Ashes batting uncovered: The six batting questions that will decide the series
Is Steve Smith invincible, who will uproot the English captain and what of England’s average openers? Our experts rate the biggest batting issues ahead of the Ashes.
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Have bowlers worked out Steve Smith, and if so what about Marnus? Who will prevail when the two captains go head-to-head?
The answers to these six batting questions will go a long way to resolving which team holds the trophy aloft at the end of this Ashes series.
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1. IS STEVE SMITH INVINCIBLE?
Jofra Archer — absent from this Ashes series with an elbow injury — was the only man who looked like getting Steve Smith out in 2019 … not dismissed, but knocked out.
Smith’s concussion at Lord’s aside, his return to Test cricket was Don Bradman-esque as he peeled off 144, 142, 92 (concussed), 211, 82 and 80 – all to the soundtrack of distasteful boos – at an average of 134.2.
Now Smith makes his return to a leadership position as Australia’s hands-on vice-captain who, let’s face it, will be calling the shots in the field from time to time given Patrick Cummins’ workload.
But it hasn’t all gone to plan for Smith in Australia’s two home summers since the 2019 Ashes.
New Zealand, led by tyro Neil Wagner, banged it in short against him bodyline-style and India cramped him down leg-side last summer.
Smith has averaged a mortal 40.5 with one century in nine home Tests since the 2019 Ashes, although in that time No. 3 Marnus Labuschagne – who got his chance as Smith’s concussion replacement at Lord’s – has gone from little-known cricket nuffie to challenging the Big Three (Smith, Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli).
What tactics will England bring to unsettle the best batsman and perhaps the fourth-best batsman on the planet?
2. BROAD’S BUNNY OR HOMETOWN BULLY?
David Warner averaged five runs against Stuart Broad in 2019. Yes, five.
Broad’s head-to-head figures for the series against Warner were 7-35, and if it wasn’t for Smith batting Australia out of trouble time and time again the spotlight on the polarising opener would’ve been bright.
Broad bowled fuller and straighter at Warner after discovering a link between wickets and the percentage of balls that batsmen left against him.
Day one at the Gabba will mark four months since Broad – who has been battling an ankle injury – last played cricket although the Ashes villain usually fires up against Australia.
It could be the final time these 35-year-olds play an Ashes series although for Warner it is also important to build chemistry with opening partner Marcus Harris.
The Victorian opener made a beautiful 137 against New South Wales last month and was unfazed by scores of one and a duck recently on what was a new-ball pitch.
But after 10 Tests Harris is still searching for a century, which is the currency selectors deal with, and as teammate Will Pucovski slowly makes his recovery from a 10th concussion Harris would want to raise the bat early on this series.
3. WHO WILL REPLACE MATTHEW WADE AT No. 5?
Usman Khawaja, 34, and Travis Head, 27, are in a batting shootout for the final place in Australia’s top six.
The state captains went head-to-head in a Sheffield Shield match and it is hard to tell who took the points.
In the first innings Head scored eight runs to Khawaja’s four and in the second innings Head made 101 before Khawaja slammed an unbeaten 36-ball 52 to deliver Queensland victory.
They both have two Shield tons this season and are desperate to crack back into the team after getting dumped mid-series.
For Khawaja that came in the 2019 Ashes, when Steve Smith returned from concussion and replaced him instead of instant superstar Marnus Labuschagne, and for Head that came after the 2020 Boxing Day Test, as Will Pucovski earned a Baggy Green and temporary opener Matthew Wade shuffled back to the middle order.
Head (19 Tests) averaged 39.8 with two centuries while Khawaja (44 Tests) averages 40.7 with eight centuries.
It’s going to be a tight call, Head’s bobbing at the line.
4. CAN CAPTAIN PAT MAKE COUNTERPART AN AVERAGE JOE?
HOW many times will Patrick Cummins’ golden ball to Joe Root from 2019 get a run on Fox Cricket this summer?
Pitching middle, hitting off and England’s captain was gone for a golden duck at Old Trafford as Australia retained the Ashes in the fourth Test.
Cummins boasts career figures of 7-289 against Root and now they shape up as opposing skippers in the most important match-up of the summer.
It gets worse for Root.
