Who will win and by how much? Who will excite and what will annoy? Can Joe Root outscore Steve Smith? Will Mitchell Starc or Jimmy Anderson dominate?Vic Marks: Australia – because they usually do. England have won there once in their last seven tours. Related: England squad’s novice look masks depth of experience playing in Australia | Andy Bull Related: ‘All the talking is done’: Ashes adversaries are ready for deeds not words Related: Ashes 2017-18: player-by-player guide to the Australia squad Related: 20 great Ashes moments No1: Shane Warne's ball of the century, 1993 | Barney Ronay Continue reading...
Many of England’s squad have not played a Test in Australia but most have experience of conditions there and will be ready for the Ashes challengeBack in 1949 John Arlott tried to work out exactly why the Ashes feels so much more special than England’s other Test series. He decided that it was not just that the rivalry had been running so long, or that Australia had so often been the better team, but because of their attitude towards the sport. “Australianism,” Arlott called it, “the single-minded determination to win – to win within the laws but, if necessary, to the last limit within them.” Related: England will be running scared of Australia yet again, claims Nathan Lyon Related: Attempted...
England Ashes debutants are rare at Brisbane but they have tended to prosper and Joe Root’s side will be lifted by Australia’s unusually cagey selectionsTo say that Brisbane has not been a happy hunting ground for England cricketers is an understatement on a par with “Jacob Rees-Mogg would quite like to leave the EU”. England have not won there since the team with just three flaws – “can’t bat, can’t bowl, can’t field” – was victorious in 1986. Then the Gabba was a proper cricket ground. In the afternoon the smoke and smell of the barbecues on the boundary edge would add to the atmosphere in this outpost city. Now it is a stadium, a symmetrical bowl in which dismissed...
The older Overton twin is a tall, accurate fast bowler likely to play in the first Ashes Test but there must be no repeat of an ugly incident against Sussex in 2015Amid the hurly-burly and hot air that inevitably accompanies the weeks before the Brisbane Test England have encountered some genuine problems. Ben Stokes is still in the northern hemisphere and likely to remain there; Steven Finn became the late replacement who departed early with a knee problem; Jake Ball twisted an ankle in Adelaide; young fast bowlers like Tom Curran and George Garton have been summoned from afar. But there may be a beneficiary from all these setbacks and that is Somerset’s Craig Overton.Overton was selected in the original...
England’s star all-rounder is not on the plane and is not going to play – and given he is irreplaceable the management needs to focus on a Plan B with the first Ashes Test under a month awayThere is less than a month to go before England step out into the cauldron of the Gabba to begin their Ashes defence and with the squad touching down in Australia this weekend, you have to wonder whether now would be a sensible time to fully pen a line through the name of Ben Stokes.Ever since Stokes was arrested in Bristol at the end of September the England and Wales Cricket Board has kept his Ashes place open. Yes he is currently unavailable...