Ashes 2019: SWOT analysis of Australia's squad

Opportunities

Tim Paine

The 2019 Ashes will be the perfect opportunity for Josh Hazelwood and Mitchell Marsh to perform consistently after being left out of the World Cup squad. A good performance in the Ashes will open the doors for them in limited overs cricket..

The biggest opportunity in the 2019 Ashes will be for Tim Paine to lead his team to a series win. In nine Tests as captain, Paine has won just three and lost four matches. He has a solitary series win against Sri Lanka to his credit, with Australia whitewashing Sri Lanka by a margin of 2-0 earlier this year.

The Australian captain has not tasted much success leading Australia, and he would like to set the record straight in the Ashes.

The skipper has a bunch of experienced and young players who will be looking to win a series in England for the first time in 18 years. As a batsman, Paine will have to make handy contributions with the bat at number 7. In the past the Australian skipper has played several gutsy innings, but he is yet to score big and consistently in Test cricket.

The wicket keeper batsman averages 35.14 which is decent, but he is yet to score a hundred. He has 5 half centuries to his credit in 35 Test innings.

Paine averaged just 23.67 in 4 innings against Pakistan in 2018 and 24.86 in 7 innings against India in 2018-2019. Thus, the Australian skipper will look to score more runs and lead from the front to repay the faith shown by the selectors in retaining him as the skipper for the Ashes.