Having suffered heavy defeats in the two previous Ashes series, England hoped to turn the tide when Australia visited in 1993.
It was not to be. The Australian era of dominance continued, underlined by their consistency of team selection. Nine of their players featured in all six Tests, while England experimented with 24 men as they tried to find the winning formula. Failure to regain the Ashes ultimately cost captain Graham Gooch his job. He resigned after the fourth Test match, once the destiny of the series was beyond doubt, and be replaced by Mike Atherton.
The die for what was to come was set in the first Test match, at Old Trafford, Manchester.
England won the toss and bowled, but watched the Australian openers put in 128 for the first wicket, before Michael Slater fell for 58. His partner Mark Taylor made 124 out of a total of 289. Off spinner Peter Such took 6-67.
When it was Australia’s turn to bowl, they unleashed a secret weapon In the form of leg-spinner Shane Warne – a man few of the English had seen in action before. He took four wickets, including that of Mike Gatting with his first ball in a Test match on English soil, producing what became known as the Ball of the Century to bowl him.
The ball initially travelled straight down the pitch to Gatting, then drifted to the right before deviating sharply back to the left, hitting leg stump, much to the disbelief of the batter.
Warne took 4-51 as England were dismissed for 210, but the psychological blow he inflicted on the minds of the England batters arguably had the greater effect. Gatting, in particular, never fully recovered from it.
Australia then batted themselves into a position of strength by declaring on 432/5. David Boon made 93, Mark Waugh 64, his brother Steve 78 not out, and wicketkeeper Ian Healy an undefeated 102.
Captain Gooch led from the front with England’s reply with 133, but he lacked sustained support, and England were bowled out for 332, Warne taking four more wickets.
Australia had won by 179 runs, and they had lain down a clear marker for the rest of the summer.