Australia retained the Ashes at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday afternoon after just 11 days of cricket where England were outplayed and overpowered. Smith batted brilliantly and explosively to move England to within 150 of the target set by Australia. One of the lessons of this match and this series is that a lot of England fans prefer to lose the old-fashioned way. There are stories of England players from Ashes tours long ago repairing there to pray for a successful outcome to a Test. The Barmy Army were full of noise despite another dreadful Ashes defeat on Sunday afternoonThe fans were still singing their hearts out, still getting behind their team, even in the wake of another crushing defeat.

Source: Daily Mail December 21, 2025 15:22 UTC