Last Updated on 5 months ago by Charbel Coorey
Only once has a team come back from 2-0 down to win an Ashes series. Don Bradman’s 1936/37 Australia team won the final three Tests after they were thumped by 322 runs and an innings and 22 runs in the opening two matches.
Bradman himself led the way, hammering two double centuries and a century in Australia’s three victories. The greatest-ever Test batter hit 690 runs in the final three Tests at an incredible average of 138 to guide his team home.
1936/37 Ashes series results:
- 1st Test, Brisbane: England won by 322 runs.
- 2nd Test, Sydney: England won by an innings and 22 runs.
- 3rd Test, Melbourne: Australia won by 365 runs.
- 4th Test, Adelaide: Australia won by 148 runs.
- 5th Test, Melbourne: Australia won by an innings and 200 runs.
England need to become the second team in history to win an Ashes series after going 2-0 down
Like 2023, England have gone down 2-0 in an Ashes series. On that occasion, England produced a stirring fightback, rallying hard after the Jonny Bairstow stumping at Lord’s. They won the third and fifth Tests, with rain stopping their charge in the fourth at Manchester.
Captain Ben Stokes has called for belief. He and Will Jacks showed the kind of grit and determination not previously displayed by the English team in a very costly six days of cricket across Perth and Brisbane.
“The worst thing to do now is to not have hopes and not realise that we still have the opportunity to do what we came out here to do,” Stokes said in the press conference, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
“We are 2-0 down but there’s three games left. If we lose hope over the next couple of weeks… even from next week, then we might as well not turn up.
“I haven’t lost hope, that dressing room hasn’t lost hope.”
However, coming back from 2-0 down in Australia is a completely different proposition. England have not won a Test down under since 2011, losing 15 of the 17 matches in this period. Also, Australia are set to welcome Pat Cummins back.
The Adelaide Test begins on December 17.
