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With the first Test of the 2025/26 Ashes series set to commence on November 21 at Optus Stadium in Perth, Daily Mail takes a walk down memory lane to remember some of its most infamous moments.
Dating back to 1877, The Ashes is one of the oldest and most prestigious sporting contests on the planet.
Rivalries have been made, feuds have erupted and questionable tactics have been employed as both nations do whatever they can to get their hands on the tiny urn.
Here is the English Villains XI, the list of Poms that stand tall above all overs when it comes to living rent free in Aussie heads.
...and some of them will be back in Australia this summer to contest The Ashes once again.
Alastair Cook of England celebrates reaching his century as Shane Warne reluctantly applauds during the third Ashes Test at the WACA in 2006
While Captain Cook was never at the centre of any overt controversies, sledges or volatile Ashes moments, he comes in to open the batting for two key reasons: he was too bloody good and he was too bloody boring.
Cook scored 1,633 Test runs in Australia across his career. His most prolific series was the 2010-11 Ashes, where he scored 766 runs to help England win.
He also achieved two double centuries in Australia: an unbeaten 235* in Brisbane (2010) and an unbeaten 244* in Melbourne (2017).
Just to tick Aussies off even more, his 2010 match-winning score was in the same Test where Peter Siddle took a hat-trick on his birthday. Way to ruin the party, mate.
Scoring runs was one thing, but Cook annoyed Aussies by the manner in which he scored them. He showed all the emotion of a soft-boiled rock and his boring style of batting almost ended Test cricket forever all on its own.
As good as he was with the bat, Cook started to become known for being an awful captain when the results started going against him.
Shane Warne described Alastair Cook's captaincy as 'horrific' - particularly after England's loss to Sri Lanka in the second Test at Headingley in June 2014.
'The most disappointing thing for me is that he has not learned or improved after a 5-0 drumming in Australia. In fact, he has got worse,' Warne said in a stinging column.
'His captaincy at Lord's was terrible, then on Monday at Headingley I witnessed the worst day of captaincy I have ever seen at international level in almost 25 years in the game.
'It was horrific, and I am not the only one singing that tune. He just does not get it.'
2. W.G. Grace
The Ashes rivalry wouldn't exist if it wasn't for WG Grace, who made English arrogance his entire personality
WG Grace swiftly took the mantle as the face of English arrogance and has gripped that title with both hands ever since the late 19th century.
In an era when colonial Australians were defining their own national identity, he embodied the pompous 'gentleman amateur' attitude that many Australians resented, especially since their cricketers were often professionals paid to play.
It was an era where the professional Poms had every advantage over the Aussies, but that didn't stop Grace resorting to shady tactics and bending the rules to get the job done.
The most famous example was in 1882 at The Oval, during the match that led to the creation of The Ashes.
He ran out Australian batsman Sammy Jones, who had stepped out of his crease to pat down the pitch after a ball.
Grace whipped off the bails and appealed, and the umpire reluctantly gave Jones out.
The Australians were furious, viewing the incident as cheap and unsporting, and their bowler Fred Spofforth vowed revenge, saying, 'This thing can be done.'
He bowled England out, and Australia won - sparking the famous Ashes rivalry.
In short, Australians didn't just hate W.G. Grace the cricketer - they hated what he represented: English snobbery, unfair play, and the assumption that the Empire's rules always favoured the mother country.
He helped define the spirit of rivalry that still fuels The Ashes today.
3. Geoffrey Boycott
Geoffrey Boycott has been savage in his analysis of Australian teams and has earned the ire of former captains for his comments
As a batsman, Boycott strangled the life out of matches with his methodical, boring approach to the game and was actually dropped for being too slow, despite making runs
Long before there was Bazball, there was Boycott and his boring brand of cricket that sent Aussies to the wall.
His style was slow and methodical, built on defence and patience rather than flair or risk. Australian crowds preferred aggressive strokeplay and attacking cricket, so Boycott's innings often felt like they drained the life out of a match.
