Ashes 2017/18: Australia to win a closely fought series, predicts Scientific Astrologer

Make no mistake; it will be an extremely hard fought series. Australia wouldn’t be able to run over the English team like they did when the Three Lions visited them in 2013. But the end result, this time too, would still be in favour of Australia.

This is not the best team that Australia have had over the years but swapping the captain with the vice-captain can transform this team from a good one to a great one. Under David Warner’s captaincy (sometime in future) Australia will achieve greater things.

Steve Smith has a good enough position of planets and he can win a few hard-fought battles too, like the Ashes series, if not a World Cup. England, on the other hand, have just three members of the team that was annihilated in Australia last time and that might work in favour of them.

Captain Joe Root has an extraordinary horoscope with Planet Pluto coming into its own house after 260 years. He also has Saturn and Chiron in their own house, Planet-X (2007 RH283) and Planet-Z (2008 FC76) in exaltation, adding extraordinary might to his chart. Root can go on to be one of the greatest of the game, both as a captain and a player.

Two batsmen who will make the greatest of impacts in the series for England would be Dawid Malan and Mark Stoneman. Both of them would save England from precarious situations or even fight back in winning causes. Root will do well too but Alastair Cook will have a patchy form. Bowlers, though, might end up being the reasons behind England's losses.

On the contrary, it would be the bowlers who would set it up for Australia. They have a potent pace attack with Mitchel Starc and Pat Cummins right up there. Watch out for Jackson Bird and Chadd Sayers as well, they can do really well if given chances. The debutant Cameron Bancroft will have a memorable series and Tim Paine will repay the faith imposed on him by the selectors with some fine rear-guard batting performances to supplement his excellent wicket-keeping skills.

It would be a closely fought series, with Australia winning the key moments and reclaiming the urn, handing Steve Smith his first series victory against England as a captain. His exalted Planet-X and Planet-Z will help him do that.

Smith will win the Ashes only because Joe Root is not yet as his best as a captain astrologically.