‘It Kills Me To Say It’: Ex-ENG Pacer Backs Australia To Win Ashes, Pins England’s Hope On… | Cricket News

The 2025-26 edition of Ashes series will be played from November 21, 2025 to January 8, 2026 in Australia. (Picture Credit: AFP)

Former England fast bowler Darren Gough has made a bold prediction ahead of the marquee Ashes series beginning Friday, November 21, at the Optus Stadium in Perth. Gough, a veteran of several Ashes battles, believes Australia remain favourites to retain the urn — unless Harry Brook produces a blockbuster series for England.

“It kills me to say I think Australia will win the series. The one person who could change that scoreline for me is Harry Brook,” Gough told The Yorkshire Post.

Brook, one of the standout performers of England’s Bazball era under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, enters his first Ashes tour with exceptional numbers. The 26-year-old averages 57.55 with 10 centuries in 30 Tests and was outstanding during the recent home series against India, scoring 481 runs in five matches with two hundreds.

Gough said England’s chances hinge heavily on Brook’s form, adding, “I think if Harry Brook has a good Ashes, we win it 3-2, but I’m going to go for a 3-2 Australia win.” He expects a tightly contested series across venues in Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney.

Emphasising the early momentum, Gough noted the significance of the opening clash, saying, “I think that’s (the first Test is) such an important game – not just because it’s the first one, but because the second one is a day-night Test.”

He added, “That second Test in Brisbane, for me, is a toss of a coin; luck will play a huge part in it, in terms of when you’re going to be bowling, what the conditions are going to be like.”

“So, if you don’t get off to a good start in that first Test, and you’re on the wrong end of it in the second, which could easily happen, all of a sudden you could be 2-0 down and it’s as good as over.”

Gough also tipped Joe Root to end his long wait for a Test century in Australia. “First, people are going to question that greatest of all-time claim, and also it means we’re going to have to see Matthew Hayden running around the SCG naked (as Hayden claimed he would do if Root does reach the three-figure mark), which I’m not too keen on seeing, I must admit. He looks like Buzz Lightyear as it is,” he joked.

Root has played 14 Tests across three Ashes tours in Australia, scoring 892 runs at an average of 35.69, including nine fifty-plus scores.