch two of the world’s best teams test and taunt and tease each other over what we hope will be 25 days of intense competition with the red Kookaburra.

As Ian Botham reminded us last week at the announcement of the ticket draw for the 150th anniversary Test, the Ashes has a special charm. “Historically, everyone in the cricketing world tunes into the Ashes,” he remarked. “It’s the tradition, the rivalry, you know that’s it all flat out.”

Across the UK, those two recent drawn series – marked by Smith's prolific scoring and Stokes' heroic innings in 2019, and the Lord’s Long Room disgrace of 2023 – have lived up to the hype of what an Ashes battle should be. However, they have not had the same cultural impact on the Australian shores when half of Australia nods off before the end of the lunch interval.

On Australian soil, the Ashes has been less flat out than just flat for more than a decade. Australians expect their team to win and win handily, as it has been since the nineties. Boland's stunning figures at the MCG wasn’t born from a fierce duel, it was English tragicomedy confirming a worldview. A genuine contest should not be so one-sided.

The Sport's Commentators Must Now Lean In at the Ashes’ Waning Embers and Fan the Flames

The English team were greeted upon arrival by a predictable front page in the local tabloid, “Bazball”, supported by a description of the highly regarded Ben Stokes as “arrogant”. The publication then had a dig at “Average Joe” Root, aka “Flop Root in Australia”. This sufficed to elicit a predictable Fleet Street reaction, enabling the press to extract every last drop in the lead-up before the first ball is bowled.

On the other hand, the previous Border-Gavaskar Trophy between the Aussies and India sparked something on its own. The spiritual peak was that MCG experience, a memory that will linger forever. The numbers, too, impressed. Over 800,000 were present across the series, the fourth most for any series in Australia and the highest for any non-Ashes matchup. Viewers were captivated, not unlike the ratings surge for India’s tour of England this year, and multiple periods averaged more than 2m television viewers.

Lately, the touching send-offs of two Indian legends at the Sydney Cricket Ground made ODI matches actually mean something. Contrast the headline following the last time England came here for a limited-overs series: “Smallest attendance for an ODI match sparks concerns for future of 50-over format”.

India’s Rising Influence

Even though rain ruined the T20 series with India, the action that occurred suggests Australia are lagging behind the T20 international standards. In women’s cricket, at the global tournament last month, the host nation knocked off the defending champions. The multi-format series starting in Sydney is shaping up as a de facto world championship.

One might to dismiss the colorful fan groups that gather at India’s matches – and not just Tests – as a mere result of the vast diaspora of the planet's largest country. However, to financial analysts and broadcast bosses, they are an elixir.

India now means more to Australia than its historical roots, given the nations have in common an ocean, shared colonial history, and increasingly their peoples. India will likely overtake the UK, according to ABS migration data, as the origin of the biggest contingent of foreign-born Australian residents as soon. The failing Aukus relationship is prompting a recalibration of security priorities respecting the growing influence of Asian powers, a shift that long ago happened in the cricketing world.

The former Australian skipper, who also led the Indian team, noted last week that England was “our biggest traditional rival”, but added “to be fair, if not for India, the sport would suffer”.

The Final Challenge

Before Australia claimed the trophy last summer, India had held it for a decade. On the subcontinent, Australia haven't triumphed in more than 20 years. Even if the hosts win back the urn comfortably this summer, losing the five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India in the coming years would make this period incomplete.

The long-awaited win on the Indian soil remains the final proving ground for today's players, and a blip against England this summer – attributed to unfortunate bowler injury, just like past incidents – would only add to the narrative.

The tourists have not secured a victory in Australia for almost 15 years, and as rich as the lore may be, it won't support a one-sided contest indefinitely. Therefore, with a gaudy, engrossing India having recently departed, Ben Stokes’s players have a lot at stake. Win the series and stay relevant. Or surrender the trophy and with it an irreplaceable asset: the claim to being the top opponent. We beg the English, raise your game.