‘All-out assault’ for England player in Ashes thriller, Aussie star ‘not a factor’ anymore
An Aussie cricket icon has exposed a brutal truth facing an Aussie cult hero this summer in an Ashes series where he may be made redundant.
Legendary cricket analyst Kerry O’Keeffe is predicting Australia to target one of England’s bowlers in “an all-out assault” in of the closest Ashes series in recent memory.
The first Test begins in Perth on November 21 and anticipation is building for what many hope will be an even contest as England aim to win a Test match Down Under for the first time since 2011 and avoid a fourth consecutive whitewash in Australia.
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Speaking to news.com.au at the Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports summer launch, O’Keeffe tipped Australia to win the Ashes 3-2 and both fast bowling cartels to have a huge say in the outcome of the series.
Asked if England can win a Test, O’Keeffe said: “Oh I do. This is a powerful team. If I was forced to make a prediction, I think Australia wins 3-2.
“I think there’ll be five results. England don’t do draws and only weather can prevent a result.
“Last year, two Tests were decided inside three days.”
It’s certainly a different prediction to David Warner’s bold tip that Australia will win 4-0, saying England “might win one game” if Pat Cummins misses a Test or two with injury.
Watch Kerry O’Keeffe full Ashes preview and predictions in the video above
O’Keeffe is expecting the Ashes to be dominated by the fast bowling cartels from both teams — Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Scott Boland are well credentialed and the Poms are bringing out a stacked fast bowling squad.
England’s bowlers have lacked the pace and zip required to threaten Australian batters on recent tours, but the Poms are bringing out a cartel of several quicks capable of reaching 150km/h.
James Anderson and Stuart Broad may be retired, but Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue, Matthew Potts and Bryden Carse may have the pace to worry Australia’s batters.
“Both teams are loaded with fast bowlers — fast bowlers took 145 wickets last summer against India and spinners just 19,” O’Keeffe said.
“Spinners aren’t a factor if the curators produce the same sort of pitches, which I think they will.
“But that advantages England. All their eggs are in their fast bowling arsenal and they’re going to ask questions.
“It could be riveting. The first two Tests are the key — Perth and the day-nighter in Brisbane.
“England often fly the traps, they like to lead a series 1-nil. Australia lost the first Test in Perth to India last year and still came back, but you don’t want to go 1-nil down going to a day-nighter if you’re England, because Australia have been weapons with the pink ball.”
Wood, 35, hasn’t played a Test since August 2024 and is returning from knee surgery, and there is a belief neither Wood or Archer will play all five Tests.
“It depends on the management on them,” O’Keeffe said.
“Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have a vision of where they’re going to deploy them.
“Mark Wood hasn’t played for a long time. But if you’re going to play him, play him in Perth and Brisbane say, ‘Woody, have a real crack at this top order of Australia’. He has victories over Smith and Labuschagne.
“They’d love to be 2-nil from two Tests and then he can sit on Noosa beach for the next three weeks.
“Jofra of course is a factor. I like the strike power of Gus Atikinson and Josh Tongue. This is an arsenal that can worry Australia.
“But the fast bowlers that start won’t finish, so it’s how they’re managed throughout the series.
“The same for Australia, Pat (Cummins) may come back throughout the series. That’s the intriguing thing — how many Tests are in these fast bowlers.
“None of them (England’s bowlers) will play all five Tests.”
‘All-out assault’ on England player
O’Keeffe’s prediction fast bowling will dominate the Ashes puts extra spotlight on Cummins’ return from a back injury, and the commentary icon said he didn’t expect Nathan Lyon or England’s spinners to influence the series.
Lyon needs two wickets to surpass Glenn McGrath’s haul of 563 Test scalps to move into second on the list of Australia’s all-time leading wicket takers.
Apart from Graeme Swann in 2010-11, England spinners have struggled in Australia on recent tours, and Shoaib Bashir could be targeted by Australia’s batters when the offspinner bowls.
“They’ll try and take him down straight away, Shoaib Bashir, if he plays,” O’Keeffe said.
“It’ll be an all-out assault on Bashir.”
England have included part-time spinning all-rounder Will Jacks, who could get picked if the tourists aim to stack their batting line-up, like former captain Michael Vaughan has predicted.
But O’Keeffe doesn’t see the spinners including Lyon being a major factor on the series apart from holding up an end.
“Given Nathan wasn’t really a factor last year because of the pitches, will Will Jacks play as a batter and part timer and he and (Joe) Root bowl the spin and they just throw every egg into that fast bowling basket? I’m very interested in that,” O’Keeffe said.
“Lyon is a quality bowler but he needs conditions and he didn’t quite get them last year. I think he might have been frustrated he took nine wickets in the series because conditions favoured pace.
“I think we’re going to see the same. I don’t think spin is going to be a real factor this summer.”
Can Webster and Cam Green play in same XI?
The main selection dilemma facing Australia is who partners Usman Khawaja at the top of the batting order.
Marnus Labuschagne’s strong start to the domestic season has him in the box seat to either open the batting or return to No. 3 after he was dropped earlier this year.
Labuschagne at No. 3 and Sam Konstas as opener would leave room for only one all-rounder in the team, likely forcing Beau Webster out of Australia’s XI.
It would be harsh given Webster’s key contributions to Australian victories since making his debut last summer, but the Tasmanian has missed the first two Sheffield Shield matches with an ankle complaint.
O’Keeffe believes there’s room for both Green and Webster. He has Labuschagne opening the batting, Steve Smith at No. 3, Green at No. 4, Travis Head at No. 5 and Webster at No. 6.
“Webster’s won seven Tests and Australia’s won six. He’s done so well,” the former spinner said.
“England will target him. They think defensively he’s vulnerable. But he keeps playing in winning teams and that’s a real factor.
“There’s two giraffes in the slips and this is a team that nicks (England). If you’ve got Cameron Green and Beau Webster in the slips, you’re catching everything. That’s a factor as well. Australia’s got to catch well to beat England and those two don’t drop things.
England’s Ashes preparation slammed
Lord Ian Botham says England’s Ashes preparation smacks of “arrogance” with no scheduled matches against state teams before the first Test and bowlers preparing “in gyms”.
Captain Ben Stokes and his team will play only a single three-day warm-up against the England Lions, essentially England A, at Lilac Hill before the first Test in Perth on November 21.
It’s the same model used by India the previous summer and increasingly the option for touring teams, including Australia, when they also go to England for away Ashes showdowns.
England hasn’t won a series on Australian soil in more than a decade and Botham, who was part of two victorious tours of Australia in 1978-79 and 1986-87, issued a blunt warning to his old team before they head down under.
“I’m worried. We’re going to wander in and have a little game with the ‘A’ team,” Botham told the Old Boys, New Balls Podcast.
“(It will be) ‘All right mate, how are you? Good on ya’ and we’re going to go and perform?
“Not one (state match), which borders on arrogance. You’ve got to give yourself the chance. They are saying we play too much cricket. I don’t think you play enough.
“The conditions are different when you play cricket in Australia: the sun, the heat, the bounce, the crowd, the Aussie players, you’ve got to get used to all that. You’re not playing against the Australian cricket team, you’re playing against Australia – 24.5 million people.”
“Bowlers don’t get fit in gyms, that’s been proven,” he said.
“Look at the record with injuries - (Mark) Wood, (Jofra) Archer, Ben Stokes, Brydon Carse - they don’t play enough. You get fit by playing.
“If it goes horribly wrong, Mark Wood breaks down in the first game or Jofra Archer does or Ben can’t bowl, we are suddenly chasing the eight-ball before we’ve started. It’s a worry.”
- With NewsWire
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