Ashes guide: England’s strengths, weaknesses and get out of jail free card

They may be 50-over World Champions but England’s Test side is far from world beating. We break down their key strengths and weaknesses - including a top three that is about as solid as drizzle.

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England’s maiden World Cup title arrived on the back of an aggressive blueprint, clearly defined batting roles and self confidence that contrasts with its Ashes Test unit.

A dynamic one-day top order was central to England’s World Cup success under Eoin Morgan. Days out from the 2019 Ashes opener at Edgbaston, England’s top three void remains the barrier to a golden World Cup and Test summer.

James Anderson will once more be England’s weapon in chief during a home Ashes series.

This year’s Ashes will showcase crack bowling attacks. James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes provide England captain Joe Root with a plethora of Dukes ball expertise in home conditions.

Pat Cummins, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson arm Tim Paine with brute firepower backed by the only quality, frontline spinner in either first Test squad, Nathan Lyon.

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The Ashes, notes England coach Trevor Bayliss, will be decided by the batting unit that finds a way to grind out competitive totals.

“I think both bowling attacks are very strong. Our guys in our conditions will be difficult to play,” Bayliss said.

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“It will be how both batting line-ups play the opposition bowlers. The strength certainly is in the pace bowling.”

HEADACHES

A Test series defeat in the Caribbean last February and fright against Ireland at Lord’s exposed England’s frailties with the red ball.

England’s dismal 85 first innings total against Ireland at Lord’s would have attracted more criticism if not for the disappointing batting performances in Australia’s internal trial at Southampton.

One-day opener Jason Roy will be asked to replicate his World Cup form in whites for England.

A nation that has rolled out quality openers from Geoff Boycott, Graham Gooch, Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick to Alastair Cook is now bereft of hardy souls who can take the shine off the ball and opposition.

“It is no secret we have been looking for No’s 1, 2 and 3 for a little while,” Bayliss conceded.

Bayliss has spent most of the 10 months since Cook’s retirement searching for an opening combination and No. 3 to shield England’s middle order stars without success. England has lost 10 wickets in a session four times since 2016 and been skittled for under 100 on three occasions since 2018. England’s best opening stand is 85 since last September.

Australia’s top order features world class duo David Warner and Steve Smith which contrasts with England’s top three vacuum.

England has overturned its typecasting of Jason Roy as a white ball slugger in its desperate search for a vibrant opener in the mould of India’s Virender Sehwag. Roy made 5 and 72 on Test debut against Ireland at Lord’s last week.

Out of touch Rory Burns and 32-year-old Test novice Joe Denly were also named in a 14-man first Test squad that gave England management extra time to settle on its top order.

“Rory Burns and Joe Denly have done OK for us over the winter without setting the world on fire,” conceded Bayliss.

Rory Burns has been in abject form of late, both for England and in the County Championship.

“Jason Roy in for his first match showed glimpses of what he can do. Just like any batter in his first Test [he] was nervous as you would expect. We know what damage he can do in international cricket, he just has to convert that to Test cricket.”

Low profile allrounder Jack Leach’s 92 against Ireland at Lord’s was the second highest Test score opening for England since Cook retired. Night-watchman Leach treated the Irish attack as England’s recognised openers should have at Lord’s.

Left-hander Burns has fought a technical issue outside off stump this summer. Batting with an unattractive stance and exaggerated high back-lift, Burns has lost the compass for his off stump and chases wide balls that lead to unnecessary dismissals.

Test match novice Joe Denly is vulnerable at the top of England’s order.

Having debuted as an opener aged 32 against the West Indies in the Caribbean, Denly will feel instant pressure to extend a three-match career that has yielded 145 runs at 24.1.

THE GAMBLE

Roy was granted a Test debut in the warm afterglow of England’s World Cup triumph. Selectors hoped the 29-year-old could replicate his explosive World Cup strokeplay that included 85 off 65 balls in England’s World Cup semi-final win against Australia at Edgbaston.

Roy’s switch to red ball cricket comes with risk for England.

Ashes winning former Test skipper Michael Vaughan believes Roy can become England’s Sehwag, fuelling rollicking starts in a risk versus rewards strategy. However, Roy’s strokeplay appears best suited to the No. 4 spot at Test level.

Roy’s plan is simple in one-day cricket, dash without fear from the outset. Ireland’s seamers exposed how vulnerable Roy was to the ball moving both ways with unrelenting accuracy. England must be patient as he discovers the nuances of the Test cricket and take the good with the ugly.

Roy has fond memories of his World Cup semi-final demolition of Australia and swagger that is rare in an England side, except for alpha male Ben Stokes

THE LINCHPIN

Having watched an unheralded Irish attack embarrass its top order, England’s hierarchy is putting the heat on skipper Joe Root to assume more responsibility and stop the rot at No.3.

Root averages 40 occupying No. 3 at Test level and the logical option to fix a glaring strategic obstacle to England regaining the Ashes.

