The Pundits’ Folly: Why The Ashes Is Already Decided

Musings on has-beens and what will be, from an anonymous knighted former England Test cricket captain

Nov 19, 2025

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As I write this column, the first Test of the 2025/26 Ashes is due to begin in a little over 24 hours. And yet, in a very real sense, the outcome of not just this Test, but the entire series, is already decided.

I refer of course to the block universe theory or ‘eternalism’. Those of us who’ve studied physics and philosophy at any depth - and I had the p…

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