Editing The Ashes (section)

===1989 to 2005===
[[File:MCG99.jpg|right|thumb|[[Melbourne Cricket Ground]] [[Boxing Day Test]] 1998]]
The Australian team of 1989 was comparable to the great Australian teams of the past, and resoundingly defeated England 4–0.<ref>Harte, pp. 679–682.</ref> Well led by [[Allan Border]], the team included the young cricketers [[Mark Taylor (cricketer)|Mark Taylor]], [[Merv Hughes]], [[David Boon]], [[Ian Healy]] and [[Steve Waugh]], who were all to prove long-serving and successful Ashes competitors. England, now led once again by [[David Gower]], suffered from injuries and poor form. During the Fourth Test news broke that prominent England players had agreed to take part in a "rebel tour" of South Africa the following winter; three of them ([[Tim Robinson (English cricketer)|Tim Robinson]], [[Neil Foster]] and [[John Emburey]]) were playing in the match, and were subsequently dropped from the England side.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://content-www.cricinfo.com/wisdencricketer/content/story/139086.html|title=Rebels take a step too far (English rebel tour to South Africa, 1989)|first=Nick|last=Hoult|publisher=[[Cricinfo]]|date=July 2004|access-date=22 October 2007|archive-date=7 July 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707220351/http://content-www.cricinfo.com/wisdencricketer/content/story/139086.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Australia reached a cricketing peak in the 1990s and early 2000s, coupled with a general decline in England's fortunes. After re-establishing its credibility in 1989, Australia underlined its superiority with victories in the 1990–91, 1993, 1994–95, 1997, 1998–99, 2001 and 2002–03 series, all by convincing margins.

Great Australian players in the early years included batsmen Border, Boon, Taylor and Steve Waugh. The captaincy passed from Border to Taylor in the mid-1990s and then to Steve Waugh before the 2001 series. In the latter part of the 1990s Waugh himself, along with his twin brother [[Mark Waugh|Mark]], scored heavily for Australia and fast bowlers [[Glenn McGrath]] and [[Jason Gillespie]] made a serious impact, especially the former. The wicketkeeper-batsman position was held by Ian Healy for most of the 1990s and by [[Adam Gilchrist]] from 2001 to 2006–07. In the 2000s, batsmen [[Justin Langer]], [[Damien Martyn]] and [[Matthew Hayden]] became noted players for Australia. But the most dominant Australian player was leg-spinner [[Shane Warne]], whose first delivery in Ashes cricket in 1993, to dismiss Mike Gatting, became known as the [[Ball of the Century]].

Australia's record between 1989 and 2005 had a significant impact on the statistics between the two sides. Before the 1989 series began, the win–loss ratio was almost even, with 87 test wins for Australia to England's 86, 74 tests having been drawn.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stats.cricinfo.com/statsguru/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;opposition=1;orderby=won;spanmax2=1+Apr+1989;spanval2=span;team=2;template=results;trophy=1;type=team |title=Team records &#124; Test matches &#124; Cricinfo Statsguru &#124; ESPN Cricinfo |publisher=Stats.cricinfo.com |access-date=22 July 2013}}</ref> By the 2005 series Australia's test wins had increased to 115 whereas England's had increased to only 93 (with 82 draws).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stats.cricinfo.com/statsguru/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;opposition=1;orderby=won;spanmax2=1+Apr+2005;spanval2=span;team=2;template=results;trophy=1;type=team |title=Team records &#124; Test matches &#124; Cricinfo Statsguru &#124; ESPN Cricinfo |publisher=Stats.cricinfo.com |access-date=22 July 2013}}</ref> In the period between 1989 and the beginning of the 2005 series, the two sides had played 43 times; Australia winning 28 times, England 7 times, with 8 draws. Only a single England victory had come in a match in which the Ashes were still at stake, namely the First Test of the 1997 series. All others were consolation victories when the Ashes had been secured by Australia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://stats.cricinfo.com/guru?sdb=team;team=AUS;class=testteam;filter=basic;opposition=ENG;notopposition=0;decade=0;homeaway=0;continent=0;country=0;notcountry=0;groundid=0;season=0;startdefault=1877-03-15;start=1877-03-15;enddefault=2005-03-29;end=2005-03-29;tourneyid=0;finals=0;daynight=0;toss=0;scheduledovers=0;scheduleddays=0;innings=0;followon=0;result=0;seriesresult=0;captainid=0;recent=;viewtype=series;runslow=;runshigh=;wicketslow=;wicketshigh=;ballslow=;ballshigh=;overslow=;overshigh=;bpo=0;batevent=;conclow=;conchigh=;takenlow=;takenhigh=;ballsbowledlow=;ballsbowledhigh=;oversbowledlow=;oversbowledhigh=;bpobowled=0;bowlevent=;submit=1;.cgifields=viewtype |title=Cricinfo – Statsguru – Australia – Tests – Series record |publisher=Stats.cricinfo.com |date=17 June 2008 |access-date=22 July 2013}}</ref>