Not only does the 30-year-old with a boyish grin average just 20 against Cummins, he is still searching for a maiden century down under, with his 23 Test tons celebrated across England (14), Sri Lanka (three) India (two), West Indies (two), New Zealand (one) and South Africa (one).
Root’s record in Australia is far from flash – he averages 38 – and if Cummins gets on top of England’s batting rock you wonder what mental damage that will inflict on the tourists.
England is going to need a mountain of runs from Root in what is an untested batting line-up, and if Jimmy Anderson, Mark Wood and Jack Leach all play then it’s going to carry a heck of a tail.
5. ARE CLUB CRICKETERS BETTER THAN ENGLAND’S OPENERS?
That was former England captain Geoffrey Boycott’s damning declaration as Rory Burns and Dominic Sibley struggled this year.
“Not just former Test players, but even club players look at Rory Burns and Dom Sibley and think they can do better,” Boycott said.
England has gone through more openers than a Birmingham barman since Andrew Strauss retired in 2012 – 21 in total – but it is likely to be the men in possession who face-up at the Gabba.
That would see Burns and Haseeb Hameed opening with Dawid Malan at No. 3, Joe Root at No. 4, Ben Stokes at No. 5 and Jos Buttler at No.6.
Burns likes pace on the ball and conditions should suit the man who averaged 39 in the 2019 Ashes.
But Boycott said Buttler was a “sad tale” and could’ve got out seven times in an 18-ball duck against India because his footwork and judgment were non-existent.
Hameed is quality against spin bowling yet crumbly against the quicks, which doesn’t bode well on these shores.
He is no certainty to see out the series, with Zak Crawley and Jonny Bairstow waiting in the wings, although Bairstow is also a middle-order option.
Too often it has been Root or bust and Stokes is an unknown coming off a long spell.
Pieced together it makes for a fragile batting card.
6. WHO WILL BE ENGLAND’S RISHABH AND RAHANE?
COACH Chris Silverwood has gone to the videotape in preparation for the Ashes.
The world watched in awe as Ajinkya Rahane’s patched-up Indians stormed the Gabba fortress last summer to defeat Australia 2-1.
Now Silverwood wants England to bat like Indians.
“We look at India, how they went about their business,” he said.
“They’ve shown a game plan that was successful over (here) and so we will be learning from them.
“There is a strong belief we can do something very special.”
But for Silverwood that will be easier said than done, because Jos Buttler isn’t Rishabh Pant and Dawid Malan is far from red-ball warrior Cheteshwar Pujara.
ASHES BOWLING UNCOVERED: WHERE SERIES WILL BE WON AND LOST
It shapes as a tantalising Ashes series with both sides so evenly placed.
Fast bowling expert Damien Fleming answers the tough selection teasers that could swing the series either way.
AUSTRALIA
1. Which Aussie quicks will rotate?
Captain Patrick Cummins, the Batman of the attack, and Josh Hazlewood, who is his Robin, should play every match.
In Cummins’ career he has never sat out a Test and while Hazlewood lives in his shadow the T20 World Cup surprise packet is just as crucial.
“You talk to opposition batsmen and no one hits the bat harder than Josh,” fast bowling expert Damien Fleming told News Corp.
“He’s unrelenting, he’s like a drill — he’s just drilling into their confidence and technique.
“In any other team he’s a superstar, but I think he likes being in the background.
“You don’t even know a lot about him compared to the other guys.”
That leaves Mitchell Starc, Jhye Richardson and Michael Neser vying for the remaining place in each of the five Tests, with pitch conditions set to decide selection.
Anyone of those will deepen Australia’s batting order and while Starc is the incumbent, after a poor summer against India he is no certainty to take the new ball at the Gabba.
Fleming said Starc had to swing the ball against Australia A in the warm-up game to seal his spot in Cummins’ cartel.
“Starcy obviously had a poor summer last summer — but he does have 255 Test wickets at 27, so you must respect that,” Fleming said.
“When he swings the ball he plays whatever Test. When he’s swinging it he’s a superstar and he gets those early inroads.
“But if he’s not swinging it he doesn’t have the ability to be a change bowler.
“When you first or second change you’ve got to be accurate and you’ve got to be bouncy. He just doesn’t provide that.”
2. Who swings in if Starc strikes out?
Jhye Richardson had Test No. 3 Marnus Labuschagne and former opener Joe Burns under his spell at the Gabba in a Sheffield Shield game in November.
