A prelude to the Ashes: The most awaited Test series

With the Ashes being played twice in the same year for the first time after 38 years, many would say that it has taken some of the sheen off the series as it comes soon after an Ashes series in England earlier in the year. The reason for this unusual occurrence is to make sure that the series does not occur in the same year as the World Cup with this upcoming series initially having been planned for 2015 which would have required England to remain in Australia for five consecutive months. The change in the schedule to avoid this situation ensures that two major events do not take place back to back in the same year.

Coming to the series, even though England are the away team, they will still feel that they hold the upper hand after having comfortably put it across the Aussies in the previous series by a 3-0 margin. But the Aussies can never be counted out and have been showing some signs of form in the recent past even giving India a close fight in their own backyard. The team is finally beginning to look settled and will be looking to make the most of the home conditions and provide a better fight to England than in the last series. It is likely that it will be a closer series this time around with England holding the slight edge.

A problem which Australia will have to deal with in this series is the injuries to a host of their first choice fast bowlers like James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, etc. But with the re-emergence of Mitchell Johnson in the recent past showing sparks of his old form, the Aussies have every reason to be optimistic as Johnson on his day is capable of tearing through any opposition. Evidence of this can be seen in the recent ODI series where he ran through the famed Indian batting line-up on more than one occasion. Johnson could thus be the dark horse for Australia and could turn out to be the potential match winner for them providing that edge to the stability and consistency of Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle.

Another player who could make a difference for Australia is the oldest man to make his debut for Australia in 34 years, George Bailey. He has shown remarkable form in the ODI game in the last one year scoring with amazing consistency. Bailey will be looking to continue this good run in the red ball format and cement his spot at no.6 in the Test team and would be looking to do follow in the footsteps of Michael Hussey who entered the team at a similar age.

The only spot of bother which England face going into the series is the doubt regarding the availability of wicket- keeper Matt Prior. England will be hoping that he regains full fitness in time for the first Test as his experience could be of vital importance in this series. But with Jonny Bairstow on standby, England seems to have this area covered as well. It is expected that Joe Root would slot into the middle order for this series having been trialled as an opener in the previous series and doing reasonably well too. But with Michael Carberry putting up some good performances in the practice games, he seems to have cemented his place at the top of the order. Carberry has years of experience behind him on the English county circuit and will be looking to prove that he has what it takes to shine on the big stage as well.

Adding spice to the series will be how the Australian crowds treat Stuart Broad after Aussie coach, Darren Lehmann had urged them to give Broad a hard time for not walking when he was clearly out in the last series. How Broad handles this situation could prove to be a vital factor as he is a key player for England. Kevin Pietersen will be looking to get back into form after having a relatively quiet time in the recent past by his own high standards. He would be desperate to mark his 100^th Test at Brisbane with a sublime innings and give his team a confident start to the series.

As is normal for an Ashes series, there has to be some mind games prior to the series! This series was no different with spin legend, Shane Warne attacking Alastair Cook for his defensive and unimaginative captaincy and further going on to add that he was not the right man for the job if England were looking to continue their dominance. He says that England should remove Cook from the job and look to give the captaincy to Kevin Pietersen or even Graeme Swann who have the best cricketing brains in the English side according to him. But Warne’ s comments seem to be more aimed at unsettling England before the series as statistics show that Cook has a tremendous record as captain since taking over, having won series in India and the Ashes earlier this year.

The conditions for the first Test at the Gabba have been predicted to be humid with overcast skies, further tilting the scales towards England’s pace bowling attack of Stuart Broad and James Anderson. If this weather forecast ends up being true, the ball is likely to swing prodigiously and under such conditions the English pacers have been known to revel in the past. Anderson has been quoted saying that “he would be over the moon” in such a case thus further proving this point. It would however be interesting to see who fills the third seamer spot for England in the absence of Tim Bresnan. Chris Tremlett looks the most likely candidate having done well in Australia on his last visit. But Boyd Rankin and Steve Finn also have an equal chance and a decision is likely to be made just before the start of the Test.

Whatever the decision may be, we are in for a cracker.