By coming from 0-1 down to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 3-1, this is the first time Australia has won a Test series after losing the 1st Test since…

The 1997 Ashes Series in England, which Mark Taylor’s team won 3-2 in the last 6 Test Ashes series after losing the 1st Test at Edgbaston.

Fun fact, that 1997 Ashes series was the only time between 1989 and 2005 that England won an Ashes Test while the series was still alive.

More historically, this is the first time Australia has won a Test series in Australia after losing the 1st Test since 1968-69 against the West Indies, in which Bill Lawry’s Australians won the 5-match series 3-1 against Sir Garfield Sobers’ West Indians, regaining the Frank Worrell Trophy.

The West Indians won the 1st Test by 125 runs at the Gabba, however Australia responded by winning the Boxing Day Test by an innings and 30 runs as Lawry scored 205, the New Year’s Test in Sydney saw another Australian victory by 10 wickets to lead the series 2-1, then the 4th Test in Adelaide was a high-scoring thriller as the West Indians set Australia 360 to win on the final day, after which the Australians reached 3-298 with an hour to play, only to lose 6/29 thanks to 3 run outs and Ian Chappell being dismissed for 96, leaving Paul Sheahan and Alan Connolly to see off the last 26 balls and save the draw at 9/339, only 21 short of an outright victory.

That Adelaide Test also held the record for the highest aggregate in a 5-day Test match for 53 years (1,764 runs), despite no player scoring more than 118 runs and no partnership surpassing 150 runs.

Nevertheless, the Aussies survived and dominated the 5th Test in Sydney, as Doug Walters made history by becoming the first player to score a double century and a century in the same Test match, with Lawry’s 2nd Innings declaration setting the visitors an impossible 735 to win in 5 sessions, and despite centuries to Sobers and Seymour Nurse, the Australians won the match by 382 runs to wrap up the series.

Oddly enough, that Frank Worrell Trophy was the last Test series Australia played at home until the 1970-71 Ashes, as they had the successful tour of India in November and December of 1969, then toured South Africa from January to March of 1970, in which they were demolished 0-4 in what was South Africa’s last Test series until 1992 due to their apartheid isolation.

So since that 1997 Ashes series, here’s a list of Test series in which the Australians have lost the 1st Test:

1997-98 vs India in India (Lost 3 match series 1-2)

1999 vs Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka (Lost 3 match series 0-1)

2008-09 vs South Africa in Australia (Lost 3 match series 1-2)

2010 vs India in India (Lost 2 match series 0-2)

2011-12 vs South Africa in South Africa (Drew 2 match series 1-1)

2012-13 vs India in India (Lost 4 match series 0-4)

2013 Ashes in England (Lost 5 match series 0-3)

2014 vs Pakistan in the UAE (Lost 2 match series 0-2)

2015 Ashes in England (Lost 5 match series 2-3)

2016 vs Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka (Lost 3 match series 0-3)

2016-17 vs South Africa in Australia (Lost 3 match series 1-2)

2017 vs Bangladesh in Bangladesh (Drew 2 match series 1-1)

2018-19 vs India in Australia (Lost 4 match series 1-2)

2022-23 vs India in India (Lost 4 match series 1-2)

2024-25 vs India in Australia (Won 5 match series 3-1)

So until today, the only 2 times Australia at least drew a series after losing the 1st Test were Pat Cummins’ debut against South Africa in 2011, and Nathan Lyon taking a career-best 13 wickets against Bangladesh.