Ashes 2021-22: Australia Win 4-0 (1 Draw) — Boland 6/7 on MCG Debut (Cheapest Six-For History), Head Player of Series (112 off 85 Brisbrane), Khawaja Twin Centuries SCG, Cummins COVID-Absent 2nd Test, Tim Paine Resigned Pre-Series, Stokes/Moeen/Archer All Absent

Australia won the 2021-22 Ashes series 4-0 (one draw) played in Australia from December 8, 2021 to January 18, 2022. Travis Head won the Compton-Miller Medal as Player of the Series with 357 runs at an average of 59.5; Joe Root led England's batters with 322 runs. Pat Cummins took 21 wickets for Australia; Mark Wood 17 for England. Australia were captained by Pat Cummins (his first Ashes as Test captain) after Tim Paine resigned in November 2021 over a historical sexting scandal. England's squad was severely depleted: Ben Stokes was absent (mental health break and finger rehabilitation); Moeen Ali had retired from Test cricket in September 2021; Jofra Archer was injured (elbow); Sam Curran had a back stress fracture. 1st Test Gabba, Brisbane (December 8-11, 2021): Australia won by 9 wickets — ENG 147 & 297; AUS 425 & 20/1. Travis Head scored 112 off 85 balls — the third-fastest century in Ashes history at that point (Player of the Match). David Warner scored 94. England were bowled out for 147 on Day 1. James Anderson and Stuart Broad were controversially omitted from England's XI for this match. 2nd Test Adelaide Oval, day-night (December 16-20, 2021): Australia won by 275 runs — AUS 473/9d & 230/9d; ENG 236 & 192. Marnus Labuschagne scored 103 in the 1st innings and 51 in the 2nd (Player of the Match). Jhye Richardson took 5/42 in England's 2nd innings. Pat Cummins was absent from the entire Test after being identified as a COVID-19 close contact (at a restaurant on the eve of the match); Steve Smith captained Australia in his absence. 3rd Test MCG Boxing Day (December 26-28, 2021): Australia won by an innings and 14 runs (before lunch on Day 3) — AUS 267; ENG 185 & 68. Scott Boland, on his Test debut at the MCG (his home ground), took 6/7 in England's 2nd innings — the cheapest six-wicket haul in Test history by runs conceded; his five-wicket haul came in 19 balls, equalling the fastest five-wicket haul record in Test cricket. Boland is of Gulidjan Indigenous descent; he won the Johnny Mullagh Medal (the MCG Test's player award, named for an Indigenous cricketer). This win sealed the Ashes for Australia (3-0 unassailable). Player of the Match: Boland. 4th Test SCG, Sydney (January 5-9, 2022): Match drawn — AUS 416/8d & 265/6d; ENG 294 & 270/9. Usman Khawaja returned to the Test XI and scored 137 in the 1st innings and 101* in the 2nd — twin centuries on his return to Test cricket (Player of the Match). Jonny Bairstow scored 113 for England. Stuart Broad took 5/101 in Australia's 1st innings (his 19th Test five-wicket haul). England saved the match in a dramatic final session: Jack Leach, Broad, and Anderson batted 64 balls as the last three wickets to deny Australia. 5th Test Bellerive Oval, Hobart (January 14-16, 2022): Australia won by 146 runs (in 3 days) — AUS 303 & 155; ENG 188 & 124. Travis Head scored 101 off 112 balls (Player of the Match). England were bowled out for 124 chasing 271.

Scott Boland's 6/7 at the MCG: The Cheapest Six-For in Test History

Scott Boland's bowling performance at the MCG on his Test debut was one of the most statistically extraordinary in Ashes history. His 6/7 in England's 2nd innings — 68 all out in 27.5 overs — was the cheapest six-wicket haul in Test match history by runs conceded, and his five-wicket mark came in just 19 balls (equalling the record for the fastest five-for ever taken in a Test, alongside Ernie Toshack for Australia in 1947 and Stuart Broad for England at The Oval in 2009). Boland, who had grown up in Melbourne and played Victoria domestic cricket for years, took his 6/7 at his home ground in front of the Boxing Day crowd — a venue he had watched Test cricket at since childhood. As a Gulidjan man, he also became one of the most prominent Indigenous cricketers to play Test cricket for Australia, winning the Johnny Mullagh Medal (an MCG Test award named in honour of Johnny Mullagh, a 19th-century Aboriginal cricketer who played for Australia in England in 1868). The win sealed the Ashes at 3-0.

Tim Paine's Resignation and Cummins's First Ashes Captaincy

Tim Paine had been Australia's captain since taking over from Steve Smith after the 2018 Sandpaper Gate scandal. His resignation in November 2021 — weeks before the Ashes began — was triggered by the emergence of a historical sexting scandal involving a female Cricket Tasmania employee, which had been investigated in 2018 and initially cleared, but resurfaced publicly. Paine withdrew from the Ashes tour citing mental health grounds. Pat Cummins, Australia's premier fast bowler, was appointed Test captain — an unusual appointment for an out-and-out fast bowler (fast bowlers carry workloads that make captaincy challenging in hot conditions). Cummins proved an effective leader: Australia won 4-0, he took 21 series wickets, and his COVID-related absence from the 2nd Test (identified as close contact while dining at a restaurant) meant Smith captained for one match — a reminder of the lingering complexity of post-Sandpaper-Gate Australian cricket governance.