Oldest rivalry resumes with Smith and Root at its heart

English optimism is fuelled by key absentees in the opposition and McCullum's infectious outsider energy

- Ali Martin

If it feels like the buildup to this Ashes series has lasted 842 days that is because it pretty much has. Test cricket’s oldest rivalry resumes tomorrow inside Perth’s 60,000-seat thunderdome and with it, mercifully, comes fresh fuel for the ever-raging fire.

Because on one level the Ashes never really starts or stops. Since Stuart Broad nicked off Alex Carey at the Oval on 31 July 2023 - the final act of a dramatic 2-2 draw - the sides have been tracking each other, all while their supporters chip away from afar. To the rest of the world this obsession must get a bit tiresome. In recent years, India having won in Australia in 2018-19 and 2022-23, and lost a classic here 12 months ago, there has even been talk that the Border-Gavaskar Trophy may have surpassed the Ashes as a rivalry. It is a terrific thing those two nations have got going on, no doubt.

But so storied is the Ashes - so intense the relationship - that this still feels a stretch. Sometimes that BGT chat feels like a stick used to beat England, given they have not won a Test match on these shores since Andrew Strauss led a 3-1 triumph in 2010-11. Fact is though, no team stirs Australia's competitive instincts quite like the old enemy.

Same goes for English cricket, with Australia the yardstick for nearly 150 years now. The fate of captains and coaches tends to hinge on the result, with teams either detonated or deified based on how they have fared against 11 hard-nosed men in Baggy Green caps.