England’s 5468-day wait ends in just two days at the MCG

3– Bilateral series with more than one Test ending inside two days before the 2025-26 Ashes. Australia’s tour of England in 1888 had three such matches, while England’s tour of South Africa in 1888-89 and 1895-96 also had two Tests that ended in two days. The 1912 triangular tournament, hosted by England featuring Australia and South Africa, also had two two-day Test matches.

Only two of the 450 men’s Test matches in Australia before this Ashes had ended in two days – the Melbourne Test against West Indies in 1931 and the Brisbane Test against South Africa in 2022.

479– Balls Australia batted in the Melbourne Test – their fewest in a match since the Brisbane Test in the 1928 Ashes, when they were bundled out twice in 457 balls.

284- Runs scored by Australia in Melbourne, their second-lowest aggregate in a home Test since 1928, behind the 246 runs against South Africa in Hobart in 2016.

17- Tests Joe Root played in Australia without a victory until this MCG Test. Former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori now holds the record for the most Tests in Australia without a win – 12. Ben Stokes also went 12 Tests in Australia without victory until the win in Melbourne.

46- Travis Head’s score in the second innings in Melbourne was the highest individual score of the Test, making it only the fifth men’s Test in Australia with no batter scoring a fifty. Overall, it is the 17th such Test in men’s cricket.

1981- The last time a team won an Ashes Test without any of their batters scoring a fifty, England at Edgbaston. The Melbourne Test was the first that England won without an individual fifty since the Lord’s Test against West Indies in 2000.

0- Overs bowled by spinners in Melbourne – the first such Test in Australia. The previous fewest balls bowled by spinners in a Test in Australia was 12 – in the 1984 WACA Test against West Indies. Nathan Lyon and Joe Root collectively bowled 18 balls in the Perth Test earlier this series, which is the third fewest.

39.02- Bowling strike rate in the five Tests played in Australia in 2025. It is the lowest strike rate for any host nation in a year with five or more Tests. The previous best was 43.8 in five Tests in South Africa in 2019.

Across their 11 Tests in 2025, Australia’s bowlers had a strike rate of 36.7, the second best for a team in a year (minimum of five Tests) behind England’s 32.7 in six Tests in 1896.

5571– Balls in the 2025-26 Ashes so far – the third fewest across the first four matches of a Test series. The first four matches of the 1902 Ashes had only 4675 balls, while the 1985-86 Wisden Trophy had only 5513 balls bowled in the first four games. (ESPNcricinfo)