The two sides also played each other in England in June and July 2010 in a five-match ODI series as a prelude to the upcoming summer.

In addition to the original 17-man squad, left-arm spinner Michael Beer and left-handed opening batsman Phillip Hughes were later called up for the final three Tests.

[8] On the opening day, Peter Siddle – celebrating his 26th birthday – took a hat-trick and achieved his best Test career figures to date with 6/54.

[9] He dismissed Cook (caught Watson), Prior (bowled) and Broad (lbw) to take the first Ashes hat-trick since Darren Gough took three wickets in Sydney in 1999.

[12] Although bowler Steven Finn finished with figures of 6/125 on his Ashes debut, England conceded a 221-run first innings deficit.

[15] With the target at 297 runs from 41 overs for victory, Australia moved to 1/107, with Ricky Ponting making a quick 51, before a draw was declared.

For the second Test, Australia made two changes to its fast bowling attack; dropping Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus and bringing in Doug Bollinger and Ryan Harris.

[16][17] Simon Katich hesitated when Shane Watson called for a single and was run out without facing a ball by Jonathan Trott, who registered a direct hit with just one stump to aim at.

Although Hussey completed a half-century, England took the final six wickets in the final morning session to win by an innings and 71 runs, beginning with Steven Finn taking the key wicket of Hussey by getting him into a mistake on a pull shot that went to Anderson at mid-on.

With two first-ball ducks, Harris became only the second Australian in Test cricket to earn a king pair (the first being Adam Gilchrist against India in Kolkata in 2000–01).

[23] Following an innings defeat, Australia made four changes, with pace bowlers Johnson and Hilfenhaus returning in place of Bollinger and Doherty, Steve Smith (at that time considered an all-rounder) replacing North in the middle-order, and opener Phillip Hughes replacing the injured Katich.

However, the middle-lower order rescued Australia with Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson scoring half-centuries.

Ricky Ponting damaged a finger parrying Trott to wicket-keeper Haddin in the penultimate over, before Paul Collingwood was caught behind off Harris from the last ball of the day.

Despite being the series' leading wicket-taker, Steven Finn was rested by England for the much-anticipated Boxing Day Test and replaced by Tim Bresnan, who had been with Collingwood, Broad and Swann in the T20 side that had beaten Australia in the ICC World Twenty20 Final back in May.

Tremlett later had Ponting caught behind before Anderson took the vital wicket of Hussey, who had achieved at least fifty in every innings of the series, in the last over before lunch.

Australia reviewed a caught-behind appeal for Pietersen when on 49, which upheld Aleem Dar's not out verdict; however, Ponting continued to debate the decision with both umpires and was fined 40% of his match fee.

[29] Australia had a bright spot in Victoria native and state captain Siddle, who took a six-wicket haul, but they lost Harris for the rest of the series when he fractured his ankle in a run-up.

Bresnan then took three wickets – Watson lbw, captain Ponting bowled and Hussey caught for a duck – to leave Australia 104/4.

Australia were bowled out for 258 and England retained the Ashes, winning by an innings and 157 runs to go up 2–1 in the series with one match left to play.

[31] The losses at Adelaide and Melbourne also meant that it was the first time that Australia had ever lost two Tests in a home series by an innings.

[32] Prior to the fifth Test match, Ricky Ponting was declared unfit to play due to the injury to his left little finger.

[8] Usman Khawaja made his Test debut in place of Ponting and became the first Pakistani Australian to play for Australia.

Fellow opener Cook continued his excellent form, making his third century and passing 700 runs for the series.

[37] After Cook departed for 189, Ian Bell made his first century in Ashes cricket in his 18th Test match against Australia.