MELBOURNE, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Australian men's cricket team on Thursday defeated England in their fifth test match to complete a 4-1 series victory in the 2025-26 Ashes.
Australia successfully chased a target of 160 runs on the fifth and final day of the fifth test in Sydney on Thursday to defeat England, marking the end of the five-match series that began on November 21.
Played between Australia and England approximately every two years, the Ashes dates back to 1882 when Australia won a test in England for the first time, prompting a local newspaper to declare that English cricket had died and the body would be cremated and its ashes taken to Australia.
The 4-1 victory means that Australia has now won 35 of the 74 men's Ashes series that have been played, including the last four series in Australia, with England having won 32, and seven ending in a draw.
Steve Smith, who captained Australia for the majority of the 2025-26 Ashes, said it was a "magnificent" series for Australia, which is ranked number one in the world by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
"It's obviously a big series. As an Australian and English cricketer, it's the pinnacle," he said.
The highly-anticipated series attracted a total crowd of more than 850,000 people across matches in Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney.
The next men's Ashes series will be held in England in 2027. ■
