It will be tough to win – Aussies can be cruel
It is time for the England players to refocus from the “will I, won’t I?” talk and shilly-shallying over the Ashes tour to now concentrate on beating Australia.
It is bloody tough to win in Australia and it takes desire, commitment and 100 per cent focus. I understand why the players have negotiated long and hard over their quarantine and bubble conditions. I support them fully because they have been in bubbles for two summers, and it is like living in a luxury jail. It will be a comfort to have families and kids with them.
But now it is sorted out they have to get their heads around a huge challenge. In Australia the crowds are more vocal and partisan than here. The Australian media get behind their team, and try to help by undermining England. They can be cruel. On the 2013-14 tour Aussie coach Darren Lehmann made Stuart Broad’s life a misery by asking public and media to give him hell for not walking in the Nottingham Test the previous summer.
The one plus about being in a bubble is that it will separate our players from the rest of Australia. They will not be drinking and eating out. We had all those incidents in bars last time involving Jonny Bairstow and Ben Duckett that the Aussie press blew out of all proportion to discredit the team and deflate our morale. They are not going to be able to do that this time. They will be cut off. We want England to do well but we have to be honest. If you ask people in the streets do you think we can really win, even the biggest England fans will say “probably not”.
Runs are the platform for building confidence and Joe Root is our main man. He is in the form of his life, he is at the peak age for a batsman and this is the tour to make it count.
Sadly, there is not a very good batting line-up behind him. It is a huge tour for Haseeb Hameed. He plays low and will need to adapt and get more upright.
Rory Burns has a poor technique but a big heart. He is gutsy and fights like hell for runs. Dan Lawrence, Zak Crawley, Bairstow and Jos Buttler are all in a hurry to play shots. It is exciting when it comes off but you sit on the edge of your seat waiting for them to create their own downfall. One player who could do well is Ollie Pope. He has a super technique and if he can show more patience he can score runs. Dawid Malan is suited for Australia. Dawid stays back and waits, makes the bowlers bowl to him and does not go looking to get after bowlers. He has the patience and concentration to let the sledging go over his head. They will all get plenty of that. They can talk all they want about changing but it is in their make-up to sledge.
If players on both sides stay fit then you have to admit the Australian bowling unit is far superior to England’s in Australian conditions. James Anderson and Broad have been brilliant in English conditions but it is much tougher in Australia and neither of them have exceptional records Down Under. They have enjoyed odd good moments. Anderson’s best chance is the day-night Test in Adelaide where he was nearly a
They can talk about changing but there will be plenty of sledging – it is in their make-up
match-winner on the last tour. He will be mean and clever and hard to score off but a match-winner? Not easy. The best thing Broad can do is get David Warner out early. Warner does not know where his off stump is when Broad bowls round the wicket. He gets him playing at wide balls, then he starts working straight balls to leg, misses and is out lbw.
Craig Overton and Ollie Robinson are right to be selected but are English-type seamers. Plenty of them have gone to Australia in the past and found the going too tough. Chris Woakes, for all his skill in England, has never done it overseas. His average runs per wicket abroad is 51.68 compared to 22.63 at home.
The biggest positive for our bowling unit is Australia are not great at batting either. They have three good players: Warner, Steve Smith and new boy Marnus Labuschagne. He is a very good player with a very good technique.
Dom Bess and Jack Leach are our best spinners but their records are patchy. We hardly ever pick them so we cannot rate them that highly.
Our biggest plus could be Mark Wood. He can generate serious pace to unsettle and rattle any of their batsmen. But there is a big question mark over his fitness.
The most important thing of all is do England’s players have the desire and commitment to succeed?
If yes then they have a chance. If not, then Australia will win comfortably.