Australia and England’s most in-form players one year out from the Ashes

Travis Head

2025 is an Ashes year, and even though the Champions Trophy and the World Test Championship are just around the corner, it’s the tiny Urn that will be the biggest topic of conversation this year. In recent instalments of the five-test showdown, it’s been Australia that has gotten the better of their greatest rivals.

They reclaimed the bragging rights back in 2018 with a resounding 4-0 victory on home turf, before retaining the honours 18 months later with a thrilling draw in England. In 2022, they picked up another 4-0 in Australia, before then playing out another 2-2 draw on enemy territory, taking the number of years they have called the trophy their own up to eight by the time the next series concludes.

If the online betting sites are to be believed, their tenure as Ashes kingpins could well go on past the 2025/26 series. The latest cricket odds from betting sites in Canada currently make Australia a -165 betting favourite to win the upcoming series outright, with the tourists pushed out to +250 to secure the victory on enemy territory for the first time since 2011. But which players are currently in form ahead of the colossal end-of-year clash? Let’s find out.

Travis Head

Travis Head has long been part of the Australia setup, even being named vice-captain back in January 2019. However, form issues cost him his place in the squad, and it was not until the 2021/22 Ashes series that he truly recaptured his best form. In that series, the Adelaide Strikers star was named the player of the tournament after top scoring with 357 runs, including two centuries.

However, over the past 12 months, Head has matured into one of the most reliable and explosive batters in Test cricket. His ability to counterattack and dominate from the middle order has been pivotal in the Baggy Greens, reeling off victory after victory en route to a second straight World Test Championship final. His blistering 175 against the West Indies in Perth in late 2023 sent a clear message that he’s not just consistent, but also capable of match-winning brilliance.

But it was the recent series against India that announced his status as arguably the best batsman in the world at present. The 31-year-old racked up a whopping 448 runs in the recent series, two scintillating centuries in the second and third tests that helped the Aussies recapture the Border–Gavaskar Trophy. Now, he will be aiming to take the fight to the English on home turf once more.

Scott Boland

Scott Boland has been another jewel in Australia’s war chest, particularly on home soil. The 34-year-old’s stunning Test debut against England in the 2021-22 Ashes—taking 6-7 at the MCG—cemented his reputation as a bowler who thrives under pressure. He has already proven that he can dismantle an English bowling attack on the hard dry pitches in the land down under, and he will be his country’s biggest threat with the ball.

Like Head, he too was on fire in the recent series victory against India. He plundered a ten-wicket haul in the fifth and final test at the MCG, picking up figures of 4/31 in the first innings and a mighty 6/45 in the second. Despite entering the twilight of his career, he should still have plenty left in the tank to team up with captain Pat Cummins and rip their way through a sometimes questionable English batting lineup.

Joe Root

For England, Joe Root has long been the beating heart of the batting lineup. The Yorkshireman has reinvented himself over the past two years, leaving behind the burden of captaincy to unlock his most consistent and electrifying form. While Ben Stokes now toils over gameplans and field formations, Root can focus solely on performing with the bat, and boy has he done that in recent times.

The stats speak for themselves. The 34-year-old scored over 1900 Test runs in 2021, and despite quieter years in 2022 and 2023, he has maintained an average in the high 50s. 2024, however, he returned to become the dominant force we all remember. He gracefully added over 1500 runs this year, the second-highest yearly amount in his career.

His haul of six centuries is also the joint highest of his stellar run in the international test arena, but capturing his best form in the Land Down Under is one thing he has thus far struggled to do. He will certainly have to do exactly that if the English are to upset the odds later this year.

Gus Atkinson

If England’s Test team has been searching for someone to energize their bowling attack with raw pace, Gus Atkinson might be the answer. Most of his appearances had been in white-ball cricket up until last year, but the retirements of both James Anderson and Stuart Broad – England’s two greatest-ever pace bowlers – forced Brendon McCullum to turn to the 26-year-old to bolster his attack. The decision has been rewarded and then some.

England has made no secret of its attacking approach under coach McCullum, and Atkinson’s fiery pace perfectly aligns with the philosophy. His debut against the West Indies last summer beggared belief, with seven wickets in the first innings and five in the second. His match figures of 12/106 were the best by an England debutant in some 134 years, and he built on that throughout the remainder of the year.

More wickets followed against Sri Lanka, as did a century with the bat. If that wasn’t enough, he then bagged himself a hat-trick on the recent tour of New Zealand, his country’s first in seven years. That secured him Cricketer of the Year honours from the ECB, and taking apart Australia on enemy territory will surely endear him to the Barmy Army even further.