England, Australia and a men’s Ashes that is locked and reloaded
Big picture: After the détente, brace for detonation
In any other era, that might feel like too much of an ask already, especially with the Manchester weather expected to put a further dampener on proceedings this week. But that’s not exactly how the Bazball era rolls. Draws are not an option for Ben Stokes’ England team, and their overall record of 12 wins from 16 since the start of last summer offers statistical succour to back up their ingrained optimism.
And so, it’s not going to take a whole lot of huff and puff for the flames to start blazing once again after this week of Ashes smouldering. Especially with England having turned to an attack that is quite literally unparalleled in terms of experience. James Anderson (41 next week), Broad (37), Moeen Ali (36), Chris Woakes (34) and Wood (33) have seen it all over the past decade and more – as indeed have Stokes and Root (both 32), the other key bowling options in an XI that will boast a combined 1,974 Test wickets, more than any Test team in history, and breaking their own record of 1,777, as set at Edgbaston in the first Test.
If nothing else, that line-up is surely an indication of how ephemeral the Bazball era could be. How this Test, and – all things being equal from England’s point of view, the next at The Oval too – could represent an end as much as a beginning, not unlike the two defining Ashes tussles of the century in fact: the epic of 2005, after which nothing was ever quite the same for England again, and Australia’s revenge mission in 2006-07, when Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne bowed out on a high at Sydney, with their narrative arcs complete.
You sense, either way, there’ll be more spent bodies in the coming days. Anything less would be a dereliction of the drama that this summer is laying on.
Form guide
England WLLWL (last five Tests, most recent first)
Australia LWWWD
In the spotlight: James Anderson and Todd Murphy
Team news: Anderson, Hazlewood return to attacks
England: 1 Zak Crawley, 2 Ben Duckett, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Ben Stokes (capt), 7 Jonny Bairstow (wk), 8 Chris Woakes, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Mark Wood, 11 James Anderson
Australia: (possible) 1 David Warner, 2 Usman Khawaja, 3 Marnus Labuschagne, 4 Steve Smith, 5 Travis Head, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Pat Cummins (capt), 10 Todd Murphy, 11 Josh Hazlewood
Pitch and conditions
Blame the jet stream for this one, apparently. While continental Europe swelters in temperatures pushing 40 degrees Celsius, the UK has reverted to be a damp rock in the North Atlantic, with grey skies, drizzle and general dankness anticipated for the entire Test-match week. Stereotypical Manchester weather, in other words, which might have the knock-on effect of keeping the pitch fresh for the seamers, in between several inevitable stoppages for rain. Twenty-four hours out, the surface itself looks hard and brown, with no discernible live grass on show. It looks like a bat-first deck, but the overheads may beg to differ. Reverse-swing has been a key weapon at Old Trafford in previous Ashes contests, but Stokes acknowledged that the lush outfield would likely negate that prospect.
Stats and trivia
- Australia have won nine of their previous 31 Tests at Old Trafford, against seven defeats, the most recent of which came a long old time ago. Ian Botham’s Ashes-sealing onslaught in 1981 was England’s last Ashes success on the ground. Since then they’ve drawn three and lost four, including their most recent match in 2019.
- Moeen reached 200 Test wickets at Headingley earlier this month, he now needs another 23 runs to complete 3000 Test runs as well, a prospect that he said “feels like miles off” on the eve of the Test.
- Broad needs two more wickets to reach 600 in Tests, which would make him the fifth bowler overall to reach the mark, and only the second seamer after his team-mate Anderson (currently 688)
- Stokes passed 6000 runs at Headingley, but still needs three wickets to reach the 200 mark, after opting not to bowl during the third Test due to his long-standing knee injury.
- Anderson has not played in a Test victory against Australia since the Edgbaston Test in 2015. Since then he’s featured in nine defeats and two draws across four subsequent campaigns.
- New Zealand’s attack against Australia at Christchurch in February 1986 (Richard Hadlee, Gary Troup, Ewen Chatfield and Jeremy Coney) was the last time that any Test team fielded four specialist seamers aged 33 or older. The only previous Ashes team was Australia at Brisbane in 1928, the occasion of Bradman’s debut.
Quotes
“If we win this one then going into the last game at 2-2, it would be hard not to say this is the best men’s Ashes series in a long time, if not the best. Overall, take away Australia and England: the cricket that’s been played has been absolutely brilliant.”
Ben Stokes is gunning for the series decider as England look to battle back from the brink
“When you look back to a few of the recent tours we’ve had in Pakistan or India, we played some of our best cricket at the end of the tour. Hopefully this one’s the same, even getting more and more used to the conditions.”
Pat Cummins is hopeful that Australia peak at the right time
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
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