Can Australia regain the Ashes?

After their embarrassing defeat in India, Australia are once again on the rise. Australia begin the Ashes campaign on July 10 at Trent Bridge against England.

The selectors have named quite a few uncapped players who aren’t exposed to the conditions prevailing in England. But Ed Cowan and David Warner have been the consistent performers for Australia at the top of the order. Ed Cowan had a brilliant Test series against South Africa at home and would look to replicate the same against England. He is generally a good player of swing bowling and therefore the English bowlers would find it somewhat difficult to get rid of Ed Cowan. Hughes batted brilliantly in India and he was the batsman who handled the Indian spinners quite well apart from Ed Cowan. It will be interesting to see the batting order as they have couple of uncapped players in the middle order.

Shane Watson’s form will be critical from Australia’s point of view. He relinquished the vice-captaincy as he plans to focus on his batting. Shane Watson should bat at the top of the order, perhaps at three as he has the ability to steady the ship if an early wicket falls. Also, Chris Rogers being picked for the Ashes makes perfect sense as he has played well for Middlesex in England. He has accumulated 5000 runs in the last five seasons. He has played 233 first class matches and scored 19,000 runs. Hence, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to play someone like Rogers at four, ahead of the skipper Clarke.

Michael Clarke has been in great form with the bat as he scored a century on one of the toughest batting tracks in India. He has the ability to handle short-pitched deliveries perfectly and should guide the young batsmen to handle short-balls as the wickets in England provide both pace and bounce.

Mathew Wade is eyeing Bradd Haddin’s spot, but has been held in the reserves again for the Ashes series. He has played just 9 Test matches and scored 501 runs at an average of 45.55 with a top score of 106. Australia should play both Haddin and Wade as Wade has the ability to bat for a longer period of time. He is generally a good striker of the ball and he can turn aggressive when the situation demands. He hasn’t been able to cement his place in the squad permanently. But a good performance in England would certainly open up his career.

Australia have a formidable bowling attack, but couldn’t shine in India as the wickets in India aided spinners. But in England, especially at Trent Bridge, the wicket is expected to provide pace and bounce and there will be good carry to the wicketkeeper. Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson could exploit the wicket and trouble the English batsmen. Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson have done tremendously well for Australia on a consistent basis. After a long gap, Mitchell Starc played against South Africa at home in November. He was constantly troubling the South African batsmen at Perth with his variations in length as the wicket in Perth, more often than not, aids fast bowlers. Starc and Pattinson, therefore, will hold the key for Australia with the new-ball.

Nathan Lyon has not been given chances on a continuous basis as he was axed from the second and third Test following a poor bowling performance in the first Test in India. But he returned to the squad in the fourth Test and exploited the Delhi wicket perfectly. Although the wicket is not expected to assist spinners in England, he has the varieties to curb the run-flow.

Australia have picked a pretty good squad for the Ashes series, depending on their performances in the recent past. The bowling attack looks pretty good and looks like one that can take 20 wickets, but it’s the batting that needs to click for Australia.