BEING spoilt this summer by having a World Twenty20 competition and the last two weeks being filled with Murray mania at Wimbledon, the Ashes series between England and Australia, starting next Wednesday in Cardiff, has somewhat crept up on me.
In most people’s minds, including the players, the Ashes means 2005. A series which became legend, a call cry for all that is good about Test cricket and an impossibility to live up to.
The marketing people at the ECB and Sky will tell you different, however. If anyone is expecting a series like that then they will be disappointed, but that is not to say it will be dull. That Australian team of 2005 was perhaps one of the best teams to grace a cricket field, and for England to come out on top was remarkable and required a number of unlikely events to come together, not least the fitness and form of all their bowlers. How likely is it now that the likes of Andrew Flintoff will play five Tests at full throttle?
With the retirement of the majority of that Australian team there is only Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Brett Lee left in the current squad which played that summer. A fact which many believed would leave a huge whole in their team. There is no doubt about that as that team when at its best, as it was the following year in the return series in Australia when it whitewashed England 5-0, was awesome. But 2005 in terms of both teams was a long time ago, England only have four players left who played in that series, and looking at the merits of each of the current teams stacks them up fairly equally.
Both teams have come off good series wins. Australia against South Africa and England against the West Indies and both will be feeling confident.
They both have batting line-ups of similar ability and statistics but I have a feeling the Australians have a bit more in the way of penetration in their seam bowling. If Lee can return to his best he, along with the bullseye accurate Stuart Clarke and Peter Siddle, will provide great support for the new star of the Australian team Mitchell Johnson. And if you were thinking of switching the telly off when he is batting think again because he can seriously bat and can hit the ball harder and further than most in the world. He is my favourite to be the player of the series and could be the difference between the teams.
What is unknown at this stage is the state of the pitches they will play on. The first Test which is being played at Glamorgan’s home ground will also be the first Test played there. There are questionmarks over the pitch and a worry it will take a lot of spin. Who this should worry I am not sure as there is no longer a Shane Warne or Stuart MacGill to spin a web. Both teams have workmanlike and competent finger spinners in Graeme Swann and Nathan Hauritz but nothing which would make either set of batsmen lose sleep. Australia will likely play Marcus North at number six and he will also provide decent finger spin options.
It will be an enthralling contest. It will be close but, failing injuries, my money is on the Ashes going back to Australia, but only by a whisker.