Former England captain Mike Atherton copped plenty from the Australian players, and media, during his playing career.

So it’s perhaps unsurprising the 58-year-old has gleefully observed the extraordinary difference 12 months can make for an English cricketer in Australia.

Currently in Perth to commentate on England’s upcoming ODI and T20 series’, the 115-Test veteran and respected broadcaster could barely contain his delight on the Sky Sport Cricket Podcast, explaining that just a year since the English team faced heavy scrutiny and criticism in the lead-up to the 2025/26 Ashes Test Series things are completely different this time around.

“A year ago when England arrived all the guns were trained on England in the classic Pommy bashing that you would well remember from all our Ashes tours here,” Atherton told co-host Nasser Hussain.

“Joe Root, ‘average Joe’ who never got a Test hundred in Australia … pictures of the New Zealand-born whining Ben Stokes coming through the airport, all the usual focus on England… whereas now all the focus is on the home team,” he continued.

“There is no better time to be in Australia than when the Australian team are tearing themselves apart as they seem to be right now.“

While agreeing he sees little point in Cricket Australia re-opening its investigations, he also said the story is unlikely to go away until current Australian Test captain Pat Cummins - who is not playing in the ODI and T20 matches - fronts the cameras, while also expressing his sympathy for Australian white-ball captain Mitch Marsh.

“Of course at some point Pat Cummins is going to have to speak,” he observed.

“But slightly amusingly is what’s going to happen tomorrow (Thursday), by a coincidence of factors Mitch Marsh is going to have to front up to the captain’s pre-match press conference here in Perth.

“Now, Mitch Marsh is the only person in this Australian white ball squad who was playing in 2018, he played all four Tests and I can imagine he’s just thinking, ‘God, Pat Cummins is not playing, I’m not only standing in for him as captain, I’m going to have to be the one to front up tomorrow ... it’s going to be a circus,” he said. 

England play Australia in eight white-ball matches in the next three weeks, beginning with the first ODI in Perth on Friday.

Australia vs England: Men’s ODI & T20 Match Schedule 2026