“That was insane,” Fleming said.
“So let’s get back to picking players in form — not whose next in line — and Jhye Richardson is in red-hot form.
“The two Tests he played he looked well and truly comfortable. He provide something different — pacey, skiddier, genuine outswing, good bouncer.
“I’d play Richardson ahead of Neser.
“Strong teams have people who are unlucky not to play, and Neser’s probably the back-up.”
3. Has Nathan Lyon lost his magic?
The ‘GOAT’ went wicket-less at the Gabba in January and still remains stranded on 399 Test wickets.
But Fleming said that was in no small part due to Starc’s struggles against India.
“Because of Starc’s lack of bowling he didn’t rough up the foot marks for Lyon, and that killed Lyon,” Fleming said.
“‘Lyno’ would be disappointed with the way he finished, but how much of a factor was the way India played, the pitch not deteriorating and Starcy not roughing it up?”
Like Neser, Mitchell Swepson is in yet another Test squad and still waiting to receive a Baggy Green.
Fleming said Swepson’s time come would come — but unless the SCG curator turns back the clock he would have to wait until the March tour of Pakistan.
“We need to find out for when ‘Lyno’ retires who’s the next one,” Fleming said.
“Swepson’s progression has been significant — he’s bowling sides out in Shield cricket now.
“If it was the old, traditional SCG Test I’d be playing him and then you’ve got Cameron Green to bowl more overs.
“That’s how important Green can be for us. But if it’s an SCG seamer then there’s no chance.”
ENGLAND
1. Does England have the raw pace required Down Under?
It is the big question mark clouding England’s potency.
With a Kookaburra ball in hand, and less wobble through the air, can England’s quicks sizzle the speed gun enough to worry Australia’s top order?
After all, bouncy bowlers Stuart Broad, Craig Overton and Ollie Robinson are all about three yards slower than Josh Hazlewood.
Is that enough firepower to take 20 wickets?
“Do they have enough pace out here to get the outside edge?” Fleming said.
“We saw from Overton last time, will they just be a yard or two slow?”
But Robinson, 27, is worth keeping an eye one.
“He’s sort of going to take over from Stuart Broad,” Fleming said.
“Big and bouncy, over the top, five Tests for 28 wickets at 19. That’s a great start.
“He’s got some good variety — he’s got a knuckle ball that’s really good.”
Mark Wood is the one man who bowls with fire.
But it appears Wood is made of glass and it is hard to see the man who turns 32 before the fifth Test soldering through the entire series without an injury.
“He’s their X-Factor,” Fleming said.
“He’s exciting, genuine pace and lift, and if they didn’t have Stokes that was a worry because he is a short-spell guy.
“But he could really shape up a few of our batsmen, and he should get good reverse swing.”
2. Ben Stokes is England’s Pat Cummins …
Headingley hero Ben Stokes is back from a mental health break and is the man to turbocharge Joe Root’s attack.
“Even though Stokes doesn’t get big bags, he’s a bit like Cummins — he just gets the best batsmen out in a short spell,” Fleming said.
“He’s important because besides (Jimmy) Anderson no one really pitches it up and swings it.
“He’s been out for a while but I reckon he’s important because if Anderson’s not playing, he’s almost their best swing bowler.”
3. … But Jack Leach is no GOAT
Jack Leach broke Australia’s hearts with the bat when he survived to finish one not-out off 17 balls in partnership with Stokes in 2019.
But with the ball the bespectacled spinner is far from Australia’s champion offie.
“Lyon is such a big advantage over Leach,” Fleming said.
“The best I could say about Leach is he could do the Ashley Giles role, and that’s containing, and he’s obviously not a bad lower-order batsman as well.”
4. Who gets the nod?
It will be all-out pace under lights at the Adelaide Oval, with Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood the odds-on starters and Leach likely to carry the drinks.
But the Boxing Day and New Year’s Tests are expected to once again be batting buffets, which make an England victory seem unlikely in either of those iconic MCG and SCG Tests.
Fleming said the tourists needed to target certain Tests to win — namely the Gabba, Adelaide Oval and, if the fifth Test lands in Perth, that one as well.
“They need to win at the Gabba, so I’d go Anderson, Robinson, Wood and then Broad slash Leach.”
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