Australia were determined to regain the Ashes when England toured in the winter of 2017/18. From the point of view of the home fans and their supporters, it was very much mission accomplished.
They laid down a statement of intent in the first Test, at the Gabba, Brisbane, where England won the toss and batted. At first the match went reasonably well for them as they reached 302, James Vince making 83, and Dawid Malan and Mark Stoneman both scoring half centuries.
At 76/4 Australia were struggling, but not for the first or last time, Steve Smith proved to be a thorn in English sides, scoring 141 to help his team close on 328.
England then let themselves down with a poor batting performance in their second innings, despite 51 from captain Joe Root. Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon all took three wickets each as England were dismissed for 195.
That left Australia needing 170, a target they reached without losing a wicket, David Warner finishing on 87 not out, whilst Cameron Bancroft was undefeated on 82.
What had initially been a close contest became a 10-wicket victory for Australia.
The teams headed south-west to Adelaide for the second Test match, where England again won the toss, but this time decided to field. It proved to be the wrong call, as Australia declared on 442/8. Shaun Marsh led the way for them with an unbeaten 126 and both Usman Khawaja and Tim Paine made fifties, and several others made useful contributions with the bat.
The England batting again proved fallible when they replied, and they were dismissed for 227, the spin of Lyon claiming four wickets.
However. England gave themselves a chance of victory by then dismissing the Australians for 138, James Anderson taking 5-43 and Chris Woakes 4-36.
Those illusions were soon dispelled, however. Chasing 354 to win, England were bowled out for 233, despite 67 from Root, Mitchell Starc taking 5-93. Australia won by 120 runs.