Taking a closer statistical look at where the Ashes urn was lost for England

Australia wrapped up a 4-1 Ashes series win as England were outclassed in all three phases of the game.

Here, the Press Association takes a statistical look at where the urn was lost.

Batting

Jacob Bethell’s brilliant 154 in Sydney, his maiden first-class century, lifted him to the top of England’s batting averages at 51.25 despite making only 51 runs in his three previous innings.

He, Joe Root (44.44) and Harry Brook (39.78) were the only England batters to average over 30. Root made England’s other two centuries, his first in Australia, and there were only eight half-centuries to back them up – meaning England had only 11 individual scores over 50 in 10 innings, set against 14 ducks.

Ollie Pope was dropped from number three after 125 runs at 20.83 in six innings, while openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett averaged 27.30 and 20.20 respectively.

Australia also only had three batters average over 30, though Travis Head was at 62.90 with three centuries in his series-leading 629 runs and Steve Smith averaged 57.20. Alex Carey (46.14) completed the trio, while Beau Webster made 71 not out in his only innings to finish without an average.

Bowling

Speaking to the Press Association before the series, BBC Test Match Special statistician Andy Zaltzman tipped Josh Tongue for an “unexpectedly big impact” and also played down captain Ben Stokes’ previous indifferent bowling record Down Under.

Tongue was left out for the first two Tests but quickly made that look like an error with 18 wickets at 20.11 to top England’s bowling averages. Stokes was just behind at 25.13 for his 15 wickets and has 35 at 24.51 since the start of 2025, though he averaged only 18.40 with the bat in Australia, while Bryden Carse was England’s top wicket-taker with 22 at 30.32.

Jofra Archer lasted three Tests before injury ruled him out, taking nine wickets, Gus Atkinson took only six and Mark Wood and Matthew Potts played one wicketless Test apiece.

Shoaib Bashir, England’s first-choice spinner for much of the Stokes/Brendon McCullum era, was overlooked entirely while Will Jacks took six wickets at 53.67 and Jacob Bethell chipped in with one. Root surprisingly bowled only 12 wicketless overs in the series.

Remarkably four Australians averaged under 20, Mitchell Starc the standout performer with 31 wickets at 19.94 including two five-wicket hauls. Michael Neser had an almost identical average for his 15 wickets in three Tests while Pat Cummins and Jhye Richardson played one statistically impressive Test apiece.

Fielding

One of the costliest themes of the English struggle has been the mismatch in their catching compared to Australia’s.

Five missed catches in Australia’s first innings of the floodlit second Test in Brisbane stood out as the low point, with Alex Carey dropped on nought and 25 on his way to 63 as the drops directly cost England 105 of Australia’s 511 runs.

Travis Head punished a tough drop by Harry Brook by moving from 99 to 170 in Adelaide, where Usman Khawaja was put down on five before scoring 82.

Joe Root did survive a very difficult missed chance to Steve Smith on two when ending his wait for an Ashes century in the second Test but England have lagged well behind in the field throughout the series and two more difficult chances went begging as the fifth Test ended in familiar fashion.