Australia v England: Shane Warne says upcoming Ashes series will be most brutal ever played on home soil

Cricket legend Shane Warne says Tim Paine’s men must play with aggression when England arrives on Australian shores, or risk a repeat of the India series disaster.

HOLD FOR HERALD SUN PIC DESK------Shane Warne is helping open up a new cricket academy for people/kids of all ages/ability with a view to making sure hidden gem talents arenÕt lost to Australian cricket. Picture: Alex Coppel.

Shane Warne has delivered Australia a brutal warning, declaring next summer will be the most fiercely contested home Ashes in a decade.

Justin Langer’s men will be looking to recover from a sobering Indian beatdown but, while they were still licking their wounds from that defeat, their opponents this summer were suffering a humiliation of their own – with England losing Tests inside two and three days as they were crushed on their tour of India last month.

But while the old enemy hasn’t won a single Test on Australian soil since claiming a rare Ashes series away win in 2010-11 – their only triumph down under in more than three decades – they will boast a team bursting with the firepower of Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer and Jimmy Anderson when they arrive next summer.

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Warne has urged Australia to heed the lessons learned from their Indian failures – and the Headingley heartbreak at the hands of Stokes before them – and return to playing “the Australian way”, which means leaning towards attack rather than defence when Tests are in the balance.

“I want Australia to play the Australian way, which is aggressive,” Warne told News Corp.

Australia will be hopeful of avoiding a Headingley repeat on home soil. Picture: Anthony Devlin/AFP

“At times through this summer, they just got scared of losing and they just went defensive rather than attack. And the Australian way is to attack.

“I thought some of the strategic stuff and tactical stuff was disappointing because they made the same mistakes – from Headingley, to Sydney to Brisbane, they didn’t learn.

“I was disappointed to see similar stuff done, defensive strategy.”

Australia left their 3-1 series defeat to India with question marks hanging over the heads of captain Tim Paine, as well as several senior players including Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon and even coach Justin Langer.

And while Warne insists Australia is still an ‘excellent’ cricket side, he expects to see several changes from the XI which was rolled at the Gabba in January – with the middle order not settled and Starc in danger of giving up his spot in the pace attack.

“There’ll be a few changes to the Test side – but the players have so much time for the rest of the Shield games to finish this year, and early next season, to put their case forward,” he said.

But the threat posed by England is real, Warne cautioned, not least of all because of firebrand paceman Archer who rocked Australia on debut with a fearsome series-changing spell at Lord’s two years ago in which he struck Steve Smith on the helmet and left the champion batsman concussed.

“I am so excited to watch Jofra Archer bowl on these Australian pitches. He’s just one of the best fast bowlers in the world,” Warne said.

Shane Warne says Tim Paine’s men must play with aggression in order to beat England in the upcoming Ashes series. Picture: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

”If Jimmy Anderson can find some form, knowing what he can do with the Kookaburra ball, suddenly they’ve got Stokes, playing the way he does, and Jofra Archer with his pace – they’ve got all the components there to really take it to Australia.

“I think this will be one of the closest Ashes series for a long time.”

England have problems of their own, namely at the top of the order, but they’ve uncovered a gem in Zac Crawley, according to Warne.

Crawley has played 12 Tests and has one century to his name, but Warne sees immense potential in the 23-year-old star.

“He is a superstar in the making and he’ll love the Australian pitches. He’s got a game that is suited to the Australian conditions,” he said.

“If Joe Root can keep his form going, then suddenly England have got their best chance to win in Australia for a long time.”

WARNEY’S BOLD NEW VISION TO REVOLUTIONISE COACHING

He single-handedly revived the art of leg-spin bowling, and now Test great Shane Warne wants to build Australia’s Twenty20 stocks from the ground up.

Australia’s record Test wicket-taker, and mastermind of the 1999 World Cup triumph as well as countless other matchwinning performances, has a grassroots plan to give help find the successors of Smith, Perry, Cummins and Lanning.

Warne will this week launch the Cricket Star Academy – https://sportstaracademy.com/cricket – aimed at giving professional coaching to children of all ages, but starting as young as five.

Shane Warne is helping open up a new cricket Academy for kids of all ages and ability. Picture: Alex Coppel

The goals are simple: get kids involved from a young age in the team sport environment, working with bold new coaching practices to revolutionise the way the next generation of Australians learn how to play cricket. And there’s a distinct T20 flavour to his approach.

“They’re doing the basics and all that, and it’s all admirable and there’s lots of coaching, but nothing for kids to get taught the new way,” Warne told the Herald Sun.

“What we wanted to do is set out a program that is for 2021.

“It teaches you the skills you need to play Test cricket, the basics and all the foundations, because if you haven’t got them you’re going to be no good at T20 anyway.

“But there still has to be the reverse, the ramp, strategy, tactics – it’s just a new way of coaching.”

Cricket purists might be reading this through their fingers … ramp shots? Reverse sweeps? Say it ain’t so, Shane!

“I’m not always a huge fan of the reverse sweep either – but I watch Glenn Maxwell and AB De Villiers do it and you go ‘wow’. It’s pretty amazing,” Warne said.

Glenn Maxwell has been one of the world’s most innovative batsmen. Picture. Phil Hillyard

“Cricket is a career path that is massive now. There are huge opportunities, so let’s teach it the right way, let’s teach both basics and the modern game, and use professional coaches.”

Warne will put the training programs together, pick the coaches and oversee the entire operation – which he hopes will develop life skills as well as how to crush cover drives, bowl yorkers and take screamers.

“My dream is one day one of these boys or girls that have been to our camps will actually play for Australia,” Warne said.

“They get expert coaching from a young age, go onto love the game and go on to play cricket at the highest level and say ‘if it wasn’t for the Shane Warne Cricket Academies I wouldn’t have loved cricket’.

“And maybe I’ll be head coach of Australia with some of the kids from the camps too – who knows what’s down the track.”