For the first time since the mid 70's, there will be back to back Ashes series. With the Australian leg due in November, the English leg, the 67th series, begins on Wednesday at Trent Bridge with England firm favourites to emulate the feat they last achieved with Botham’s Ashes in 1981 by winning three series in a row.
England
go into this series as the form team. Since last summer’s series defeat to South
Africa, an unexpected drawn series in New Zealand (where the “Kiwis” played
better than the form book suggested) has been bookended by a historic win in
India and a home win against New Zealand (where the Kiwi’s played worse than
they did at home). The transition from
skipper Strauss to captain Cook seems to have been seemless. Yet, there are still issues.
Both
Swann and Pieterson are recovering from injury, while there still seems to be a
spot up for grabs as Alistair Cook’s opening partner. Nick Compton, who opened during the winter
tours, seems to have forfeited his place in the side as a result of a poor run
of form during the home series against New Zealand. The Yorkshire opener Joe Root, who had been a
part of England’s middle order since making his debut in Nagpur last December,
is now thought to be in pole position to be Cook’s opening partner at Trent
Bridge.
These
travails seem like small beer compared to the trials and tribulations
surrounding the touring Australians.
Like England, Australia lost a home test series to South Africa. Like England, Australia won a morale boosting
series – at home to Sri Lanka. However,
unlike England, Australia lost in India.
Badly. India won the series 4-0,
while thanks to some heavy handed coaching team morale disintegrated.
Things
did not improve when the Australians reached these shores. Opening batsman David Warner was involved in
a fracas with Joe Root, while Australia’s early exit from The Champions Trophy saw
the ACB sack their coach Mickey Arthur, and appoint Darren Lehman as his replacement. As a batsman, Lehmann was unfortunate to have
been active during Australia’s golden generation – even though he was a member
of their 1999 World Cup wining side, hitting the winning runs in the final. When he lost his place in the side, his
replacement was the young debutant Michael Clarke… who Lehmann inherits as his captain.
Clarke (right)
and his bowling unit are Australia’s strong points, where Lehmann needs to earn
his corn is to sort out Australia’s (Clarke apart) stuttering batting
lineup. Almost all of Australia’s
landmark series wins in England have seen strong foundations laid by their
batsmen. Even 1993, a series dominated
by the emergence of Shane Warne, saw Australia’s batsmen pass 600 twice (and
fail to reach 400 three times) out of 8 innings. In attempting to put together a viable squad,
Australia seem to have put together a squad heavy with openers. With the news that Shane Watson and Chris
Rodgers are to open on Wedensday, we can expect Warner or Hughes to bat at
three.
If
Australia’s batting line up is grounds for optimism for England supporters, Australia’s
bowling unit gives them hope for causing an upset. Peter Siddle is still there, but will be leading
a line up including two of Mitchell Starc, James Pattinson or Jackson Bird. Watson provides options as a change bowler,
while Nathan Lyon will probably be the spinner in the side.
Many
people have drawn parallels between this series and the 1989 series when a band
of inexperienced tourists came away with an emphatic 4-0 win. The big difference is that Australia side
were a much more evolved side than this current team. While England were resting up, Australia were
going through a trial by fire by losing at home to the dominant West Indies
team of that era. Compare & contrast
the goings on this winter…
1989
is also the last time Australia regained the Ashes on English soil (the only
other time being 1934), in this sense history is against Australia. For a side who needs to make a good start, Trent
Bridge would be a good pick for the Australians – given that England have only
won four times at Trent Bridge. Their
last victory there though was the last Ashes test played there, during the
memorable 2005 series. Australia’s last
victory at Trent Bridge wrapped up the 2001 series. It is astonishing to think that given
Australia’s dominance in this series, that since August 2001, Australia have
only won three tests on English soil (the Oval test in 2001, Lords 2005 &
Headingley four years ago). Maybe
Australia still haven’t recovered from not winning at Sophia Gardens four years
ago.
The first
test then is crucial. If Australia
manage to pull out a performance, then an upset as big as 1989 will be on the
cards. The key battle however will be that Australian batting line up. If it falls apart at Trent Bridge under
pressure from the best bowling attack outside of South Africa, it will be a
long summer for Australia. I take
England to win 2-1.