He cared deeply about his technique and statistics, sometimes more than the team's result. Many critics accused him of batting for himself and not the scoreboard.
In fact, he was once dropped from the England team after scoring too slowly despite making runs. His painful style was eventually loathed by his own countrymen as well.
Even in retirement, his commentary kept that same hard-edged tone. He rarely praised modern players and often reminded everyone how much tougher it was in his day.
He scoffed at the Bazball approach to positive Test cricket, saying: 'If you're going to just entertain, might as well be a circus.'
An infamous bore and killjoy, the only thing that Geoffrey boycotted was fun. No wonder most Aussies find him to be insufferable.
He raised the hackles of most Aussies in 2015 when he labelled the batting order as 'pathetic'. Five years later, former Australian captain Lisa Sthalekar joined respected cricket commentator Isa Guha in calling out Boycott's sexist attitude in 2020.
'It's time for him to leave the game and let's remember him as a great cricketer of a certain generation. Talk about power - I didn't see much power that he displayed,' she said.
4. Ian Botham
Ian Botham just loved to bore Australians to death, to the point his laconic batting style cost him his place in the side
Botham continues to get under the skin of Aussies to this day as a commentator and analyst
Ian Botham is remembered as one of cricket's great entertainers, but in Australia he has long carried the label of 'Ashes villain'. His career was defined not only by brilliance with bat and ball but also by a rebellious streak that often clashed with opponents and the crowd.
Botham's defining moment came during the 1981 Ashes, often called 'Botham's Ashes', when he almost single-handedly turned the series in England's favour.
After resigning the captaincy under pressure, he produced a remarkable 149 not out at Headingley in the third Test, rescuing England from the brink of defeat.
He followed it with a devastating spell of 5-11 at Edgbaston and another match-winning century at Old Trafford. These performances swung the series and secured his legacy as one of the greatest all-rounders in cricket history.
For English fans, he was a hero; for Australians, he became the face of frustration, his talent inflicting heartbreak.
Tensions were already high before his 1981 heroics. In 1977, Botham and former Australian captain Ian Chappell were involved in a heated altercation outside a Sydney bar.
Accounts differ, but Botham has claimed he physically confronted Chappell, with the Aussie saying he was threatened with a beer glass.
Time has not healed any wounds either, with Chappell calling Botham a 'bully' and a 'coward' in 2023.
'When he put the beer glass to my face and said 'I'll cut you from ear to ear', we were actually playing against each other the next day, because I was playing for North Melbourne in club cricket,' Chappell said.
'I said to him, "mate, if you cut me with a beer glass it will confirm what I already think of you, that you are a coward, but if you cut me with a cricket ball tomorrow that would mean something."'
5. Kevin Pietersen
Aussies loved to hate Kevin Pietersen and he relished every second of it during his time in the English squad
No-nonsense Aussie fast bowler Mitchell Johnson was not a huge fan of Pietersen and his chirping
It would be hard to argue anyone loved riling the Aussies up more than KP. He gave it to the bowlers, he gave it to the batsman, he rode the boundary and gave it to the crowd - and he relished every second of it.
Pietersen was seen as arrogant and difficult, leading to a frosty relationship with just about everyone - including his own teammates.
But one player who really saw red mist was firebrand Mitchell Johnson, who admits he nearly punched the English batsman during an Ashes warm-up during the first Test of the 2009 series.
'He got really personal and I'm not going to dignify his comments by repeating them,' Johnson said.
'The red mist descended and I stormed in his direction with every intention in the world of hitting him.
'This was all being played out in full view of spectators who had arrived early, and the media.
'Stu Clark saw it all happen and came rushing over just as we came together and jumped between us.
'KP is a big guy, but I was very worked up.
'Fortunately, Stu is bigger than both of us because it took a bit to convince me not to go through with what I planned. I am so glad Stu was there.'
6. Douglas Jardine (c)
Jardine's name is etched into Ashes folklore for bringing in the now-outlawed Bodyline tactics
Jardine isn't just reviled for bringing Bodyline to The Ashes, he is hated just as much for being totally unapologetic for the dangerous and unsporting tactics he used to bash Aussie batsmen.
