Ricky Ponting runout by sub fielder, Steven Smith vs Jofra Archer, video

The 2025-26 Ashes is fast-approaching with the much-anticipated first Test getting underway on November 21 at Optus Stadium in Perth.

With England coming to Australia for the first time in the Bazball era, we thought there was no better time to look back on the defining moments of Ashes cricket from the 21st century.

Our countdown will consist of the top 25 moments since 2000.

Crucially, this means performances on this list are not ranked against each other based on their difficulty, but rather for how strongly they burn in the memory.

In fact, many spots on the countdown aren’t actually performances at all, but are moments that are otherwise iconic due to their natures.

The countdown begins with a list that includes Australian aggression, acts of bravery and a row over the spirit of cricket.

Foxsports.com.au unveils its top 25-16 moments in Ashes cricket over the last 25 years.

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25. NASSER HUSSAIN WINS THE TOSS AND BOWLS FIRST — Brisbane, 2002/03

It is the decision that gets recalled every year at the Gabba. Nasser Hussain would love to have his time again and say ‘we’ll have a bat, thanks’, but his decision to bowl first stands as one of the all-time shockers in Ashes cricket. Hussain’s logic was to give his bowlers first crack on a surface that had some grass on it, but Australia’s top order were licking their lips. The hosts reached the close of play at 2/364 with opener Matthew Hayden unbeaten on 186* and No.3 Ricky Ponting earlier racking up 123. The pair put the England attack to the sword, combining for a 272-run stand on a day that went from bad to worse for the visitors when Simon Jones injured his knee when it dug into the outfield.

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Hayden eventually fell for 197 on day two as Australia piled on 492 before going on to win the Test by a whopping 384 runs after Hayden scored a second innings century. The momentum was not able to be wrestled away from Steve Waugh’s side until it was too late as Australia won by an innings in both Adelaide and Perth to retain the urn. Only a consolation English victory in the final Test at the SCG prevented a series whitewash. “It’s obvious, blatantly obvious, that the decision I made to send Australia in to bat in the first Test was wrong,” Hussain later said. “As England captain, I am paid to make decisions and I am big enough to admit that this one was a big mistake.”

24. STARC’S UNPLAYABLE BALL TO JAMES VINCE — Perth, 2017/18

It was described as perhaps the ball of the 21st century by many commentators at the time, and reflecting on it eight years later, it is no less mind-blowing. Mitchell Starc’s delivery from around the wicket was heading down the leg side before knocking James Vince’s off stump out of the ground. It was almost as if a Shane Warne leg breaker had been bowled at 143km/h. “That is an absolute peach. That is a jaffa. You can’t do anything about that,” the late spin king said on commentary. The famous WACA cracks had a major impact on the prodigious movement. The ball deviated a whopping 3.9 degrees off a good length.

If it stayed on its original path, the ball may have hit a sixth stump if a second set was placed alongside the actual stumps. It was no wonder why Vince was trying to play a leg glance. “I could have tried that ball a hundred times, I don’t think it would have come off again. Unfortunately for Vincey, it just happened to be him [facing it],” Starc said. England’s No.3 could understandably feel hard done by. He was going well on 55 before he was undone by the freakish delivery. “If I faced that another 20 or 30 times I think it would get me out every time,” Vince said at the close of play. The right-hander’s dismissal also triggered a stunning England collapse, as they lost 6/118 to fall to an innings and 41 run defeat, and surrender the Ashes back to the Australians.

