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Stand-in captain Steven Smith says Australia’s ageing group is keen to win an away Ashes in 2027 but was unsure whether he would get there given he will be 38 by the time the series starts.
Australia wrapped up the Ashes 4-1 with a five-wicket victory in Sydney but they did so with one of the oldest teams ever assembled. There have only been seven teams in Test history to feature 10 players over the age of 30 with Australia fielding two of them in this series in Perth and Sydney. The other five belong to England between 1909 and 1926.
The age of Australia’s side was questioned coming into the series but the 35-year-old Mitchell Starc was Player of the Series while Scott Boland, 36, got through all five Tests and took 20 wickets at 24.95 while Michael Neser, 35, also played a key role in three Tests taking 15 wickets at 19.93.
Australia’s oldest player in Usman Khawaja, 39, bowed out in Sydney but Smith was asked how keen the rest of the group were to try and win in England in 2027. He said it was something he would love to achieve having played in two drawn series in England but was unsure whether he would get there.
“I’m sure everyone’s excited to go there and try and win the Ashes,” Smith told Fox Cricket. “It’s something that I certainly haven’t done in in my career, and something I’d like to tick off, whether I get there or not, it’s a different question. The squad we’ve had over the last four or five years has been amazing. So hopefully we can keep growing, getting better.”
With the absence of Josh Hazlewood for all five Tests, Pat Cummins missing for four and Nathan Lyon playing just two including getting injured in Adelaide, Australia found a different way to take 20 wickets across the four Tests they won in this series having not played a specialist spinner in two of them. They also went without a specialist spinner in the only Test they lost in Melbourne and still took 16 wickets in a game that lasted two days.
Smith noted the keeping of Alex Carey was a key reason why Australia were so successful with Boland and Neser complementing Starc’s heroics.
“He was unbelievable with both bat and gloves, I think,” Smith said. “Just the way he was able to go up to the stumps, in particular to the quicks. Those guys are bowling late 130s [kph] almost hitting 140s at times. And he’s just taken them easy. He works incredibly hard on it. And against this opposition, we thought that was a real threat, being able to keep them stuck on their crease and not allow them to dance at our bowlers. And he just did that so well, and the guys bowling to it just reciprocated and put the ball in the right areas.”
Smith was full of praise for the contributions of Starc and Travis Head who were Australia’s major contributors in the series, but he felt the squad as a whole had contributed with Australia using 16 players in total for the series, one more than England.
“Mitchell Starc was sensational, and then supported by everyone that played,” Smith said.
“I think just recognising [the key moments] and trying to play them in real time, not getting to a situation afterwards and saying, we should have done this, we should have done that, trusting what you’re trying to do, and do it to the best of your ability out there.
“Particularly in our home conditions, we obviously know them really well. We’ve got a great squad of players that have been good for a long period of time, I think the last four or five years, making two Test championship finals, that probably backs that up. We’ve just got a really good depth in our squad, and everyone that gets an opportunity takes it, and it’s just been great to be a part of.”
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