Stats: England end drought Down Under in the fourth-shortest Ashes Test

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@B1$ - England went without a win in 18 straight Tests in Australia post their 2010/11 series-clinching win @L0$. They lost 16 and drew two thereafter, before completing a four-wicket win in Melbourne on Saturday. That's the joint-longest winless streak for any team in Australia.

@B2$This was the first ever Test in Australia not to have a single ball of spin bowled. It was the third such Test in the 21st century, the last two featuring India and South Africa - in Johannesburg in 2018 and in Cape Town in 2024 respectively (excluding the rain-affected Test between England and West Indies at North Sound in 2009, which was called off after just 1.4 overs).

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This was the first Test win for Joe Root in 18 Tests in Australia, and the first for Ben Stokes in 13 games.

@B4$ - This was just the third defeat in 15 Boxing Day Tests for Australia since 2011, the previous two coming against India in 2018 and 2020 respectively. They won 10 of the other 12, while two ended in draws.

@B5$ - The number of Ashes Tests that have ended within two days till date, the Melbourne Test being the second such game in the ongoing series, after the opener in Perth.

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Only two of the 450 Tests played in Australia before the start of the ongoing Ashes had ended within two days: between the hosts and the West Indies in Melbourne in 1931 and the one featuring South Africa at the Gabba in 2022. We have had as many in the series so far.

Lord's, 1888

The Oval, 1888

Manchester, 1888

The Oval, 1890

Nottingham, 1921 (excluding rest day)

Perth, 2025

Melbourne, 2025

@B7$ balls in the Test made it the fourth-shortest completed Ashes game ever on that front, and the second-shortest since the start of the 20th century.

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@B9$ - This was the seventh Ashes Test in which the fourth innings score was the highest, and of those, this was the third that culminated in a successful run-chase after the famous finish at Headingley in 2019 and in Perth in the ongoing series opener. The other four matches were @L1$ @L2$ @L3$ and @L4$

It was the third such Test in Australia - wherein a team recorded the highest score in the fourth innings to win the Test - after South Africa's@L5$ at the WACA, Perth in 2008 (the second-highest in the format) and the one at Optus last month.

@B10$ runs totalled in the game is the third-highest ever in a Test match sans an individual 50-plus score. Travis Head (46) top-scored across the four team innings in the game.

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@B12$ - England's run-rate in the fourth innings was the second-highest for a successful 150-plus run-chase in the Ashes, only behind 7.23 for Australia in Perth last month (which is also the overall record in Tests). It was the highest run-rate for any visiting team in a 150-plus chase in Australia, bettering 3.9 by the West Indies in Adelaide in 1972 (target: 236).

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@B14$ - Australia's 284 (152 & 132) was their third-lowest Test match-aggregate in the 21st century, after 246 against South Africa in Hobart in 2016 and 268 against India in 2023. It also happened to be their lowest match aggregate in an Ashes Test post World War II, only higher than 282 and 283 at Headingley in 1972 and 1956 respectively.

Their 132 in the second dig was the joint-second lowest all-out innings total for them in an home Ashes Test since 2000, alongside as many in Perth last month and only higher than 98 in the 2010 Boxing Day Test.

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@B16$ balls taken by Ben Duckett to get to 3000 Test runs, the second-fastest to the mark in terms of balls faced (where ball-by-ball data is available), after Harry Brook, who had got there in 3468 during his brisk 41 on Friday. Adam Gilchrist (3610), David Warner (4047), Rishabh Pant (4095) and Virender Sehwag (4129) follow the two England batters in this list.

Of the 348 batters with 2000-plus runs in Tests, Brook (86.85) and Duckett (86.44) have the highest strike-rates, followed by Tim Southee (82.68), Sehwag (82.23) and Gilchrist (81.95).

@B17$ - Mitchell Starc's strike-rate in Tests in 2025 ranks the best for anyone with a minimum of 50 wickets in the format in a calendar year (108 instances).

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