Will this be a series for the fast men?

So soon after the World Cup, we have a five test Ashes series upon which will be played within the space of seven weeks. This is the reality of the international cricketing schedule, where things move along so fast it is hard to keep up. 

Within two weeks of that emotional and thrilling World Cup finale at the Home of Cricket, England have already played a Test at the same venue. Plenty has happened too. England have continued to show how fragile their batting line up is in test match cricket after having been rolled for 85 by an Ireland side only playing their third test match. Albeit an Ireland side that had the likes of Tim Murtagh, a middlesex veteran who has nearly 300 wickets at the ground. 

That England were bowled out 85 but still managed to win the test match by lunch on day 3 shows the assistance to seam bowling offered up at Lord’s – which prompted England captain Joe Root to call the pitch as “substandard”. Whether it was substandard or England just failed to adapt to testing conditions is anyone’s guess. England however managed to return the favour in the fourth innings, blasting Ireland out for 38 – the seventh-lowest score in Test history. A tough lesson for Ireland, but they will be better for it.

So this test match shows that with the current Dukes ball in use – which provides more assistance to seamers than two seasons ago  – and the current state of the pitches, the seam bowlers will likely enjoy the conditions in the Ashes series.

While England have their two talismanic bowlers who share over 1000 test wickets – James Anderson and Stuart Broad, along with the likes of Woakes, and the x-factor of Archer, the Australians have a pace battery of their own, over which they are spoilt for choice. With the return of James Pattinson from injury, and his fine form in first Sheffield Shield and county cricket for Nottinghamshire, he is a likely inclusion. With Pat Cummins locked in as a starter owing to his good recent form in Test cricket, and word being  that Australians want the control of Peter Siddle, there remains room for only one of Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. 

This might come as a surprise as Mitchell Starc has come off the back of a record-breaking World Cup where he claimed 27 wickets, but the exhaustion of that campaign had started to show in the Aussie intersquad practice game. And his form has not been great in Test cricket recently. Josh Hazlewood is coming off a back injury which kept him out of the World Cup, despite having recovered in time and being overlooked as an  injury replacement for Jhye Richardson.

But this just shows the ability of Pattinson – who has only played 17 Tests in almost a decade, in a career derailed with injuries. However, he constantly finds form straight away and has made countless comebacks to only have had further bad luck. However, things look different this time as he feels his body feels “good” now, and has strung together a few games on the park. Can he turn things around with his luck from injuries just as Pat Cummins has done – who only played a sole test from 2011 to 2017?

This series looks to be quite close on paper with the fragility of both batting line-ups. It looks like whoever bats better will have the upper hand in the series. Australia have players like Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, Matthew Wade, Peter Handscomb, who are all inexperienced at the Test level. But they will be bolstered by the likes of Steven Smith and David Warner to counter the threat of Broad, Anderson, Woakes and Archer.

And not to mention England’s top order conundrum seems to be far from resolved. Rory Burns has had a poor start to his Test career, as has Joe Denly, the incumbent no.3. But Jason Roy has a guaranteed start to the Ashes after his fifty vs Ireland. England captain Joe Root seems to be short of runs, and also Baristow, Stokes and Buttler are all coming of gruelling World Cup campaigns. Whether the World Cup has taken a mental toll on the English players – or whether their victorious campaign will have rejuvenated them, remains to be seen when the Aussie pace battery charge in come the opening test on August 1 at Birmingham. 

— Oscar Wilde.