Most runs in the Ashes: Don Bradman’s 5,028 leads the list

He made them in 37 Ashes Tests between 1928 and 1948, at an average of 89.78, with 19 hundreds. Nobody has come within 1,300 runs of him.

Most runs in the Ashes

Player	Team	Span	Mat	Runs	Ave	100s
Don Bradman	Australia	1928-1948	37	5,028	89.78	19
Steve Smith	Australia	2010-2026	41	3,703	56.10	13
Jack Hobbs	England	1908-1930	41	3,636	54.26	12
Allan Border	Australia	1978-1993	42	3,222	55.55	7
Steve Waugh	Australia	1986-2003	45	3,173	58.75	10
David Gower	England	1978-1991	38	3,037	46.01	9
Wally Hammond	England	1928-1947	33	2,852	51.85	9
Joe Root	England	2013-2026	39	2,828	40.98	6
Herbert Sutcliffe	England	1924-1934	27	2,741	66.85	8
Clem Hill	Australia	1896-1912	41	2,660	35.46	4
John Edrich	England	1964-1975	32	2,644	48.96	7
Geoff Boycott	England	1964-1981	34	2,579	46.05	6
Mark Taylor	Australia	1989-1999	33	2,496	42.30	6
Alastair Cook	England	2006-2018	35	2,493	40.20	5
Ricky Ponting	Australia	1997-2010	35	2,476	44.21	8

These are Ashes Tests only. England and Australia have played each other outside the Ashes — the two Centenary Tests and the 1979-80 series in Australia — and those runs are not counted here, which is why some players’ totals are lower than their overall record against the other country.

Steve Smith is now second, and still playing

Steve Smith has 3,703 Ashes runs from 41 Tests at 56.10, which puts him past Jack Hobbs, Allan Border and Steve Waugh and second on the all-time list. He is the leading Australian run-scorer in Ashes history other than Bradman, and his 13 hundreds are second only to Bradman’s 19.

He is also still 1,325 runs behind. Bradman needed 63 innings for his 5,028; Smith has already batted 74 times.

Joe Root is the only England batter in the top ten who is still playing, on 2,828 from 39 Tests. His 18 fifties are joint second-most in Ashes history with Ian Bell’s, behind Border’s 19, but his six hundreds are fewer than any England batter above him in the table.

Bradman’s Ashes record

Bradman’s 5,028 came at 89.78, which is comfortably the highest average of anyone with more than 2,000 Ashes runs. His 19 hundreds are still the most in the fixture’s history, six clear of Steve Smith’s 13.

His 334 at Leeds in 1930 was the first triple century made in the Ashes, and he repeated it with 304 on the same ground in 1934 — the only Australian to pass 300 in an Ashes Test twice. Bob Simpson (311 in 1964) and Bob Cowper (307 in 1966) have done it once each.

The highest individual score in the Ashes is not his, though. That is Len Hutton’s 364 at The Oval in 1938, made across 797 minutes and 847 balls.

The 2025-26 Ashes: Travis Head’s series

Australia won the most recent Ashes 4-1, taking Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide and Sydney, with England’s only win coming at Melbourne.

Travis Head made 629 runs at 62.90, with three hundreds and a best of 170, and was the leading scorer on either side by more than 200. Joe Root was next on 400 with two hundreds, Harry Brook made 358, and Steve Smith 286 from the four Tests he played.

Our report on what the result cost England is here: England lost the Ashes, the coach and the captain.

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Author: William Paul

Featured photo: AFP / Adelaide Advertiser