23. STEVE WAUGH’S ICONIC CENTURY CELEBRATION WHILE INJURED — The Oval, 2001

Former Australian captain Steve Waugh scored plenty of gritty hundreds throughout his decorated career, but he saved one of his toughest for his swansong to Ashes cricket in England. Waugh’s first innings century in the fifth Test at The Oval was not memorable for being made in testing conditions against a fearsome attack, but for his battle with his own body. Twenty days earlier in the third Test in Nottingham, Waugh was stretchered off the ground having torn his calf during Australia’s run chase. He was initially told he would be sidelined for up to six months, but Waugh undertook mission impossible to play the last Test, working everyday with team physio Errol Alcott. He watched England run down 315 on the final day at Headingley courtesy of Mark Butcher’s unbeaten 173, but spent as much time undertaking rehabilitation as possible. In his captain’s diary from the tour, Waugh wrote that his daily routine with Alcott consisted of two pool sessions, stretching, walking, gym and two massages. “Deep friction for one hour, featuring intense pain, verging on agony (I’d give it nine and a half out of 10 for pain),” he wrote. Waugh got to the line as a result despite later admitting it to be a reckless decision. Hobbling about on one leg, Waugh told his twin brother Mark, who made 120, “no quick singles” before going against his own orders on 99. The skipper pounced on a fumble at mid-wicket and shuffled through for a quick single, eventually diving to make his ground. The desperate act created an iconic Ashes image, however, as Waugh lay on the ground, and lifted his head and bat up towards the dressing room to mark his milestone. He was not done despite reaching three figures as he finished 157 not out, and Australia went on to win by an innings and 25 runs.

22. JOHNSON BOWLS BROAD AROUND LEGS, STARES DOWN ANDERSON AMID SCARY SPELL — Adelaide, 2013/14

If you had to pinpoint the exact moment that Mitchell Johnson’s 73-Test career was at its apex, it was this Ashes Test match. Sporting one of the more intimidating moustaches cricket’s ever seen while (regularly) hitting 150km/h with the ball, the left-armed spearhead was genuinely England’s worst nightmare all tour. After an incredible stat line of 4/61 and 5/42 with the ball in Brisbane — as well as a critical 64 and 39* with the bat — Johnson came to Adelaide and somehow managed to up the ante even further. Australia won the toss and batted before posting a whopping 9/570 declared, at a time where the Adelaide Oval drop-in wicket offered very little for pace bowlers. Johnson took the pitch out of the equation with his thunderbolts, however, taking out the stumps of four England batters on his way to figures of 7/40. The visitors capitulated for just 172 as Johnson wreaked havoc.

He castled Alastair Cook late on day two and then was unstoppable on day three. Johnson was twice on a hat-trick in the afternoon session, and the Adelaide Oval erupted on both occasions. The first of which was when a rocket crashed into Stuart Broad’s leg stump, and shortly after he also knocked over James Anderson for a golden duck. Humbling the pair of champion fast bowlers who had been Australia’s Ashes tormentors in previous series was very sweet for Johnson, and he made dismissing Anderson unforgettable by staring him down as he ran past to celebrate with a fired up slips cordon.

21. ANDERSON AND PANESAR COMBINE FOR MATCH-SAVING 10th WICKET STAND — Cardiff, 2009

The 19-run stand between England’s No.10 and No.11 still haunts members of Australia’s squad from the 2009 Ashes, many of whom still refer to it as the one that got away. England went onto the win the series 2-1, but the Ashes would have stayed in Australian hands had the unlikely combination of James Anderson and Monty Panesar not dug in for 11.3 overs on the final day of the first Test to earn a draw. When Anderson was joined at the crease by Panesar, England still needed to score another six runs to make Australia bat again and all hope seemed lost for the hosts. Paul Collingwood’s impressive rearguard action of 74 from 245 deliveries was ended by Peter Siddle, and Australia needed to only dismiss one of the two tailenders, who finished their Test careers with batting averages of 8.96 and 4.88 - Anderson’s being the higher of the two. The champion pace bowler was the one to carry England to a lead, with a squirted edge through the slip cordon off the bowling of Siddle. From then on, the English proceeded to waste as much time as possible as the light faded. The pair regularly called for the physio after wearing balls on the body and gloves, much to the disgust of Australian captain Ricky Ponting, who earned player of the match honours for his 150. Siddle, off spinner Nathan Hauritz and fellow off spinner Marcus North were unable to get the breakthrough, however. Despite the late heartbreak, the bulk of the work was done by Collingwood and co. earlier in the day, as England clung on from 6/127 after 49.4 overs to shake hands with the scoreboard reading: 9/252 after 105 overs.