However, Root has an inherent aversion to the key slot that legend Ian Chappell believes should be occupied by the team’s best batsman.

England skipper Joe Root is the anchor of the side, but refuses to bat at first drop.

Root is England’s premier batsman and anchor but hasn’t converted his starts into Test centuries like Steve Smith. Root has 16 Test tons and 41 half centuries while Smith has 23 and 24 respectively.

If Root ignites and overshadows Smith in the Ashes run aggregate England should prevail. Root has averaged 26 over four Tests this year but boasts 3799 runs at 54 in 43 at home.

CORE STRENGTH

You can chop the head the off the snake but Australian skipper Tim Paine will be wary of an England side that can wriggle out of trouble with the bat.

Pat Cummins and company are destined to make short work of England’s top three but the going gets tougher the further you go from No. 4 through No.8.

Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler and Moeen Ali represent multiple road blocks to tiring attacks while being capable of scoring briskly.

THE WEAPON

England has lacked an all-out, 150km/h enforcer to rattle Australia since allrounder Andrew Flintoff.

Enter Jofra Archer.

Having blossomed under Jason Gillespie at Sussex, Archer played a starring role in England’s maiden World Cup title which included a decisive Super Over.

Jofra Archer helped England win a first World Cup, though has limited red ball experience.

Archer soldiered through a side strain during the World Cup but fronted for Sussex last week in a Twenty20 clash. Chris Woakes took 6/17 to demand a start on his home ground at Edgbaston as England rolled Ireland for 38 to win at Lord’s.

England could unleash a fresh Archer in the second Test at Lord’s.

Excitement over Archer should be tempered, says Bayliss, given the last of Barbados-export Archer’s 28 first-class games was against Warwickshire at Hove in September.

“He has come back from a week off not feeling any effects of the side. There was a problem there during the World Cup so sometimes while these things can have an underlying effect,” said Bayliss of Archer.

“It has been a while since he has played red ball cricket so we do have to build up his overs.”

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World Cup final match-winner Ben Stokes is the point of difference between the Ashes combatants — a champion allrounder.

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Stokes was solely missed by England in a woeful 2017-18 Ashes campaign Down Under and is capable of launching searing counter-attacks or piling on runs if the top order can set a platform.

If England’s impressive attack doesn’t make early inroads then Stokes can achieve breakthroughs with the old ball. The nominee for New Zealander of the year can still make the ball sing at 140km/h when required.

Stokes is a Botham-esque presence in the England change-room, exuding the aggression and talent to back it up that Australians both admire and will fear.

Ben Stokes offers a threat with both bat and ball in all formats of the game.

IN A SPIN

Root commands an impressive pace attack, headlined by 575 wicket talisman James Anderson, but relies on his own bowling and Moeen Ali for England’s spin.

Tim Paine enjoys the service of the only specialist tweaker in either squad, Nathan Lyon. Yorkshire leg-spinner Adil Rashid remains troubled by a shoulder injury.

WILDCARDS

Could England invest in an untried top order this series option like former coach Duncan Fletcher did with Marcus Trescothick in 2000?

Fletcher’s hunch proved correct with lofty left-hander Trescothick averaging 43.7 over 76 Tests, including two as captain.

Zak Crawley is rated the young England talent with the pedigree to fill the shoes of Alastair Cook, who exited the game after 12,472 Test runs last September. Crawley made 111 for Kent against Notts in June in a first-class innings where James Pattinson took 6/73.

Dom Sibley has none of England Lions opening partner Crawley’s elegance but puts a price on his wicket which England’s top order lacks. Sibley leads the County championship division one aggregate with 940 runs at 62.6.

Mark Wood will miss the start of the Ashes through injury, but when fit has electric pace.

Mark Wood completes an express pace triumvirate that includes Jofra Archer and Olly Stone. Wood believes he can recover from a side strain to be available for the four and fifth Tests when a fresh tearaway will be vital.

Archer is unlikely to make it through five Tests in six weeks while veterans James Anderson and Stuart Broad face a battle against Father Time and unforgiving schedule.

HOW ENGLAND RECLAIM THE ASHES

England will start favourite to regain the Ashes on home soil principally because of the spicy strips that will be served up to unravel Australia’s batting and use of a 2018 batch Dukes ball.

England’s batting — albeit fragile at times — is more accustomed to the swinging ball and bowler friendly conditions that have bedevilled Australian sides here since 2001.

England’s attack — while bolstered by Archer — relies on a mastery of the Dukes ball and helpful pitches more than an Australian side that can blast through opposition with sheer pace through the air.

The Dukes ball to be used in the Ashes is different than that used in the County Championship. A lacquered ball with pronounced seam tailor-made for Anderson, Broad and Woakes awaits an Australian side that is suspect against superior swing.

An England win at its Edgbaston fortress would pave the way to reclaiming the Ashes. Australia has three victories in Birmingham since 1902 including 2001, its last successful Ashes conquest in the Old Dart.

Originally published as Ashes guide: England’s strengths, weaknesses and get out of jail free card