Jardine's strategy involved bowlers like Harold Larwood bowling fast, high-bouncing deliveries aimed at the Australian batsmen's bodies.
While technically within the laws at the time, the tactic was widely condemned as unfair, dangerous, and contrary to the 'spirit of cricket'. It led to injuries and a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
It generated books, a television mini-series - and started a war between the rival nations.
Captain Bill Woodfull famously stated, 'There are two teams out there. One is playing cricket, and the other is not.'
After the series, Don Bradman refused to discuss Jardine with journalists and would not give a tribute after his death, showing his enduring disapproval.
Australian spectator 'Yabba' delivered a sledge for the age, telling Jardine to: 'Leave our flies alone, they are the only friends you've got here.'
Jardine made enemies on both sides, with several English players revolting against his Bodyline tactics.
'Jardine is loathed more than any German who ever fought in any war... sometimes I feel I should like to kill [him] and today is one of those days,' English player Gubby Allen famously said.
7. Jonny Bairstow (wk)
If looks could kill, Bairstow would have taken out the entire Australian team at Lord's
For the most part, Bairstow has been a quiet sort of chap who just did his job and didn't attract the attention of any Aussie fans. Until that moment.
During the 2023 Ashes Test at Lord's, Jonny Bairstow walked out of his crease immediately after facing a bouncer, believing the ball to be dead.
Wicketkeeper Alex Carey immediately broke the stumps and appealed, and after the third umpire confirmed Bairstow was out, the dismissal caused a firestorm.
The Aussies were viciously sledged in the Long Room, the English claimed the moral high ground and said the Aussies played against the 'Spirit of Cricket' and the story even went international to nations that don't even play cricket.
The Prime Ministers of both countries got involved. Aussies even dug up old footage of Bairstow doing the exact same thing to another batsman in County Cricket.
'People are going to be unhappy about it, but it's the right decision,' former Australia captain Mark Taylor said at the time, in one of the great cases of understating the obvious.
'You'll forever be remembered for that,' English fast bowler Stuart Broad spat, before calling the dismissal 'literally the worst thing I've seen in cricket.'
'Same-old Aussies, always cheating,' English crowds bayed in the remainder of the match and series.
But former England skipper Michael Atherton brought a bit of common sense to the table for those lashing Pat Cummins and his men.
'England have nothing to complain about, it was a dozy bit of cricket from Jonny Bairstow,' he said.
8. Ben Stokes
Don't make Ben Stokes angry, you wouldn't like him when he's angry - especially during The Ashes
For the purpose of this article, only Stokes' cricket infamy will be mentioned.
Stokes plays the game hard, became the ambassador for 'Bazball' and gets under the skin of the Aussies mostly because he grows two feet taller every time he plays them.
Stokes produced one of the greatest Ashes performances in history at Headingley in 2019, scoring an unbeaten 135 to lead England to a one-wicket victory while chasing 359.
His 76-run last-wicket stand with Jack Leach became one of Test cricket's most famous partnerships.
In the 2023 Lord's Test, Stokes scored 155 in another remarkable chase that kept England in the series despite the loss.
He has also played key roles with the ball and in the field, including spectacular catches and vital wickets across multiple Ashes series.
Those instances burn the Aussies, and Stokes' fiery attitude tips fuel onto the fire.
He called David Warner a 'f***ing prick'.
He ripped Cummins over the Bairstow innings, invoking the 'Spirit of Cricket' defence.
He said 'England live 'rent free' in Australian heads' and claimed they had achieved 'more' than just winning The Ashes, when they failed to win The Ashes.
Outside of The Ashes, he blew up at former Indian skipper Virat Kohli and then refused to shake his hand.
He apologised for appearing to call a South African cricket fan a 'f***ing four-eyed c***'.
It has taught the Aussies one important lesson - don't poke the bear. Stokes is rarely sledged in media or on the field because when he goes into berserker mode, English wins usually follow.
