A certain gentleman named Kerry Packer had turned the cricketing world upside down after signing many of the top players to World Series cricket. Tony Greig lost his captaincy over his part in the fiassco, however he did not lose his place. Brearley took over as England captain and Dennis Lillee didn't tour.

Queen Elizabeth was celebrating 25 years in reign and 1977 was Silver Jubilee year, therefore the first Test at Lord's was known as the Jubilee Test. England batted first and made 216, Woolmer top scoring with 79 and Thompson took 4 wickets. Australia in reply took a lead of 80 runs, despite Willis taking 7 wickets for 78. Woolmer again batted well and scored 120 but unfortunately received very little support from his team and England were all out for only 305. A day was lost to rain and because of the weather the match ended in a draw with Australia close to defeat at 6 for 114.

Australia batted first at Old Trafford and scored a respectable 297, Walters top scoring with 88. The wickets were fairly distributed among the English bowlers. For the second Test in succession Bob Woolmer scored a century, this time scoring 137 and with partnerships with Tony Greig and Derek Randall, England led by 140 after the first innings. Derek Underwood then took 6 wickets for 66 as England won the second Test by 9 wickets. Greg Chappell scored 112, scoring more than half his side's second innings total of 218.

Ian Botham was introduced to Test cricket at Trent Bridge and immediately made his mark taking 5 for 74 as Australia were dismissed for 243. After missing 30 matches Geoff Boycott returned to run out Derek Randall, score 20 runs in his first three hours at the crease and was dropped in the slips by McCosker. Knott then joined Boycott at 5 for 82 and turned the match scoring 135 (the highest score by a wicket keeper in an Ashes match). The pair added 215 for the 6th wicket with Boycott making 107. Although McCosker made a century in Australia's second innings, it left England only needing 189 runs to win, which they made with the loss of only 3 wickets. Geoff Boycott became the first player in Ashes history to bat on all five days of a Test match.

The 4th Test match at Headingley was another milestone for Boycott, for it was here that the Yorkshireman scored his 100th first class 100 in a Test match. Boycott scored 191 out of a first innings total of 436. Hendrick and Botham then produced some fine swing bowling to dismiss the Australian's for only 103, Hendrick taking 4 wickets and Botham again taking 5. Forced to follow on, the tourists were dismissed for 248 and England won by an innings and 85 runs. The Ashes were retained.

The 5th and final Test match was played at the Oval and the home side was put in to bat. Malone in his first Test for Australia took 5 wickets for 63 and England were out cheaply for 214. Australia in reply scored 385, Willis taking 5 wickets for 102 but due to the amount of time lost through rain, the game ended in a draw.