20. WARNE, MCGRATH AND LANGER RETIRE IN ARMS — Sydney, 2006/07

The perfect way for three champions of Australia’s golden era through the 1990s and 2000s to bow out of Test cricket. A thumping ten-wicket win at the SCG and sealed a 5-0 series whitewash for the Australians, and the ultimate revenge for the 2005 loss. It also marked the retirements of the late Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Justin Langer, all of whom enjoyed one last moment in the sun in Australian whites. After Warne famously took his 700th wicket on Boxing Day in the Test prior, he teased ticking off a career first with the bat. The king of spin infamously never scored a Test hundred, falling for 99 at the WACA against New Zealand in 2001, but fans at the SCG thought he may have been saving it for his swansong until he was eventually stumped for an entertaining 71 from 65 balls, the highest score of Australia’s first innings total of 393. McGrath meanwhile took three wickets in each innings, but he also took a wicket his final ball in Test cricket as James Anderson chipped a slower ball to Michael Hussey at mid on to wrap up England’s second innings. Langer then got his moment with his long-time opening partner Matthew Hayden as they ran down the total of 46 together, and celebrated with a big hug mid-pitch after Hayden hit the winning runs. The retiring trio then soaked in a lap of honour around the SCG as the Australian public bid farewell in perfect fashion.

19. MICHAEL CLARKE: ‘GET READY FOR A BROKEN F***EN ARM’ — Brisbane 2013/14

One line picked up by the stump microphone that showed cricket fans the world over that Michael Clarke’s team meant business, and now lives in Aussie sporting folklore. After winning just two Tests in the previous three Ashes series, and fresh off a 3-0 loss in England earlier that year, Australia turned the tide in the 2013/14 series opener at the Gabba with a new ruthless attitude. A reborn Mitchell Johnson had England’s batters shaken with a lightning fast nine-wicket haul, the last scalp of which was James Anderson. England’s great pace bowler had dished out plenty of lip across the two side’s recent encounters, and the Australians were eager to return serve. When Anderson came out to face the music, in the form of short-pitched Johnson thunderbolts, he also copped it verbally from Clarke.

Anderson was taking his time to take guard, instead picking an argument with debutant George Bailey, who stood with a helmet on and bat pad, and Clarke was having none of it. “Face up then. Get ready for a broken f***en arm. Face up,” Clarke told Anderson before marching back to the slip cordon. The Australian captain showed a ruthlessness that the public had rarely seen from him before. Since taking the reins, Clarke had plundered runs against India and South Africa on home soil, but he had not displayed such a brutal side, and fierce determination to win. The now famous line is remembered as one of the fire starters as the hosts romped to a 5-0 series whitewash. Anderson did avoid a broken arm, but he offered little in the way of resistance, popping up a simple caught and bowled to Johnson to hand the Australians a whopping 381 run victory.

18. ASHTON AGAR MAKES 98 ON TEST DEBUT... BATTING AT 11 — Nottingham, 2013

In one of the more shocking Ashes selections in the modern era, a 19-year-old Ashton Agar was selected as Australia’s first-choice spinner for the first Test against England at Trent Bridge in 2013. The Western Australian’s call up saw Nathan Lyon dropped from the starting XI to the surprise of many at the time, with selectors preferring Agar’s left-arm orthodox turners over the incumbent’s right-arm off-spin. As history now tells us though, Agar’s biggest impact on Test debut wasn’t with the ball, it was with the bat. Coming to the crease with Australia 9/117 and Phillip Hughes running out of partners fast, the lanky young gun smacked England’s attack to all parts of the ground — and at a quick rate too. Agar brought up his first 50 runs off as many balls, and was closing in on a remarkable hundred before tragically holing out to deep mid-wicket on 98. His total was, and still is, the highest score by a number 11 at Test level — usurping Tino Best from the West Indies and his 95 only a year earlier. The late Hughes finishes unbeaten on 81, co-ordinating the strike with Agar impeccably throughout their 163-run partnership for the 10th wicket; also a record at the time before being beaten a year later by Joe Root and James Anderson at the same ground. Like so many moments on this list, a ranking of 18 simply does not do it justice.

