First in 5468 days: England bowlers set up dramatic Boxing Day Test win to end prolonged Ashes drought

Two days and six sessions is all it took for the Boxing Day Test to produce a result and it was not an expected one given how the series has transpired. England conjured up another fantastic bowling display in the second innings on Day 2 and this time the batting fired to bring a much-needed victory.

The day began with Australia 4/0 in the second innings with Scott Boland and Travis Head at the crease. The nightwatchman Boland (6 off 17), after seeing off one over the day before, held his ground for a brief period but succumbed to Gus Atkinson. Jake Weatherald (5 off 15) joined Head but he did not last long either, a misjudged leave knocking off his stumps. 

At the other end, Head was looking stable and scoring at regular intervals. Marnus Labuschagne (8 off 18) joined the southpaw, but could not stay long again, becoming Josh Tongue's first victim. A brief, quick partnership between Steve Smith and Head provided much-needed momentum. However, it was over with a peach of a delivery from Brydon Carse clipping the off bail to send Head (46 off 67) back to the hut.

Australia were 82/3 before Head's wicket and suffered a dramatic collapse to find themselves at 88/6. Usman Khawaja (0 off 2) and Alex Carey (4 off 6) fell in quick succession as the England bowlers were now all over Australia.

Smith and Cameron Green tried to resurrect the innings to some extent as they formed a 31-run partnership. England captain Ben Stokes, the man with the golden arm, produced a wicket when his team needed it to end Green's stay at the crease for 19. Michael Neser, the hero of the first innings, was dismissed for a duck along with Mitchell Starc leaving Australia at 121/9.

Australian skipper Smith tried his best to score as many runs as possible before the eventual end and 10 runs later the innings ended with Jhye Richardson's wicket. The captain was left stranded at 24* as Australia were all out for 132, setting England a target of 175.

The English bowlers produced an all-round display. Carse was the pick of the bowlers with four wickets (4/34) to his name followed by Stokes (3/24), Tongue (2/44), and Atkinson (1/20).

England's start in the second innings was completely different to how it was in the first. Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett kicked off in their Bazball style to put the Australian bowlers under pressure. Duckett was the aggressor of the two as he scored 34 runs off 26 balls. England were 51/1 when he was dismissed with Carse (6 off 8) coming in at number 3 to pinch hit. However, he lasted for a short time only. England were still comfortable at 65/2.

Jacob Bethell joined Crawley and the duo started to take the game away from Australia. A sensible 47-run partnership brought the equation down to 63 runs needed before Crawley (37 off 48) was out LBW off Boland. Australia kept charging at the English batters, picking up the wickets of Bethell (40 off 46), Joe Root (15 off 38) and Stokes (2 off 9) but it seemed too late as the visitors romped home with four wickets in hand.

Starc, Boland, and Richardson picked up two wickets each as Neser went wicketless. The series stands at 3-1. The teams move to Sydney for the New Year's Test slated to begin on January 4, 2026.