9. Stuart Broad
Stuart Broad was a thorn in the side of Australian sides for almost two decades, with the bat and the ball
Broad continues to menace the Aussies, this time from the other side of the camera as a commentator and analyst
Whether Stuart Broad is quite the scoundrel Aussies make him out to be, or an Ashes pantomime villain playing a role to inflame the rivalry, he seemed to be at the centre of many of the great flare-ups between the nations.
It kind of doesn't matter, because the controversial 2013 'non-walk' incident means he'll never be welcome at the Gabba in Brisbane ever again.
Broad was given not out after bashing the leather off an outswinger and edging the ball to slip, despite a clear sound. He did not walk, and England won the match.
Songs were written about that moment, including 'Why didn't Broad Walk?' to the tune of 'Under the Boardwalk'.
Australia's coach at the time, Darren Lehmann, publicly called the action 'blatant cheating'.
'I hope the Australian public give it to him right from the word go for the whole [Australian] summer,' he said ahead of the next Aussie series.
'And I hope he cries and goes home. I don't advocate walking, but when you hit it to first slip it's pretty hard.'
The problem was, Broad was good at Ashes cricket - really, really good.
Over time, the intense dislike has softened for some fans into a form of grudging respect. They acknowledge his skill and competitive drive, even if they don't like it.
Broad, who is normally soft-spoken and respectful off the cricket pitch, continues to turn the knife to build up Ashes hype.
His comments calling the current Aussie side the 'worst in 15 years' certainly won't win him many friends down under.
10. Graeme Swann
Aussies were not thrilled to see a bloke who averaged 40 mocking them with this dance in 2010
For a mediocre spinner, Swann sure was chirpy. And Aussies hated that.
There is a prevailing feeling in Australian ranks that you have to earn the right to sledge, which is why Broad and the likes of James Anderson have a modicum of respect.
Swann took a good - but not great - 255 wickets in his career at an average of 29.96. However when he played in Australia, that average bloated out to 39.98. In his final series, he took just seven wickets at an average of 80.0.
Shane Warne, he was not. But boy, did he like to chirp.
In 2013, during the same Ashes series that Australia won, Swann made a crude comparison on Facebook, referring to his team's defeat as being 'a*** r**** in Perth'. This caused significant backlash and was widely condemned.
Before the 2017 Ashes, Swann publicly stated that he believed the Australian batting lineup was the weakest in 20 years.
'I think they [Botham and Swann] should be looking in their own backyards before they start worrying about ours,' then-captain Ricky Ponting fumed in response.
However, it was back in 2010 that Swann really boiled the blood of Aussies.
England won the fourth Test and retained The Ashes in Australia, leading Swann to celebrate on the field with teammates doing the 'sprinkler dance'.
It was horribly cringe and the fact it was being done on Australian soil by a pedestrian spinner was not appreciated one bit.
11. Harold Larwood
Harold Larwood was the key bowler in the middle of Bodyline and had a life-long feud with Don Bradman
Last, but definitely not least, the other architect of Bodyline. If Jardine was the gun, fast bowler Larwood was his bullet - aimed right at the Aussies.
However, there was redemption for one of the great Ashes villains of all time.
Because eventually, he became offside with both Jardine and the English selectors.
Jardine made him bat with an injured foot, leading to it breaking.
Then, when selectors urged him to apologise for his short-pitched bowling in public, Larwood refused, saying he was only doing as directed by his captain.
That cost him his place in the English side, so he defected to Australia where he was welcomed with open arms.
But the original Captain Grumpy, Sir Donald Bradman, was not as easily forgiving.
Bradman saw Larwood's post-series commentary as a futile effort to clear his name and make a case for himself.
Larwood believed Bradman had not acted with integrity by not leaving the crease when he was dismissed at Headingley in 1930, and found Bradman to be aloof and unsociable.
Privately, Larwood intensely disliked Bradman as a person. And he never stopped admiring Jardine.
Which means he remains a key figure in some of the biggest Ashes feuds in history that were never resolved.
