The biggest question for many going into the Ashes is: How soon will Australia win the seriesIJ The third test at EdgbastonIJ The fourth at Trent BridgeIJ Naturally, the Australians don’t care if it takes until the last scheduled ball on the last day of the last test at The Oval in late August, as long as the urn is theirs.
There are no glaring weaknesses in their team heading into the series opener at Cardiff on Wednesday. The batsmen plundered runs in the two warm up games, and the seamers took wickets. Off spinner Nathan lyon toiled but captain Michael Clarke put it down to benign pitches.
Shaun opened both tests with David Warner in the West Indies last month after Chris Rogers was concussed in training. After a fluent century by Shaun in the first warm up game in England, Australia gave Rogers more chances to shine, and he produced one half-century in four innings.
Mitch appeared to do enough in the warm ups to usurp Shane Watson for the all-rounder’s No. 6 spot in the lineup, as Mitch outscored Watson, and was expensive bowling his medium-pace but took wickets, whereas Watson claimed none.
The rest of the bowling spoke for itself: Mitchell Johnson, Mitchell Starc, lyon and Jason Hazlewood, man of the series against the West Indies.
The sudden, enforced retirement of fast bowler Ryan Harris, who rehabbed his dicky right knee for months only to break his tibia after 30 overs in the first warm up game, could be felt by Australia later in the series. He was replaced by Pat Cummins, restricted by a bad back to limited-overs cricket for two years.
Unlike last month’s visitor, New Zealand, half of whom came straight into that too-brief test series from the IPl, the Australians won’t start underdone.The English embraced the aggressive-but-magnanimous Kiwis in a tour they will long remember, and fast bowler James Anderson was one who said England was willing to continue in that spirit. But the Australians have made it clear normal service will resume: They will be ruthless, and they will sledge.
Cook, the rest of the slips cordon, and even wicketkeeper Jos Buttler, were also a concern for dropping a ton of chances this year. Will they drop an Ashes series at home, too, for the first time in 14 yearsIJ