<p>Cricket’s greatest rivalry, <a href="https://www.sportsbet.com.au/huddle/punter-iq/guide/what-are-the-ashes">The Ashes</a>, is back!</p> <p>After the thrilling 2-2 draw in 2023, which saw Australia retain the little urn against England’s raging ‘Bazball’machine, the old enemy arrives back down under looking to create history.&nbsp;</p> <p>Not since 2011 has England won a Test match on Australian shores, but they arrive on their latest tour of Australia (Jonny Bairstow hasn’t been picked for this tour but is still walking out of his crease to get here)&nbsp; as best placed as they have been in a long time to win a series in enemy territory.&nbsp;</p> <p>Some might even call it a “moral victory” just turning up with a fit fast bowler at this stage.</p> <p>Australia has held the Ashes trophy since winning it back in 2017/18, but enters the series with several question marks over the makeup of its playing XI and overall squad selection, only adding even more anticipation to a matchup that needs no help in the hype department.</p> <p>Can the Poms create new history and notch the biggest feather in the cap of their Bazball era? Or will Australia’s ageing-but-proven core, who’ve been there, done that, and bought the commemorative stubby holder, have the last laugh and hold the trophy aloft yet again?</p> <p>For the most comprehensive preview, analysis, news, and betting tips, read Sportsbet’s full Ashes preview for 2025/26 below!</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>The Ashes 2025/26 Test Schedule:</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>- First Test: November 21st - 25th, Optus Stadium, Perth</p> <p>- Second Test: December 4th - 8th, The Gabba, Brisbane</p> <p>- Third Test: December 17th - 21st, Adelaide Oval, Adelaide</p> <p>- Fourth Test: December 26th - 30th, MCG, Melbourne</p> <p>- Fifth Test: January 4th - 8th, SCG, Sydney</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>The Ashes 2025/26 Squads:</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Australia Squad: </strong>Steve Smith (c),&nbsp; Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Jos Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>England Squad: </strong>Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoab Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue, Mark Wood&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Australia squad for First Test only*</p> <p><br /> &nbsp;</p> <h2>The Ashes 2025/26 Preview &amp; Betting Tips</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Series Result (H2H):</h3> <p>Before a ball has been sent down, this Ashes series looms as a survival-of-the-fittest contest.</p> <p>Australia will be without its regular captain and champion fast bowler, Pat Cummins,&nbsp; that much we knew. The surprise came over the weekend when the second of the “Big Three”, Josh Hazlewood, was ruled out of the First Test with a hamstring strain after initially being cleared.</p> <p>For the tourists, so much of their hopes rest on the fragile-but-ferocious duo of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, with the latter already having his first minor hiccup of the tour with a hamstring scare.</p> <p>The pair have played minimal cricket over the past 12 months — and even less together — but unleashing them in Australia has long been England’s plan. The question is: can they actually last a full series?</p> <p>The Perth Test is the most critical of the lot. The injuries and uncertainty surrounding Australia’s XI opens the door for England to finally secure their first Test win in Australia since January 2011.</p> <p>A first-up defeat for Australia wouldn’t be ideal, but it also wouldn’t be fatal. They showed only last summer that they can rally and win a big series from behind. If England were to leave Perth 1–0 down, however, it could be the start of another long, slow trudge across the country.</p> <p>If Australia wins in Perth, they’ll be well on their way to keeping the little urn in the trophy cabinet for another cycle. England, with their scoring power, should be good enough to win a Test, but if Australia stabilises and gets its cavalry back, home conditions should tip the scales their way.</p> <p><strong>Series betting tip:</strong> <a href="https://www.sportsbet.com.au/betting/cricket/the-ashes/the-ashes-2025-26-7540084">Australia 3 - England 1</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Most Runs - Australia:</h3> <p>Steve Smith loves it when the Ashes come around.&nbsp;</p> <p>12 of his 36 Test centuries have come against England. He simply loves batting against the Old Enemy.&nbsp;</p> <p>He didn’t raise his bat for three figures the last time England toured, and he only has one century from his past 10 Ashes Tests. This looms as potentially his last battle against the old foes in his storied career.