17. SMITH GETS HIT ON THE NECK BY JOFRA — Lord’s, 2019

It was a moment that silenced a stunned Lord’s crowd with everyone at the famed old ground fearing the worst. Minds immediately cast back to Hughes’ tragic passing five years earlier as Steve Smith was felled by a Jofra Archer short ball that struck him on the neck. Australia’s batting superstar had been the one causing England headaches, not the other way around. Smith returned from his one-year suspension with twin tons in Australia’s victory in the first Test at Edgbaston, and he appeared destined for another hundred in the visitors’ first innings at Lord’s. The champion right-hander was causing England such problems that as spectators left nearby St John’s Wood underground station that morning, the station’s announcer joked: “anyone with an idea of how to get Steve Smith to out, please report to the England dressing room”. The crowd got their money’s worth as the afternoon progressed with debutant Archer coming back into the attack from the pavilion end to deliver a hostile spell of fast bowling on what Smith later described as an “up-and-down wicket”, while grey skies descended over central London. Smith initially counterattacked, finding the boundary with multiple pulls and hooks before Archer struck him on the arm. That was when the English finally felt an opening with a chink in the armour, and shortly after Smith, who was 80 not out at the time, was struck on the neck and floored. He retired hurt once he was helped to his feet by Australia’s medical staff. The drama continued when Smith returned to the crease having initially been cleared of concussion, but it was obvious he was not himself as he left a Chris Woakes ball that crashed into his pad in front of middle stump to fall for 92. He was later removed from the game, saying in a recent interview with Fox Cricket that it “felt like I had ten beers” afterwards. Marnus Labuschagne came in as a concussion substitute before making a half-century in the second innings. Archer also hit Labuschagne in the helmet, and the quick’s contest with the Aussie batters is sure to be a fascinating watch this summer.

16. ENGLAND SUB FIELDER GARY PRATT RUNS OUT PONTING — Nottingham, 2005

Australia objected to several of England’s questionable tactics during the unforgettable 2005 Ashes, but the use of mints to help generate reverse swing never created such a lightning rod moment in the series. In another way to aid their fast bowlers, England had been pushing the limits of the spirit of the game with the use of sub fielders. Their four-pronged pace attack of Andrew Flintoff, Simon Jones, Matthew Hoggard and Steve Harmison would frequently head off the field after a spell to receive treatment or have a shower or put the feet up to freshen up for a few overs. It was a move that was angering the Australians in the background and then it all blew up when Ricky Ponting was run out by Gary Pratt in the fourth Test at Trent Bridge. Damien Martyn dropped a suicidal single into the cover region, Pratt pounced on the ball, and threw down the stumps to send the Australian captain on his way at a crucial juncture in the game. Ponting was on 48 and with Australia 104 runs behind after being asked to follow on for the first time in 17 years. He was furious, venting his anger at the England players on the field and then unleashing a barrage at England coach Duncan Fletcher who sat smugly on the balcony as Ponting walked up the steps. “He wasn’t happy. There was a lot said, probably some stuff that I cannot repeat,” Brett Lee told Fox Cricket at the Kayo Summer of Cricket launch. “Look, it was a pivotal moment in that Test match. It was a pivotal moment in that series, I think, to be run out by the subs fieldsman. It was a big, big moment.

“It put Punter off his game, which I hadn’t seen that often, because he could actually deal with setbacks … but to get run out in that circumstance, it threw him for a little bit because he wasn’t happy.”

Pratt was not a member of England’s squad. He played 53 first-class games in his career, but was drafted in as a specialist fielder. Regardless of the Australian outrage, Pratt became a household name in England. He even was included in their roof top bus celebrations in London after the final Test. As for the spirit of cricket debate, Flintoff said “yeah of course” when asked ten years later on The Project if England cheated by using Pratt as a substitute fielder. It certainly helped them win the Test and the series, however, as England went on to win that game by three wickets to take a 2-1 lead in the series, which was the final margin after a draw at The Oval.

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