Opener Travis Head has said that he hopes England and Australia revive the tradition of the two sides getting together for a drink post Ashes. The practice had been derailed somewhat in 2023 after relationships between the two teams soured over the course of the series. Australia lead the series 3-1 and have thus already confirmed a victory, making it the fifth consecutive Ashes at the end of which they will be holding the urn.
“There’s definitely mutual respect,” he said in comments published by The Australian newspaper on Wednesday. “I get along with a couple of them really well. There’s some really good relationships with both teams. I’m looking forward to having a beer with Ducky (Ben Duckett). So, yeah, it’d be a nice moment. It’s obviously nice going there knowing that we’ve won the series.”
Relationships between the two sets of players nosedived during the second Test of the 2023 Ashes in England when Alex Carey stumped Jonny Bairstow after the latter walked out of his crease after ducking under a delivery from Cameron Green.
It was followed by ugly scenes in which the Australian players were abused by MCC members in the Lord’s Long Room. England head coach Brendon McCullum later said that he couldn’t see how the two teams could have a cordial drink as they traditionally do at the end of the series in the wake of all this.
While McCullum later said that the meet would happen after England’s victory in the final Test, resulting in the series ending in a 2-2 draw. It resulted in England copping some criticism in the Australian media, although captain Ben Stokes later denied snubbing their opponents. He clarified that the team’s post-series wrap-up at The Oval had taken longer than expected due to player and staff farewells.
Unlike what was the case then, the 2025 Ashes in Australia has been played in rather good spirits. The biggest pieces of controversy have been directed at factors that concerned both sides, such as snicko errors and the pitch for the fourth Test at the MCG which produced the second two-day Test of the series.
Part of the reason for the lack of animosity between the two sides has also been because of how subdued England have been due to their inability to compete with Australia in the first three Tests, which resulted in them going 3-0 down and thus failing to win the Ashes for the fifth year in a row. England’s aggressive batting style under Stokes and McCullum’s backfired on them which has only aggravated the criticism that they faced, even after they won their first Test in Australia in 15 years at the MCG.
