Ashes win in England elusive for Aussies
PAT Cummins was clear in his assessment of what winning a series in India would mean.
“Like an Ashes away win, but even more rare,” he said.
“It will be a career highlight, an era-defining success if we win out there.”
Steve Smith thought the same, saying on the eve of departure: “If you win in India, it is bigger than an Ashes win.”
This prompts the question: how would they know?
After all, it has been a generation or two since Australia’s cricketers left England as winners. They retained the Ashes in 2019 – a 2-2 draw was enough – but winning has eluded them since 2001. In fact no active Australian player knows what it is like to win in England.
Mind you, they don’t know what it is like to win in India either, where they have fared even worse. In the past two decades, Australia have won three Tests in India and lost 12; they have won one Test there since the beginning of 2005.
This week England’s captain Ben Stokes talked on the record about the Ashes for the first time, saying he had given his medical staff one instruction: to have eight fast bowlers ready to go for the contest.
There will be many twists and turns before June: Australia, who have lost only twice in their past 16 Tests, remember, have a chance to redeem themselves in Delhi, Indore and Ahmedabad.
Before the start of a series against another team, any focus on the Ashes strikes some as disrespectful, but England’s cricketers have always been measured against Australia first and foremost. Some bookmakers have Australia as marginal favourites. The value lies with England.