The second Ashes Test of the 2025/26 series gets underway in Brisbane on Thursday. England lost the first match inside two days in a bizarre clash and will be desperate to bounce back. They know that going two down would give them a mountain to climb, so a decent result in Queensland is vital.
The game will be a day/night clash, starting at 2 pm local time, and will use the pink ball designed for such clashes. Day/night Tests are a relatively new phenomenon, with the first one having taken place at the end of 2015 between Australia and New Zealand. It was hoped that such Tests would broaden the appeal of the game and improve attendances.
They have been a qualified success on the whole and bring a different flavour to the Test arena, although we are still in the early days of their usage, really, with only 24 day/night Tests having been played. The clash in Brisbane will be the 25th, and the scale of the task England face is emphasised by looking at the respective records of both nations in these games.
Head-to-Head in Day/Night Tests
An obvious first port of call when assessing how the Brisbane game might go, and how both teams do in these unique clashes, is the H2H record between the nations. Australia and England have met in three previous day/night Tests and the Aussies have won all three.
| Date | Location | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 2017 | Adelaide Oval | Australia won by 120 runs |
| Dec 2021 | Adelaide Oval | Australia won by 275 runs |
| Jan 2022 | Bellerive Oval, Hobart | Australia won by 146 runs |
In each of the three clashes, they have batted first, winning by 120 runs when put into bat, a massive 275 runs when they won the toss and elected to bat, and most recently by 146 runs, again when England won the toss.
The most recent day/night game between the two took place in Hobart in January 2022. In neither innings did England surpass 190. The previous two matches were both in Adelaide, the traditional home of day/night Tests in Australia. In December 2021, England made 236 and 192, while in December 2017 their highest score was 233 in the fourth innings, Mitchell Starc taking five wickets to help the home side seal victory.
Australia’s Record in Day/Night Test Matches
Australia beat neighbours New Zealand in the first day/night Test ever, winning by three wickets in Adelaide. The upcoming clash with Ben Stokes’ men will be their 14th game under the lights, and overall, their record reads played 13, won 12. Based on that very simple stat alone, the Aussies have a 92.3% chance of taking a 2-0 lead in the series.
Several factors help them, perhaps chief among them that all 13 of the day/night games they have played have been on home soil. They have long been formidable opponents in conditions they know so well, but even so, their record in day/night games is better than usual.
Part of the reason for that is that they are easily the most experienced side in the world in these games. There have been 24 matches to date, and the Australians have been involved in more than half. That experience counts for a lot, with a range of subtle differences between traditional Tests and day/night contests.
Lastly, it seems likely that the strong fast-bowling unit Pat Cummins has led for much of the past decade or so has played a big part in their success. Mitchell Starc is widely considered to be the best pink-ball bowler in the game, and Cummins himself is no slouch. However, spinner Nathan Lyon is also very important, and he boasts better figures with the pink ball than the red. Stokes also mentioned recently how the Australians use a spinner tactically too under the lights, all part of their wider experience in this format.
England’s Chances
It is clear from the above that England are really going to be up against it when they walk out at the Gabba. It should also be noted that this is a ground they have not won at since 1986, further adding to the scale of the challenge.
England are very inexperienced in this format compared to the hosts and have played just seven games, losing five of them. They beat the West Indies at Edgbaston by a massive innings and 209 runs in their first day/night Test in 2017. Their next game saw them lose to Australia, before being crushed by New Zealand in Auckland. That game took place in 2018, and the hosts won by an innings and 49 runs. In 2021, they were thrashed by the hosts in India, going down by 10 wickets, and were thrashed once again by Australia at the end of that year.
Another loss to Australia followed, but in brighter news, their most recent clash in this format saw them beat NZ by 267 runs in New Zealand. That game took place in 2023, and Stokes and co will be desperately hoping they can replicate that sort of performance – and result – against Australia in Brisbane.
Based on past performances, it is hard to see England escaping a defeat in Brisbane. However, looking at the overall picture from day/night Tests, there have been few close games with far more very one-sided ones. If England can make the right call at the toss, take their catches, get lucky with the conditions and, most of all, bat well, maybe they can spring a surprise!