&nbsp;</p> <p>We know his batting levels up when he is the captain, as seen already this year with two tons in Sr Lanka where he wore the captains blazer. Poised to lead for at least one, if not two or more Tests this summer, he does his best work from the top. Plus, we all know he will (and all of us, too) will want to leave one final scar on the English before he hangs it all up for good.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Betting tip:</strong> <a href="https://www.sportsbet.com.au/betting/cricket/the-ashes/top-australia-series-runscorer-9703636">Steve Smith</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Most Runs - England:</h3> <p>The last time Harry Brook played professional cricket in Australia, he could barely hit it off the square.</p> <p>Now he returns as one of the most dangerous batters in world cricket, with an away-Test record that would make some all-time greats jealous.</p> <p>Promoted to vice-captain, Brook’s power and cavalier style make him primed for a big series. We’re backing him to lead the way for the tourists.</p> <p><strong>Betting tip:</strong> <a href="https://www.sportsbet.com.au/betting/cricket/the-ashes/top-england-series-runscorer-9703574">Harry Brook</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Most Wickets - Australia:</h3> <p>With the fitness of the Aussie quicks looking shaky, it might be wishful thinking to pick one of them as the leading wicket-taker when heavy rotation seems inevitable.</p> <p>Instead, we may be forgetting Australia’s trump card — the biggest difference between the two bowling attacks — the greatest off-spinner ever to do it: Nathan Lyon.</p> <p>His battle with England’s Bazballers in 2023 was compelling but short-lived, cut down by a calf injury at Lord’s. At home, on tracks he knows intimately, he’ll win plenty of battles and pick up plenty of poles.</p> <p><strong>Betting tip:</strong> <a href="https://www.sportsbet.com.au/betting/cricket/the-ashes/top-australia-series-wicket-taker-9703741">Nathan Lyon&nbsp;</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Most Wickets - England:</h3> <p>With all the talk surrounding Archer and Wood as the men who England hope will blow the Aussies away, the role of the third seamer, and the guy who can be brought in to bowl a long and probing spell while the speed demons are wheeled out for shot and sharp bursts, becomes paramount to the Poms' plan.&nbsp;</p> <p>That man shapes to be Brydon Carse, who in just nine Tests has forged a reputation for digging in and delivering a good and tricky spell of bowling which, more often than not, finishes with the rewards of a wicket or two.</p> <p>He’ll be one of the iron men that England looks to use across all five Tests.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Betting tip:</strong> <a href="https://www.sportsbet.com.au/betting/cricket/the-ashes/top-england-series-wicket-taker-9703736">Brydon Carse&nbsp;</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Will Joe Root Make a Century?</h3> <p>We know that England’s batters are going to Bazball hard or go home. But the biggest question surrounds their batting lynchpin, Joe Root, and the lingering question: Will he finally break his century drought down under?</p> <p>He’s raised his bat for three figures 39 times in a career that has seen him jump to second on the list for Most Test Runs of All Time.&nbsp;</p> <p>Since giving up the captaincy in mid-2022, Root has peeled off 14 Test centuries and has been in the form of his life. With three tons already this year, and with his main tormenters, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, under injury clouds and their participation in the series looking limited, he won’t get a better chance to break his duck.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Betting tip:</strong> <a href="https://www.sportsbet.com.au/betting/cricket/the-ashes/the-ashes-series-player-centuries-9831872">Finally, yes, 1-2 centuries</a></p> <h3>&nbsp;</h3> <h3>Player of the Series:</h3> <p>Unlike a series in England, there is only one ‘Player of the Series’ award for a series in Australia, with the winner being bestowed the ‘Compton Miller Medal’.</p> <p>These awards have historically gone to batters, so we’re looking there. We might not have selected him for Most Runs, but it’s hard to ignore the form of Marnus Labuschagne and his lead into this series. We think he’ll spend plenty of time in the middle and come away with the gong in a defining series.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Betting tip:</strong> <a href="https://www.sportsbet.com.au/betting/cricket/the-ashes/top-series-runscorer-9735439">Marnus Labuschagne</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h2>The Ashes 2025/26 - Series Betting:</h2>