The two oldest rivals in cricket collide for the opening one of five Test matches on Friday when The Ashes begins in Perth as Australia and England look to draw first blood in what promises to be a fascinating couple of months of action.
The build-up to this series is always extended and elevated but the time for talking is just about done and now it is about five days of intense cricket as both teams look to get off to a winning start in what feels like a defining Ashes.
Australia
When you look at the ages of this Australia squad and see that only Cameron Green is under 30, this could be the last chance for this team to win an Ashes on home soil so you would expect the World Test Championship finalists to come out all guns blazing. They will have heard the growing optimism around England the closer this series has got to starting and good teams use that as motivation and they will be out to silence that noise and stamp their authority down on this series right out of the gate.
Australia haven’t lost a home Test match to England since 2011 and that is a record they will be keen to extend here. All eyes will be on the Australian bowling unit in this opening match because the home side are without two of their three big bowlers. If they can get off to a winning start in their absence then the Aussies will feel that this is a series they can control once again. The other question mark they have is with the opening pair, which once again is going to be a new combination. If they go well Australia are going to be hard to beat.
England
An away Ashes tour is always a legacy tour for an England side, especially once which has been four years in the making like this one so for all that Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have done in charge of the England team, they are likely to be judged down the line by what happens in the next two months. There has clearly been a lengthy preparation for this series because England have brought a totally different looking squad down under to the ones which have gone before but now is where they have to perform.
If England are going to win this match, and indeed the series, then two things have to happen. They have to score decent runs and you would think that this is the best chance for that to be a thing given the strained nature of the Australia bowling unit. The other thing is England have to get Steve Smith in to face a new ball so they need early wickets. If they can do that they have every chance here but history is the way it is for a reason. These conditions are about as alien as they get for an England side.
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Team News
Usually it is England who name their XI well in advance of the toss but it is Australia who have done that this time around and they have confirmed there will be two debutants with Brendan Doggett and Jake Weatherald coming into the side. Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood miss out with injury.
England have named their 12 for this match but haven’t committed to a final 11. You would think the selection issue is over whether to play Shoaib Bashir in which case Brydon Carse could miss out or whether to play the extra seamer. Mark Wood has been passed fit.
Betting
I’ll open the series with a couple of bets as we get confirmation of exactly what we can expect from these two sides. It will be easier to bet on later in the series when Australia either have all of their bowlers back or we have seen exactly what to expect from the backup bowlers. One bet that I do like to begin with is the player performance of Scott Boland. All the talk is that he is the weak link and England will go after him but they might find that is easier said than done given that Boland averages 12 in Test cricket in Australia. With no Pat Cummins or Josh Hazlewood, Boland can expect a stronger workload so his 104.5 performance line looks within reach to me. Five wickets across the two bowling efforts and five runs gets this covered but a catch would wipe out the need for the runs. Boland has taken five wickets or more in his last four Tests and I think he’ll take advantage of the poor techniques in this England side as he did four years ago when he took 18 wickets in three Tests.
We don’t know quite what to expect from the pitch here in Perth because results haven’t been overly consistent. Last year 17 wickets fell on the opening day in this stadium and I wonder if the ball will nip around a bit again. In that match between Australia and India, 150 was a winning first innings score where the top bat in the first innings batted at eight for India and nine for Australia. That makes me think there is a chance that backing someone down the order to be a top batter could be the way forward. I don’t think England will bat as well in these conditions as Australia so I’ll go with one of their players and Brydon Carse could fit the bill. Clearly someone this low in the order is only going to top score by getting a few big hits away but Carse is a big hitter and has shown some form with the bat. He is tall so the short ball won’t worry him and at a price I think he is worth a go.
Tips
Back S.Boland’s Performance – Over 104.5pts for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back B.Carse Top England 1st Innings Batter for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Spreadex
