Australia and England will compete in this summer’s Ashes series in complete opposite shape, according to Aussie cricket great Mark Taylor.
Taylor believes England will enter with an entirely settled batting line-up. Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook and Ben Stokes looks the clear batting order for the visiting side.
However, their bowling attack remains totally up in the air and depends largely on the fitness of the likes of Jofra Archer and Mark Wood, who have tormented Australia in the past.
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Ben Stokes leads England out. Getty
On the flip side, the Aussies have a settled bowling attack. Captain Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitch Starc and Nathan Lyon have held the Test team together for many years. The only question is whether Lyon plays in every Test over a fourth seamer, with Scott Boland waiting in the wings.
Taylor concedes there are significant question marks over Aussie the batting line-up.
The top order in particular looms as a significant headache for selectors. Sam Konstas, Josh Inglis and Beau Webster all featured in the Test wins over the West Indies, but are no certainties to feature in the Ashes.
“I think the England side are going quite well, I really do. If you look at their side they are a bit the opposite to our team at the moment,” Taylor told Wide World of Sports.
“Their batting is shored up. Their top seven now is pretty well set in stone, whereas our top seven is all over the place at the moment.
“But you look at their bowling, they are trying really hard to get people like Archer back in the side, I daresay they are trying to get Mark Wood back into the side. They’ve got [Brydon] Carse who looks to me to be a good bowler, [Gus] Atkinson is a good bowler.
“It’s great to have options but they probably don’t know at this stage who is going to be fit and who’s going to be available.
“Their bowling is their question mark, their batting is as good as settled, and we are exactly the opposite. I think it promises to be a very good series from that point of view.”
Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc high-five each other. AP
However, there is one aspect of the upcoming series Taylor believes will favour the home side.
“The other thing I would throw into that equation is the pitches England have been playing on have been far more batter friendly than the ones Australia have been playing on,” Taylor said.
“Our batters are struggling, yes, but they are struggling on pitches that are doing a bit. Whereas England batters are probably doing better but they are playing on flat tracks. So it’s going to be interesting the conditions we get in Australia.
“They will be more bowler friendly than what England have been used to, and they’ve got Perth and Brisbane the first two Tests, so that promises to be a really good challenge to the England top order.”
England’s Jofra Archer celebrates dismissing India’s Washington Sundar. AP
Australia managed to overcome Jasprit Bumrah last summer, and now will face a reinvigorated Archer in the Ashes.
A nemesis of Ashes past, Archer has returned to Test cricket after over four years dealing with injuries.
“You saw what Bumrah did last year on bowler-friendly pitches. They are a handful, and (Archer) will certainly be a handful,” he said.
“All you’ve got to do in Test cricket is score more runs than the other team does, so even when India kept bowling us out, they weren’t mustering enough runs to win enough Test matches. I think this series may go the same way.”
The first Test takes place in Perth starting November 21.
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