 "Ashes 2025: Perth packed with English fans as Stokes enters a series that will test every part of his leadership")
It has been two and a quarter years since the 2023 Ashes finished – Alex Carey caught behind off Stuart Broad’s appropriately dramatic final ball in Test cricket. For those 843 days, the reservoir of anticipation for this series has drop by drop been slowly filling up. Now with just one day remaining, the dam is ready to burst.
After a fairly mild-mannered build-up to proceedings, both sides shuffling around the edges of the ring, sizing each other up, not wanting to commit to anything too foolhardy, the excitement for what could lie ahead over these next two months has almost reached critical mass.
England fans pack Perth for Ashes opener
Perth is awash with travelling fans, booming English-accented voices increasingly audible along the sedate streets of the city centre, sightings of men in Coventry City football shirts reaching unprecedented levels, while some estimate that British citizens annual consumption of smashed avocado has risen by as much as 5% in the last week alone.
Certainly England skipper Ben Stokes is under no illusions as to how much this means both for the fans who have made the 9000 plus mile trip for the Test and the ones braving TNT Sports’ coverage of it through the freezing English night. “There’s no doubt that we as players know how excited everyone is for the series,” he told the media hordes assembled deep within the bowels of the Optus Stadium for his pre-match press conference.
“It’s been a big build-up, as always, every Ashes series is whether it’s in England or Australia, but yeah, it’s great. Something that when you’re a kid you look at and go: I’d love to be there one day."
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Now we’re here on the day before day one of what’s going to be a pretty tough and gruelling two and a half months.”
England come into this series for once with some credible optimism that this time they could upset Australia in their own backyard – the fact however that they have managed it only twice in the last 40 years shows just how tricky the challenge will be. With Stokes at the helm at least they know they have a captain who will not take a backwards step:
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View All“We’ve got an opportunity here, over the next two and a half months to write our own history. We’ve obviously come here with a goal, and that goal is to get on that plane in mid-January, returning to England being Ashes winners. But we know it’s going to be very, very tough. It’s going to be hard because beating Australia in Australia is not an easy thing."
Stokes on a mission to widen his legacy in Australia
Perth itself holds happy memories for Stokes, it is after all where, in 2013, he formally announced his explosive talent in only his second Test appearance – a pyrrhic second innings century at the WACA arguably England’s tour highlight in yet another dismal Australian showing. However that swashbuckling effort aside, his record in Australia is well below his usual standards and his memories of series here are no doubt somewhat clouded by his removal from England’s 2017/18 squad following his Bristol fracas.
The first Test century of Ben Stokes. 🤯🔥 pic.twitter.com/Bp8ye7gAdY
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) November 20, 2025
In a career peppered with highlights and show-stopping moments, it would be hyperbole to say this is a series that will define Stokes as an England cricketer, but it nevertheless is one that means a lot for his legacy. Clearly something the England captain is fully aware of but determined not to let totally overshadow his efforts:
“I understand what this series means in my journey as England captain. It’s certainly the biggest series I will lead this side in. I’m aware of that.
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“I understand with all ‘defining series’ stuff, I get it. For me personally it’s not going to detract from what I’ve given to my role as England captain. It’s been three and a half years of a lot of time and effort. it’s something I’ve thoroughly enjoyed, I wake up every morning loving what I do. It’s the greatest honour in English cricket to lead this team out. I’m desperate to be an Ashes winning captain.”
For Stokes and every English cricket fan cheering him on, the gruelling wait to see if he can succeed in that quest is almost over. The endless talking is over, now it’s time for some actual cricket.
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