Ashes 100-1: 97 Gabba dabba doo

Andrew Strauss and Andy Flower will no doubt be urging their side to make a good start to the Ashes series in Brisbane, which starts in 97 days. Certainly when England last won an Ashes series in Australia, Mike Gatting's side eased to a comfortable seven wicket win at The Gabba in advance of securing an eventual 2-1 series victory.

Since then England have had a diabolical time of it on the Gold Coast with heavy defeats in 1990, 1994, 2002 and 2006. It would have been five defeats out of five but for a seasonal thunderstorm saving Alec Stewart's side in 1998.

However, this is hardly a surprise. Since that defeat in 1986, Australia have only lost one other test at Brisbane (to West Indies in 1988) and have won 17 of 23 matches as the table below shows:

Australia's record at the Gabba 1986-present
Result	Margin	Opposition	Start Date
lost	7 wickets	v England	14-Nov-86
won	9 wickets	v New Zealand	04-Dec-87
lost	9 wickets	v West Indies	18-Nov-88
draw	-	v Sri Lanka	08-Dec-89
won	10 wickets	v England	23-Nov-90
won	10 wickets	v India	29-Nov-91
draw	-	v West Indies	27-Nov-92
won	inns & 96 runs	v New Zealand	03-Dec-93
won	184 runs	v England	25-Nov-94
won	inns & 126 runs	v Pakistan	09-Nov-95
won	123 runs	v West Indies	22-Nov-96
won	186 runs	v New Zealand	07-Nov-97
draw	-	v England	20-Nov-98
won	10 wickets	v Pakistan	05-Nov-99
won	inns & 126 runs	v West Indies	23-Nov-00
draw	-	v New Zealand	08-Nov-01
won	384 runs	v England	07-Nov-02
draw	-	v India	04-Dec-03
won	inns & 156 runs	v New Zealand	18-Nov-04
won	379 runs	v West Indies	03-Nov-05
won	277 runs	v England	23-Nov-06
won	inns & 40 runs	v Sri Lanka	08-Nov-07
won	149 runs	v New Zealand	20-Nov-08
won	inns & 65 runs	v West Indies	26-Nov-09

This is a formidable record and one Strauss and Flower must look to overcome if England want to head to Adelaide either ahead or on level terms. One senses that if they do then it could be Strauss holding the little urn come Sydney in early January. 

Comments

[Mahek]

I might be missing something but how is 97 related to Australia's performance at the Gabba?

[The Reverse Sweep]

Nothing Mahek! Now that would be a challenge to come up with 100 Ashes related posts with each post bearing a reference to the number in the countdown. Maybe next time!

[Mahek]

Haha, glad we sorted that out. I thought you were on a bit of a roll with each of the previous posts. Maybe you could've referred to England's famous win in the 1997 Ashes?

[The Reverse Sweep]

I must admit Mahek I did think of that, but decided that I would probably be setting myself an impossible task!

[Mahek]

Probably. Unless you'd started working on it well in advance. But that's something even people who are paid to write about cricket do :)