England and Australia hit roadblock before the Ashes

Not even two months remain for England before they are packed off on a plane to Australia to embark on an Ashes tour comprising three warm-up games – the first one begins as early as November 4 – before the real battle commences against their arch-rivals at Brisbane 19 days later. While the visitors will be busy utilising those practice matches to acclimatize themselves to austral climes, the hosts will have three rounds of the Sheffield Shield competition to provide ideal match set-up for the showdown.

But before all that happens, there are concerns galore for both sides to address in a short span of time. Prior to the dress rehearsal, both England as well as Australia have much to reflect on.

To start with, England are yet to settle on a fitting partner for Alastair Cook. The latest of those – there have been 12 in the last five years – Mark Stoneman, has featured in only two Tests, having first worn the England cap against West Indies last month. Castled in his maiden international innings at Edgbaston by a Kemar Roach snorter – that was arguably the best delivery that West Indies bowled in a humiliating defeat – Stoneman fell off an inside edge in his next knock, which was again short-lived.

However, a patient half-century in the second innings at Headingley provided a testament to his strong character, giving England hope of justifying his selection as they prepare for the surprising series-decider at Lord’s. Should Stoneman fail to deliver, the selectors would be left to scratch their heads as they ponder over who to choose between Surrey’s Stoneman and an off-colour Haseeb Hameed, who has endured a rough patch ever since his injury on a testing yet fruitful tour of India last winter.

That is not it. The other sources of trouble for the England management remain the number three and number five positions. Tom Westley, in place of an injured Gary Ballance for the final two Tests against South Africa, did well to get a debut fifty, but threw away two good starts and failed to enter double digits in his last four outings. With the sporadic success of Dawid Malan – he has two gritty half-centuries in his last three innings – just proving to be enough to retain him, England should have done away with Westley for Lord’s and rather pushed Joe Root back up to three, especially with the Ashes crawling closer by the day.

But Root’s reluctance to retain his position in the top three has led to an out of form Westley continuing in that spot, whereas the skipper's promotion would have provided stability to a feeble top order. Arguably, the best prospect at five currently remains Moeen Ali, who, with a classical 84 off 93 balls against West Indies at Headingley, yet again reminded the team management how his batting potential is being wasted lower down at seven or eight.

Just two Tests before that, at Old Trafford, Moeen bashed a commanding 75* to all but seal the fate of the game against South Africa, yet another signal from a man who has often made public his desire to bat higher up.

With Moeen at five, not only will England have the leeway of fielding another pacer on pitches favouring pace and bounce to the fullest, but that move would also help keep their primary bowlers – undoubtedly, they are James Anderson and Stuart Broad – fresh in the challenging heat of the Australian summer.

Josh Hazlewood, along with Mitchell Starc, is currently injured thereby compounding Australia's problems

Similarly, their opponents have problems of their own in the middle-order. Since last summer alone, Australia have tested five different batsmen at number six, with none of them demonstrating a sturdy game across all 11 Tests that Australia played since facing South Africa at Perth last November.

Mitchell Marsh was dropped after they lost that game heavily only to return in India and fail again; Callum Ferguson came in and went after the Hobart disaster immediately post the Perth defeat; Nic Maddinson was given a stretch of three Tests but an average of 6.75 across four innings ended the selectors’ patience; Glenn Maxwell started brightly with a hundred in the spin-friendly conditions of Ranchi against India this year, but he is a fickle Test match customer; and Hilton Cartwright only made his debut against Pakistan at Sydney this January.

As if that were not enough, Matthew Wade’s scratchy form has only compounded Australia’s woes. Wade was a part of the middle-order overhaul following a shameful display at Hobart last summer, but now sees his place hanging by a thread. In 14 innings since his comeback, the wicket-keeper has merely 251 runs at a disappointing average of 22.81.

Somehow managing to make it to the eleven against Bangladesh at Chittagong, Wade ran the risk of handing over his wicket-keeping gloves to part-timer Handscomb in a match which could prove to be the final opportunity for him to stamp his authority as Australia’s premier stumper ahead of the Ashes.

Amidst the batting woes, there lies further pain for Australia – they would be desperate to induct an injury prone Mitchell Starc into the side to bolster a pace attack comprising Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and in all probability, James Pattinson. While Hazlewood himself suffered a side strain to pull out of the second Test in Bangladesh as well as the upcoming ODIs in India, Starc has had an agonising history with injuries; a stress fracture first sent him home early from India in February and then ruled him out of the Tests against Bangladesh.

Prevention from the selectors allowed Starc an extended break while Australia played limited-overs matches in India, and like his teammates, he would – rather, should – participate in the Sheffield Shield fixtures immediately preceding the Ashes.

Australia would be desperate to repeat their heroics from the last time the teams clashed on these shores – England were thrashed 5-0 in 2013-14 – and to extract revenge for the 2015 defeat; likewise, England would hope to find a permanent solution to all their problems once their squad land on the Australian continent and start a lengthy journey with the three practice matches.