![Steve Smith led Australia at SCG with a century [Source: statsgenous/X.com]](https://onecricketnews.akamaized.net/parth-editor/oc-dashboard/news-images-prod/1767845862151_Steve_Smith_SCG.jpg?type=hq)
Steve Smith led Australia at SCG with a century [Source: statsgenous/X.com]
On Thursday afternoon, Australia once again retained the iconic Ashes trophy at home with a near-perfect margin of 4-1, thanks to their 5-wicket win at the Sydney Cricket Ground, making it five series in a row without letting go of the Urn. With this win, they continue to stay at the top of the ICC World Test Championship table for the 2025-27 cycle.
At the other end of the spectrum, despite a strong fight in the fifth and final Test of the series, England failed to win their second consecutive match down under after their win at the MCG, which keeps them in the bottom half of the WTC table.
SCG win keeps Australia well-poised for another WTC final
Having played two WTC finals on the trot in 2023 and 2025 against India and South Africa, respectively, series wins in the West Indies, and at home against the arch-rivals mean the Aussies stay in a pole position to finish in the top-2 for the third time in a row and turn the fortunes in their favour after their loss against SA in 2025.
As things stand, the 2023 champions have lost only one of their 8 matches of the cycle and have a win percentage of 85.71 before they play their next Test match away against the Proteas.
ICC World Test Championship Points Table After AUS vs ENG 5th Test
| Team | Matches | Won | Lost | Draw | Win % |
| Australia | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 85.71 |
| New Zealand | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 77.78 |
| South Africa | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 75.00 |
| Sri Lanka | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 66.67 |
| Pakistan | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50.00 |
| India | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 48.15 |
| England | 10 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 35.19 |
| Bangladesh | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 16.67 |
| West Indies | 8 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 4.17 |
In the early stages of the fresh WTC cycle, Australia have taken a healthy lead in the standings, with a couple of big away tours scheduled in 2026/27, when they play SA and India. A few losses or draws would still mean they keep a strong hold at the top of this table.
Alongside them are New Zealand, who have only played a solitary series in the ongoing cycle against West Indies ahead of three big series against England, India and Australia in the coming 12 months, where they stand a chance to create history in the two away tours with a formidable playing roster at their disposal.
England in danger of missing fourth straight WTC final
England, who host the WTC final at Lord's every couple of years, are yet to feature in the final of the competition and with a home series tie against India and a thumping loss against Australia, their win percentage of 35.19 shows their bleak chances of making it to the 2027 final.
Up next, they face New Zealand and Pakistan at home in the 2026 summer, which is likely to determine their fate for the cycle, as they stand on the verge of another lower-half of the table finish.
Uphill task for India to reach WTC 2027 final
The two-time finalists who are yet to clinch the WTC mace started the ongoing cycle well with an away series tie in England, followed by a home series win against WI. However, at the halfway stage, getting whitewashed against South Africa in November has dampened their chance to reach their third final, as they sit just above England in the table with 48.15 per cent, which is even below Pakistan.
Up next, they have testing tours of New Zealand and Sri Lanka scheduled in 2026, before they host Australia in 2027 for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy ahead of the final.
